Insulate Your Home Well !

By Scott Rodgers

If you are living an area where the temperature goes below zero degree Celsius inside the home, then beware, there are high chances of pipe freezing and bursting because when water freezes, it expands up to 9% and if there is no sufficient place for expansion, the pipe will naturally burst.

When the pipe starts defrosting, it will leak and the leak can be anywhere through out the supply system. This can be very damaging, even more than a burst pipe and can cost a lot of money.

To save your home plumbing system from freezing during winters, it is advisable to get your home properly insulated. It is also important that you home should be built according to the current building codes, then under normal conditions(i.e. the heating system runs properly, the electricity supply stays on, and the furnace fuel supply never runs out.), you will never face this problem.

So, the best solution to avoid any such situation is to build the house properly. If an older house has insulation problems, this can be fixed during remodeling. If the work involves removing drywall, then the wall cavities can be insulated properly. Foam insulation can be added to the inside face of the studs, or to the outside walls before siding is replaced, or both.

You can even add more insulation to the attic if there is space for it. Spending money here will surely prove to be beneficial in the future because insulation will keep your plumbing system from freezing and in addition to that insulation helps in reducing home's heat loss, therefore less amount of energy would be required to heat the home. This will lower your electricity bills as well.

Making many changes in the home can cost a lot of money. So, a less expensive solution to this problem is to apply electric heat tape around the pipe. It is controlled thermostatically so becomes active automatically when the temperature is very low.

Another way to prevent the pipes from freezing and bursting is to leave the taps in your house in dripping mode. It will make sure that the water in the pipes is in flowing condition and thus will check the water in the pipes from freezing.

It is generally advised to let the faucet run with a stream of water about the same diameter as a pencil. The stream needs to be warm water if you have both hot and cold water lines that are vulnerable to freezing. This is waste of energy but sometimes you have to follow this in order to prevent some major damage. - 29857

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