Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Going out of town? Make sure your home is protected!

Imagine coming home from a nice relaxing vacation, to find a foot of water in your house! Not a pleasant welcome home!

What happened? A pipe has burst and the water has been running out of it ever since! A 1/8-inch crack in a pipe can spill 250 gallons of water a day. That’s a lot of water where you don’t want it to be!

Why would a pipe burst? If the pipe gets cold, the water in the pipe freezes, and water expands when it freezes. This causes the pipe to burst. It can happen to copper or plastic pipes, old or new.

How would a pipe get too cold? The answer is simple--there is not enough heat in the home. The cause of the loss of heat could be the oil or propane running out, a power outage, or just having the temperature set too low.

Is it covered?  Check with your insurance company on their requirements when you are away. Some insurers require that the home be checked, but you will need to confirm with them how often. If the home can’t be checked, some insurers will require that you turn off the water and drain the pipes. To drain the system, you need to shut off the water supply and turn on every tap until the water stops running. This way, there is no water in the pipes, so they can’t freeze.

It can be extremely costly to have to replace everything ruined by the water, not to mention a health risk due to mold. You don’t want to come home to that!






Written by Sandy Bafia, Account Manager Rhodes & Williams Limited



1 comment:

  1. As a home owner that is thinking of how we can save our home and protect it. We should insure our home in one of the best insurance company around our town. It is really needed in this new generation. We should be ready for what problem may come to us.

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