
Protect Your Mobile Home: How To Avoid Frozen And Bursting Pipes
Just 3 days ago, residents in South Dakota woke up to temperatures well below zero. Minus 15 in Sioux Falls and even lower in some our northern cities. These kinds of temps do a number on pipes under mobile homes. Whether you call it your primary home or own a lakeside mobile home, it's crucial to take action when we go into a deep freeze so it doesn't become a very expensive problem.
A few tips to prevent freezing and bursting pipes:
- Probably the most important is the use of heat tape. Getting under the house and coiling heat tape around the pipes is the best preventative measure. Ideally, get heat tape with a thermostat built in so it doesn't use electricity in the warmer months.
- Keep heat in the house. This may seem like a no-brainer but many folks lock up their secondary use mobile homes on Labor Day and return on Memorial weekend. This can end in disaster if preventative measures aren't in place. If you don't use the mobile home all winter, turn the water off completely and blow out the lines.
- Open the cabinet doors under all sinks: Keep the same temperature under the sinks as constant as you can.
- Leave the faucets on a slow trickle. Try to get them on the slowest trickle as possible. (Drip...drip...drip...) Many may balk at the water bill but it beats having to install new plumbing.
- Is the skirting around the mobile home secure? If you see gaps and openings, seal them. It makes a huge difference! Use rags, a sealant, styrofoam, anything to stop cold winds from entering.
A few tips on how to deal with frozen pipes:
- Soak towels in hot water and wrap them around the pipe under the sinks.
- Warm water and salt poured slowly down the drain can release the ice just enough to get it flowing again.
- Use a hairdryer on the pipes. This may be slow process but never use open flame.
- It's not too late to install the aforementioned heat tape. It will thaw the pipes.
Author's note: My experience with frozen pipes come from a mobile home property we own up north. We love to ice fish all winter and occasionally visit on cold weekends to enjoy the fireplace and family dinners. I've been on the wrong end of the frozen pipe dilemma and hope these tips work for you as did for me. Thanks for reading.
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