No Heating? Take a First Step to Prevent Frozen and Burst Pipes

If your heating system is down, and it really doesn’t matter which kind you have, you have probably only a few hours until you are at risk for having frozen pipes or later on burst pipes repair and the timing really depends on how low the temperature is outside and how insulated your house is and your water pipes or sprinkler system if your in a commercial property.  If you have a home you might be able to last with a small electrical heater in a room until you get our heating repair service company to come and serve you but water pipes that are located all over your house or business, commercial or industrial, are all over, in water heater area, underground water lines, there are pipes in the walls and ceilings, in the basement, those are exposed to low temperatures and you have to get your heating system repaired quickly before you get burst pipes and water will be all over.  A special emergency note for those that are leaving their home or business and are not located at the property so they cannot physically see water leaking or hear the noise. If you leave, make sure you leave your heating system to at least 50 degrees, leave doors and vents open so the pipes will get exposed to the warm temperature in your house or business.

Frozen and Burst Pipes Prevention

Here is some advice so you will not need emergency plumber. Prevent frozen pipes and damage from burst water pipes in case your heating system is off or does not provide enough hot air within a normal room temperature:

1. When the heat is off more than a few hours and the temperature has dropped, the first thing to do is to call a heating repair service company as soon as possible because it might take them time to reach your home as frozen pipes usually happens to many people when temperatures suddenly drop and their may be a delay to fix the burst pipe as their will likely be other burst pipes to fix in your area.  If the temperatures suddenly drop in your area, you may consider to shut off the main water valve in order to stop the water from coming into your home and then go and release the water from the pipe systems until the pipes are completely empty.  Most homeowners will not know how to do it completely and there are always places where the water may last, so the best thing to do is call us and we can empty it for you in vase there is a delay in fixing your heating system when parts are missing or on order for instance.
2. Another option is to use local electric heaters to warm specific sensitive areas in which pipes are located, its always good to have a few electric heaters on the side and you can go to Home Depot or another store to buy some electric heaters to use temporarily in the rooms to keep water pipes from freezing and bursting.
3. We have heard of people turning on the oven or the range to warm up the house, you have to be very careful in doing that, although you do release heat into the room, its a bad idea and unsafe so you should not do this and take caution.

How to Prevent Frozen and Burst Pipes when the Heating and Electricity is off 

In case not only the heat is down but your electricity is also off, so that can double your problems.  There is not much to do in terms of warming the air to increase the temperature unless you have a generator that is strong enough to run heat or in some cases we saw people run extension cords to their neighbors house, which is forbidden under the code.  So the only thing you can do is empty the water lines in order to try not to have frozen or burst pipes.

A good lesson for protecting water pipes from freezing and prevent frozen pipes is to learn about your house during the summer, and the best practice is to know that a pipe that burst once will get frozen and burst again with the water leaking, and the home damage, and its just a matter of time unless you make sure to repair the temperature issues around that water pipe. In other word emergency plumber in middle of the night cost more.

Frozen and Burst Water Pipes Copper or PVC

There are two types of water lines in commercial properties and homes; water pipes made of copper or water pipes made of PVC or plastic.  Although the copper has a greater tendency to burst, but PVC water pipe lines have a tendency to leak and burst between the pipe connections so the risk of either type of plumbing pipe is fairly the same.  It doesn’t matter which type of pipes you have the key is to insulate any pipes and prevent cold air from coming into your house from small openings and cracks and maintain a nice room temperature to prevent frozen pipes and burst pipes.

We are available 24/7 in any emergency to fix any frozen or burst pipes or any problems in your heating systems, whether you have a boiler, a furnace or central air, any model and any type, we will try to minimize the cost of the furnace or boiler repair and minimize the time in which you will have no heat.