Preventing Wintertime Floods

by The Construction Group

A flood in your home is a very expensive headache to deal with. In colder climates one of the most common causes of home flooding is frozen pipes. If the heat goes off, either due a broken furnace or power outage, the water in the plumbing pipes will freeze. Water expands when it freezes and as a result it will split the copper supply lines. When the heat comes back on, the pipes thaw out resulting in a flood. More often than not, this happens you are away on vacation as no one is aware that the heat has shut down. To give you an idea of what can happen: a ½” pipe rupture will discharge approximately 1500 gallons of water in a half hour. This translates to 12 inches of water in a 10’ x 20’ room in or 2.5 inches in a 1000 square foot basement in only 30 minutes.

Fortunately there are a few precautions that you can take to prevent this from happening. If you are leaving your home for an extended period of time, take the following steps to safeguard against a potential flood:

• Turn off the main water valve (where the water enters your house from the city supply).

• Drain the system by turning on a tap on the top floor and a tap in the basement. If after a few minutes the water continues to run, that means the main shutoff is not holding.

• Flush all the toilets. The toilet tanks will not refill since the water main is closed.

• Pour a little bit of windshield washer antifreeze in each sink so that the water in the p-traps doesn’t freeze.

• Pour a little bit of windshield washer antifreeze in each toilet bowl (not the tank) so that the bowl doesn’t freeze.

• If you have an electric hot water heater make sure to turn off the power to the heater at the panel.
• Remember to close all the taps before you turn on the main water valve on your return.

By following these quick and easy steps you will greatly reduce the possibility of having a flood in your home.

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