The City of Wildwood Water Utility Department wants you to know the following tips to protect your home this coming winter.
Property owners are responsible for maintenance of the water service line from the curb to the house, as well as any in-home piping. Wildwood Water Utility encourages customers to be mindful of the following tips and take the necessary precautions as we enter the winter season:
To prepare now:
· Check sprinkler or irrigation systems. Make sure you have turned everything off and have fully drained the systems.
· Identify your home’s freezing points. Check your home for pipes in areas that may be prone to freezing, such as crawl spaces, unheated rooms, basements, garages and exterior walls.
· Know the location of the main water shut-off valve. If a pipe freezes or bursts, shut off water immediately.
· Protect your pipes. Customers are encouraged to wrap exposed pipes with insulation or use electrical heat tracing wire; newspaper or fabric might also work. Prevent pipes from freezing. If you have pipes that are vulnerable to freezing, allow a small trickle of water to run overnight to keep pipes from freezing. Capture this in a container for watering indoor plants and other uses.
· Open cabinet doors to expose pipes. Opening cabinet doors exposes pipes to warmer room temperatures to keep them from freezing.
If pipes freeze, you should:
· Shut off the water immediately. Don't attempt to thaw frozen pipes unless the water is shut off. Freezing can often cause unseen cracks in pipes or joints.
· Apply heat to the frozen pipe by warming the air around it, or by applying heat directly to a pipe. You can use a hair dryer, space heater or hot water. Be sure not to leave space heaters unattended.
· If you cannot turn your water off, call at (609) 846-0600 during normal business hours or (609) 522-0222 after hours.
If you are away, you should:
· Have a friend, relative or neighbor regularly check their property to ensure the heat is working and the pipes have not frozen.
· Set your thermostat. Setting your thermostat at 55 degrees to prevent freezing.
· Consider purchasing a freeze alarm. The alarm will call a user-selected phone number if the inside temperature drops below 45 degrees.