Useful Products To Prevent Your Pipes From Freezing During Winter

Winter can be a stressful time for those who are burdened with the task of preparing their home for cold weather. If you're familiar with this process yourself, you probably know that it can be rather time consuming. A maintenance checklist often includes a long list of tasks, like disconnecting garden hoses and sealing door gaps in the winter. Those chores are important, but protecting your exposed pipes is one of the most vital precautions you must take. Luckily, there are a few useful products you can use to prevent your pipes from freezing during winter, including the GJL Pipe Insulation Wrap, MAXKOSKO Heat Tape, and Blue Penguin Freeze Miser.

The high customer ratings and freezing prevention abilities of these products make them perfect to use on your pipes during winter. They can help protect your home from the costly damage caused by water that freezes inside of pipes. When water turns into ice within your pipes during the winter months, it can expand and cause them to crack or burst. A busted pipe may lead to your home or yard flooding, resulting in water damage that could cause hazardous mold growth if not addressed properly, which will result in needing to restore your home. However, using products to protect your pipes can help you avoid all of these problems.

Insulation tape is one of the products that have proven to be effective at protecting pipes from freezing winter temperatures. It's ideal for use on oddly shaped pipes or those positioned in awkward places where you might not be able to use a full insulation sleeve. If you think insulation tape is the right fit for your needs, check out the GJL Pipe Insulation Wrap from Amazon, which is set at a budget-friendly price of $13. This self-adhesive tape is made of insulating materials like rubber, plastic cotton. The outer layer is made of aluminum foil, which will also keep heat from escaping your pipes when the temperature drops.

This product is also user-friendly, you should have no problem installing it yourself. Just peel the protective layer off of the adhesive side and wrap it around your pipe according to the instructions that come with the tape. Despite the low price, many customers shared that the product performed well. "This works great for my spigot coming out of my house," one user wrote in part. They shared that they found it to be durable, too. However, one note to keep in mind is that other customers claimed to have issues with the self-adhesive side not sticking to the piping. One person shared that they added duct tape as a solution. Still, all in all, this insulation tape has an impressive 4.2-star Amazon rating. The low price, easy installation, and high rating make it an option worth considering.

If you live in a region where temperatures drop well below freezing, you might find that heat tape is a better option for you to use as pipe protection. Heat tape is a long cable warmed by electricity. You attach the cable to your pipes and plug it into a power source according to the instructions provided with the product you purchased. Heat is then transferred to your pipes to keep them from freezing. If this sounds like the right option for you, check out the MAXKOSKO Heat Tape from Amazon. According to the product description, it has the ability to protect pipes in temperatures as low as -40 degrees Fahrenheit. The heat tape comes in lengths ranging from 2 feet to 160 feet, so you should have no problem finding the right size for your pipes.

Customers took to the product's reviews to praise its easy installation process and ability to keep water flowing within outdoor plumbing. This product earned a 4.4-star overall review on Amazon. "Second time buying this brand," one reviewer wrote. "I own two mobile home trailers. Pipes haven't froze up since buying. Worth the money." If you're curious about pricing, you should know that this will vary depending on which length you purchase. For reference, the longest option is $122.99, while the shortest length costs $20.44.

Along with protecting your exposed pipes, you also need to winterize your outdoor faucets. Unfortunately, water that freezes inside of a faucet can also damage pipes and even cause them to burst. You would then need to complete a winter repair that could cost anywhere from $200 to $1,000. Luckily, you can protect your faucets with prevention methods like the Blue Penguin Freeze Miser from Amazon. The faucet cover will release a small amount of water to keep things flowing. It is made with cold-resistant polypropylene, which keeps water above freezing temperatures.

Installation is super simple, so you should be able to attach it to your faucet without any professional help. Just screw the Blue Penguin Store Freeze Miser onto your faucet and open it all the way. This way, the product can make use of the water pressure as needed. This product has a 4.5 overall Amazon rating, so customers seem to love it. Reviews reveal they're fans of the Freeze Miser's simple installation process and effectiveness. "You just have to connect it to an external faucet and open it," one customer wrote. "This device has a temperature sensitive diaphragm that controls the amount of water to flow through it. So, when the temperature drops around 37 degrees it starts to allow water through it." This product is priced at $59 for a pack of two.