With more snow and cold on the horizon, plumbing companies are anticipating more spikes in calls regarding things like broken and frozen pipes in their homes. Meteorologist Christine Gregory spoke to a local plumber on ways to prevent this.
After our first major snowstorm of the season back on January 17th, places like Ryan Plumbing and Heating saw a big uptick in calls, and as we anticipate our second winter storm of the season they are only expecting another surge of problems, as temperatures drop again, primarily with frozen pipes.
Plumbing Service Manager Matt Codd states “if the pipes aren’t protected, if there’s not heat on in the house or the pipes not protected it’s gonna freeze, the pipes are gonna expand ya know and it’s gonna be more pronounced for breaks occurring… and the weather works in mysterious ways. If your house isn’t protected from it with insulation that can be an issue.”
Plus, with our most recent thaw from the cold, with all of this melt and snow water seeping into the ground, another issue that people could see is with their sump pump.
“If you have a sump pump in your basement, check it. If you have a monitoring device check the monitoring device and make sure everything’s working properly, whether its a backup sump pump or some sort of device to let you know that your sump pump’s not working, or there might be a break or something within your house. You might even be on vacation and not even know.”
Matt says the best thing you can do is be proactive to make sure everything is in working order.
Things you can do to try and prevent future issues include disconnecting your hose from the “hose bibb “that may be connected to the side of your home that perhaps wasn’t removed at the start of winter, turn the main water off if you’re planning to leave the house for long periods of time, and making sure your windows are shut tight, as all of this can lead to freezing pipes throughout the season.
You can always call your local plumber including Ryan’s Plumbing and Heating if you ever have a question about your plumbing system.
Watch the News 8 interview here.
