With winter raising its head early this year, now's the time for Tulsa area homeowners to be proactive about avoiding winter plumbing leaks. Reaching out to your local HVAC expert can be a great start, but there are several steps you can take yourself to accomplish your goal.Here are five projects that take very little time, and will save you headaches later on when freezing weather arrives:
Protect against frozen pipes: Take some time to inspect exposed plumbing pipes, looking for areas where pipe insulation has come free. Every little bit of protection helps, as the last thing a homeowner wants to do is clean up after burst pipes.
Repair pipes now: A quick scan of your plumbing and appliances can identify leaks that need repairing. With a dry cloth or paper towel, find areas where water is leaking and repair and replace if needed. Check gaskets for simple fixes, but if a pipe is cracked, have a plumber come in for replacement.
Remove outdoor hoses: An outdoor garden hose can let ice crawl into your plumbing. To avoid this issue, remove all hoses and store them away for the season. If you don't, you'll be protecting your lines from a domino effect of frozen pipes.
Close and drain irrigation system: Often forgotten once lawn maintenance season has passed, in-ground irrigation systems have standing water in their lines until they're flushed out. Contact your lawn care specialist for an appointment to flush out your system to avoid burst pipes underground.
Clean out sump pump pit: Last but not least, clean out any leaves and debris that could clog up and create a frozen block of ice in your sump pump pit. If this mechanism freezes, your system won't be able to pump excess water from your basement, leading to a flood.
For more expert advice on avoiding costly winter winter plumbing leaks, please feel free to contact your friendly HVAC representative at Air Assurance. We've been serving the Tulsa community since 1985.
Our goal is to help educate our customers in the Tulsa and Broken Arrow, Oklahoma area about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). Credit/Copyright Attribution: “Nelosa/Shutterstock”