Afraid of Frozen Pipes This Winter?

As the normal weather begins to return, the destruction caused by Hurricane Sandy is still being absorbed. As you begin cleaning debris from your yard, it will give homeowners a chance to prepare themselves for the coming winter months. By now everyone has brought their lawn furniture indoors, covered their swimming pool, and made sure their sprinkler systems have been drained properly. But there are a few things around the house that are easily overlooked that can prove costly. First, make sure you disconnect your garden hose from all outside faucets, or sillcocks as they are sometimes called, which helps avoid any leftover water in the hose from freezing. Next, all outside faucets are easy points for freezing temperature to attack. If they are not closed properly from shutoffs inside the house, they are likely to freeze and crack. The water will spill out into your yard or driveway and cause icy conditions. The fall weather has been relatively warm, so if you haven’t had to turn on your boiler yet, today would be a good day for a test run. Just take a few minutes and make sure the boiler is turning on and your house is warming properly. Boilers tend to build up air pockets inside of them during the summer months when they are out of use. This requires them to be purged to resume working properly. The winter forecasts have been for extremely harsh winter, so be prepared before it is too late.