During the coldest part of the winter seniors who are aging in place should take special care to make sure that the pipes in their homes don’t freeze. Seniors that are living in the family homes where they have lived for decades may have older pipes or corroded pipes that could freeze when temperatures drop. And depending on where they live seniors may not have insulation on their pipes to protect them from freezing. Frozen pipes can lead to cracks in the pipes or even burst pipes that can thousands of dollars of damage to their homes. Their elder care providers can look into some of the suggestions here.
The best things seniors can do to protect their pipes during the freezing cold temperatures of winter are:
Leave Faucets Dripping
Elder Care Mountainside NJ – Things Seniors Can Do To Prevent Frozen PipesThe best thing seniors can do to protect their pipes when it’s below freezing is to leave their faucets dripping. Leaving the faucets in the house dripping slightly will keep water flowing and keep the pipes from freezing. It also relieves any water pressure buildup in the pipes which can prevent the disaster of a burst pipe. Seniors that have elder care can ask their home care provider to make sure all the faucets are dripping slightly when the temperatures drop so the pipes won’t freeze.
Insulate Pipes
Insulating the pipes can be a cheap way to prevent a more expensive problem. Basic insulation sheets that can be wrapped around most pipes cost just a few dollars and a home care provider could put them on. Or, a professional plumber can come and assess the pipes in the home and insulate them to make sure that they don’t freeze. The cost of having the pipes insulated is worth it because it’s very low compared to the cost of repairing cracked or burst pipes. Seniors who live in a place where the weather didn’t use to get cold enough to freeze but now freezes are common, may need to insulate pipes that were not insulated before.
Keep Outside Pipes Clear
Seniors that live in an area where the snow can get deep need to be sure that the exhaust pipe to the outside, any outdoor faucets, and other outdoor pipes are kept free of ice and snow. As a family member, neighbor, or elder care provider brush off all the outdoor faucets and pipes to make sure that they aren’t contributing to the pipes freezing. It’s a good idea to leave outdoor faucets dripping a little also and makes sure that all hoses are disconnected from the water.
Open Cabinet Doors
Another way to keep pipes from freezing is to open cabinet doors so that the warm heated air in the house can circulate around the pipes. Leaving the kitchen and bathroom lower cabinets open will make a big difference when it comes to keeping pipes warm in the winter. Seniors can also have heat lamps installed in cabinets if the heat from the house isn’t enough to warm up the cabinets. Heat lamps can also be put over outdoor pipes and tankless water heaters to make sure that those pipes don’t freeze in the cold.
If you or an aging loved one are considering hiring Elder Care Services in Mountainside NJ, call the caring staff at Helping Hands Home Care today at 908-418-4299.
After graduating from Seton Hall University with a BS in finance Helping Hands Homecare’s Owner / President, Robert D’Arienzo, went to work on Wall St. for six years. However, after Robert’s grandmother became ill with stomach cancer Robert and his family needed to find assistance in the home for her. After many trials and tribulations Robert could see that there was a great need for quality home care services here in NJ and loved the idea of being able to assist other families who were going through what his family went through with his beloved grandmother.
Thus, Robert had found his passion. After almost a year of preparation Robert opened Helping Hands Homecare in 2003. Robert wanted Helping Hands Homecare to focus on providing the highest quality of caregivers, exceptional customer service, and providing a service that familys could depend on in their time of need. Since then Helping Hands has assisted hundreds of individuals with the simplest of needs to more complex cases while preserving those standards set out many years ago.
Robert is a Google Verified Author
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