There are precautions every home owner needs to take to prepare for the potential damage that changing winter temperatures can cause to a home’s pipes and by extension, its HVAC system and utilities. We have all heard of people whose pipes have burst in the wintertime. Some basic Home Utility Maintenance can prevent that. What steps have you taken to prevent your pipes from rupturing? Many people mistakenly believe that the formation of ice in a pipe pushes against the pipe’s walls and makes it burst. That actually is not true. While ice formations in pipes form blockages, it is not at the site of the blockage that the pipe ruptures. What, then, does cause pipes to burst in cold weather? To answer that, we first need to understand how temperature swings cause contraction, expansion and breakage. In cold weather as water cools its molecules slow their movements. As movement slows, the molecules get closer […]