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Avoiding frozen pipes at the cottage

In this segment Master Plumber Patrick Donovan demonstrates how to close up the cottage for the winter and avoid frozen pipes.

By taking a few simple steps now it can ensure that you don’t spend your first weekend in the Spring under the cottage repairing burst pipes.

Duration : 2 min 47 sec

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My fiance and I are looking at buying a house. The house we are the most interested in currently has burst pipes that got frozen over the winter. If we bought the house it would be our responsibility to fix them. I was just wondering if anyone has a general idea on how much this would cost us…

That’s going to depend entirely on whether you will hire the job out or do it yourself!

Hiring out? Pretty damn expensive.

Do it yourself…after learning how at Home Depot? Go for it, not so expensive.

When I plumbed my entire house, it cost me about 250 dollars in parts, and a bunch of practice…got it right without a leak!

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Never had frozen pipes before in this house but its -30 below zero outside, a little too cold for them I guess.

You have two things to be concerned about: the frozen pipe and whether it has burst because of the ice. Until the pipe thaws, you won’t know if there is a split in the pipe. Best thing to do is turn off the main water valve (not the one under the sink, but the whole house) before you thaw the pipe.

Then open a faucet in the lowest part of your house (basement or first floor) and another one or two on the highest level. This will drain the water out of your plumbing system so no more can freeze. Then heat the pipes that are frozen with a hair dryer; you are risking a fire if you use a propane torch or other open flames.

Turn off all the faucets and carefully turn on the main valve. If you hear water running in a wall somewhere you know you have a burst pipe and can immediately call a plumber. IF you don’t hear anything, chances are you are OK.

I’ve been through this, and no one told me to turn off the main valve. Fortunately, I was home when the burst pipe thawed. If I hadn’t been, the water would have been running for 8 hours before I got home from work and would have been a disaster.

Next time leave both the hot and cold water running at a trickle during cold weather. The water moving keeps the pipes from freezing.

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The first time you experience a frozen pipe you realise just how important it is to protect this from happening again.  And, if you own a holiday home in a region where it freezes, make sure you protect your pipes from the costly expense of them bursting.

We have lived in a home with freezing pipes, even been out with the blow torch thawing out the pipes (we don’t recommend this method to others) and understand just how miserable it is living in these conditions.

We also provide you with information on how to keep pipes from freezing and save you from the damage frozen pipes can cause.

So bookmark frozen-pipes.com now – you may need us again in the future!

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