Winterize Your Home

Winterizing your home helps prevent frozen pipes and costly plumbing repair bills, it saves water too!

1. Check all faucets outside and inside for leaks.
2. Remove all hoses and, where possible, turn off and drain outside bib plumbing.
3. Cover hose bibs with foam insulators. These are available at hardware stores.
4. For insinuated hose bibs turn off the feed valve in the insulated part of the garage and open the hose faucet to drain the water from the plumbing in the insulated wall.
5. Insulate your water pipes to help prevent freezing. Also, if your hot water pipes are insulated, less water will have to run before the hot water flows.
6. Open cabinet doors where plumbing is in outside walls during really cold spells.
7. When it's very cold, allow a small trickle of water to run through a facet. The flowing water will help prevent freezing but also wastes water and should be done only when other options are not possible.
8. Turn off your irrigation system's water supply and draining the irrigation lines.
9. Use a broom, blowers, or shop vacuum to clean leaves and pine needles from walls and driveways rather than a house and water.
10. Check out the Conservation Links for more ideas.