How to Keep Toilet Pipes From Freezing
Frozen pipes are literally a headache. It can cause the pipeline to burst and wreck your beautiful house. During the winter, it is literally impossible to prevent the plumbing pipes from freezing, especially when you are living in the coldest area. But with a few steps of winterizing your bathroom can help you out and prevent your plumbing pipes from freezing up. So, if you are really worried about your plumbing pipes and don’t want the additional messes, the importance of these steps are needless to say. Come with us and let’s see how to keep toilet pipes from freezing.
If you want to keep your pipes from freezing, you need to make sure your house is well insulated. The pipes that you want to work with should be underneath that insulated area. It will keep them warm so that they do not freeze again.
Why Pipes Brust?
Did you know that water expands by up to 9% when it freezes? This expansion process releases a great deal of force, which increases the pressure inside pipes from 40 to 40,000 psi per square inch. Unfortunately, most pipes are not designed to withstand this much pressure, and they can break as a result. The break usually occurs where the ice forms inside the pipe, but it can also happen at the weakest point in the pipe. Sometimes the break only extends a few inches, but it can also extend for several feet.
What Can Happen if Your Pipes Are Frozen?
If your pipes freeze, you will usually lose access to the water flow. Sometimes the flow may be completely shut down. It would be better if it stopped here, but the worst thing is that it can crack your pipeline and may end up flooding your house. Until you fix it, the leakage in your pipe will continue flooding your house, ruining the entire interior design.
If the pressure inside a pipe gets too high, it can burst through the weakest parts of the pipe, causing it to crack. If this happens, you may need to replace the entire pipe.
How to Identify if the Pipes Are Frozen?
- Your toilet tank won’t refill after a flush.
- Water won’t come out of your faucet.
- Visual indications involve swelling pipes that bulge at a certain level.
How to Keep Toilet Pipes From Freezing?
Okay, we covered the reasons and visual signs, but if you live in the coldest region, you have to act first rather than waiting for the visual signs. Now, let’s see how you can prevent the water pipes from freezing.
Tip 1 – Electric Pipe Wrap
The first and the easiest way is to keep the water pipes insulated so that it can’t freeze in the coldest hours. Simply, you can purchase a pack of electric heating cables and wrap the pipeline where it is needed to be treated properly.
You need an electric cable to do this, and you can buy it from a shop or online store. Once you have the electric cable, you need to tape it along the pipes. Once the electric cable is taped along the pipes, you need to plug it into an electric outlet. This process is expensive and will only work if you have access to the pipes. If you don’t have access to the pipes, you need to follow the next tips.
Tip 2 – Leave the Doors Open
You will definitely take proper steps to keep your house warm during the winter. You can utilize that warmness to keep your bathroom warm too. For that, you have to keep the door open. The warm air will be able to travel through the open door and keep it insulated as like as the rest of the rooms. In this case, make sure to open the vanity of your bathroom so that air can reach the plumbing pipes.
Tip 3 – Seal the Bathroom Windows
Coldness is obviously the worst enemy during winter. So, you have to take adequate steps to keep the bone-chilling weather away from your room and obviously your bathroom. Make sure to seal the windows properly. It will prevent the cold air from coming in and the hot air to escape. In order to extend the effectiveness of this process, you can install a double-paned glass window that can maintain the thermostatic temperature at an accurate level.
Tip 4 – Install an Electric Heater in Your Bathroom
Well, this process is preferable by most of the house owners. An electric heater has way more usability than you have ever imagined during the wintertime. Most importantly, it will maintain your bathroom’s temperature at a constant level. You won’t have to buy any high-quality electric heater to impress your guest, just purchase one that keeps the plumbing pipe warm enough and don’t spike up your monthly electric bill.
Tip 5 – Insulation
This is an easy and cost-effective process for preventing your pipes from freezing. But you can only apply this when you are undergoing a home or bathroom remodeling project. Insulation keeps your home warm, but if you have a low-grade insulation system between the walls, you will notice a significant change in the heat, and the temperature may drop to downwards dramatically. But remember insulating the pipelines won’t enable them with a secondary heat source. But it will help to retain the heat of the pipes for a long time. It is a larger job, and you may have to wrap the entire pipeline with several types of insulating items like foams.
How to Winterize Your Toilet?
Once the temperature reaches below 32 degrees, you should start worrying about your plumbing pipes. Toilets are made of ceramics, which are the same as the coffee mugs. If they expand, they will crack down. In this case, if you apply some simple winterizing techniques, you can get rid of this annoying situation. Simply, bring one of the best anti-freeze solutions from the market. The one that you use to unclog your car radiator can also be used for this purpose. Just pour it into your toilet, and it will do the rest.
Conclusion
We have covered all the essential items above. Hopefully, you have understood everything, and you won’t have to ask anyone how to keep toilet pipes from freezing again. If you are still confused or have something better than this, then don’t forget to use the comment section below.
