Home owners warned to turn off garden taps as temperatures dip
Posted February 1, 2019 11:38 am.
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METRO VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – With temperatures set to plummet starting Sunday in Metro Vancouver, there are a couple of things you’ll want to do to make sure you don’t end up with burst pipes and flooding in your home.
Gord Ratzlaff with Hillcrest Plumbing and Heating in Vancouver says you should make sure your outdoor taps are turned off from the inside.
Also, disconnect hoses as he points out any water inside will syphon into the pipes, freeze, and expand.
“If it does freeze and there’s always water in the hose so it will syphon into the pipes and that water will freeze and then it expands the pipe,” Ratzlaff says. “And then when we do get the thaw and water runs again, they’re going to have a leak in the wall or you know or something that can create quite a bit of damage.”
It’s an issue he sees fairly often and warns it could cost you more than you think.
“Repairs can be from a couple of hundred to you know, upwards to a thousand depending on how much wall and floor damage there is,” he says. “Because is not just the plumbing they have to repair but they also have to fix the wall afterwards as well.”
Ratzlaff adds pipes underground are not a concern until temperatures get colder than about minus ten, and stay that way for a while.
