How you can Defend Your Water Filter System from Freezing

Relying on the place you reside, temperatures have probably dropped under freezing, or frigid climate is within the rapid forecast. Whichever the case, a significant a part of retaining your property secure through the teeth-clenching chilly is caring on your home equipment – not simply your heating gadgets, humidifiers, and so forth., but in addition your water filter system.

As you’ll quickly uncover on this article, chilly climate can do greater than put a damper in your temper. It may additionally trigger probably costly injury to your property water filter system, particularly whether it is put in in an space weak to frost or freezing, corresponding to an unheated storage, basement, or pump home.

However how do chilly temperatures have an effect on water filter methods? Do you actually need to ‘winterize’ your property water filter? What are you able to do to guard it from freezing and guarantee it performs optimally after the face-freezing climate subsides? This text explains all that and extra.

Do You Actually Must Winterize Your Water Filter System?

Earlier than winterizing your water filter system, you first want to contemplate the filter’s location and whether or not or not you propose to make use of it through the chilly climate. Is the system put in open air in an unheated house or inside your property? Will you be staying at dwelling for any size of time through the winter months, or will you be heading someplace – maybe a cabin or cottage –with a hotter local weather?

The situation of your water filter system makes a substantial distinction for winterization. When you have remedy tools in an unheated storage or basement, it’s worthwhile to take precautions to guard it from freezing. Water remedy tools put in in a storage, for example, might be prone to break from freezing if it has water flowing by means of it. Components corresponding to failing seals, under-door gaps, and folks leaving the storage door opened for too lengthy (even for a couple of minutes in bad-enough circumstances) enhance the chance of the chilly getting in and freezing the unit.

Fortunately, in case your water filter system is put in inside your property and the circumstances are perfect for stopping freezing (extra on this later), you most likely solely want to watch the pipes that offer water to your water filter system.

Whether or not or not you determine to make use of your water filter system at dwelling throughout winter may decide if it’s worthwhile to winterize it. When you plan to depart dwelling for hotter pastures earlier than the climate turns dangerous, we recommend disconnecting the system and draining the tanks. This ensures there received’t be any water left within the system that would freeze and trigger injury. Then once more, even when you use the filter all through the chilly season, it solely takes a fast dip in temperature to trigger standing water within the pipes or the filter system to freeze. Fortuitously, there are methods to make sure your water filter system is secure in any case.

What Occurs When a Water Filter System Freezes?

Everytime you use a water filter, you may anticipate some water to stay contained in the system. This shouldn’t be an excessive amount of of an issue throughout hotter seasons, like spring and summer time, however it might probably trigger vital injury through the colder winter months.

When the water’s temperature falls under 4°C (39.2°F), the water molecules broaden by roughly 9%. Now, suppose what occurs if there’s water in an ‘unwinterized’ water filter system and the temperature drops under freezing.

Because the climate will get colder, the water in your pipes, faucets, filters, and elsewhere begins freezing. As soon as the water is frozen, it expands and should exert extreme stress on elements within the filter system, inflicting them to crack or separate. These breaks within the system could end in water escaping and flooding your property. Apart from, because the water freezes, it might probably transfer round and deform plastic and steel elements and trigger different damages to the filtration system.

There’s additionally the potential of ice crystals absorbing into the filter media as a result of freezing temperatures. Ice crystals within the filter media can create micro-cracks, expansions, or “holes” within the water filter cartridge itself which can be bigger than the pore dimension of the filter.

When this occurs, unfiltered unpurified water could movement by means of the system with out ample filtration. Not solely is that this an costly drawback to have, however it might probably trigger probably harmful contaminants to slide by means of the sometimes-invisible cracks within the filter media, infiltrate your property’s water provide, and taint your ingesting water.

What’s extra, the now-larger holes within the filter can permit bigger particles to get by means of the filter, decreasing its effectiveness – and when you’ve been studying our posts, what occurs when individuals ingest or get uncovered to particular water contaminants: ailments, pores and skin irritations, being pregnant points, elevated danger of most cancers, and others too many to listing right here.

When injury to your water filter system happens resulting from freezing, the system’s structural integrity could get compromised, that means the system probably received’t filter your water in addition to it used it, if any in any respect. Heck, you may not even discover till the temperatures rise and also you strive rerunning the system.

When you’re fortunate, a restore could repair the issue, nevertheless it’s extra probably you’ll want to switch it outright. Apart from, some insurance coverage firms received’t cowl the injury or the substitute value, which might be costly to foot out-of-pocket. That’s why we recommend checking together with your insurance coverage firm to see they are going to present protection on your water filter system in case of any injury of this nature.

Ideas for Maintaining Your Water Filter System Secure from Freezing

Whether or not you might be staying at dwelling this winter season or venturing off to a heat cottage or cabin, there are easy steps you may take to guard your water filter system from freezing.

· Examine the set up space of your water filter system earlier than the chilly climate units in.

Damaged home windows, drafty holes, and lacking insulation are just some of the various issues that may expose your water filter system to sub-freezing temperatures and presumably injury it. When you discover any of those points in your house, rapidly rectify them. In any other case, you danger not having a sound working water filter system when the brand new season begins – except you haven’t any drawback shelling out presumably giant sums to restore or substitute the system.

· Add ample insulation.

Bundle up your water filter system with plumbing sleeves and insulation for the chilly season. Native {hardware} or dwelling enchancment shops have insulation supplies, like fiberglass sleeves and foam rubber that may match round your total water filter. Many even have further items to guard the pipes resulting in and out of your water remedy system. You could possibly additionally construct an insulated field across the water filter system or use an previous ice chest with a store mild inside to scale back the chance of freeze injury.

Whichever technique you select, ensure to chop the insulation supplies to suit the filter system and the encompassing plumbing. Afterward, safe the insulation items in place together with your favourite zip ties, cable, or tape to assist lower the probabilities of your pipes and filter system freezing.

Maintaining warmth circulating inside the home additionally helps. Which means closing the storage door, utilizing caulk to seal up the cracks and holes all through the home, fixing the roof, and taking different steps to maintain the nice and cozy air in and the chilly air out. That method, your water filter system isn’t uncovered to excessive chilly.

· Go away the warmth on.

Whether or not or not you’re at dwelling through the chilly interval, it’s essential to keep up a continuing, hotter temperature in your house to forestall your water filter system and plumbing from freezing. Leaving your property for an prolonged interval together with your thermostat off places your water filter system susceptible to injury as a result of chilly. Due to this fact, you should definitely hold your thermostat set to no decrease than 55°F while you’re away. (A thermostatically managed house heater may very well be a handy possibility right here.) In case you are involved about warmth loss resulting from energy outages, you should buy a secure propane or kerosene house heater to maintain the filter system heat on these frigid nights when storm fronts roll by means of and knock timber throughout energy traces. Simply keep in mind, it’s not a good suggestion to function unvented combustion heaters in inhabited areas.

· Drain the filter.

As we talked about earlier, injury to your water remedy system in chilly circumstances is usually attributable to the growth of frozen water. To stop this, ensure to empty all of the water from the filter when you don’t plan to make use of it throughout winter. First, shut the water off to forestall water from flowing into the system. Subsequent, open all of the taps in the home and let the water drain out. You may as well use a siphoning gadget to extract any water remaining within the filter system or join a compressor to it and blow all of the water out of the pipes and the filter itself. In case your water remedy system has any filter housings, take away them, unscrew the drain plug on the backside, empty them, and put them again with no filters inside.

· Permit a gradual drip from the tap.

Water filter methods have a more durable time freezing when the water inside them is consistently transferring. When you’ll be away from dwelling for just a few days, think about leaving the kitchen faucet to drip steadily. A gradual drip will assist stress escape as water flows by means of the system and work to forestall injury to the inside elements. Additionally, ensure to set a container underneath the tap to catch all of the water. When you get again dwelling, you should use this water for varied functions. So simple as it sounds, this trick can prevent from coping with a broken water filter system and the related bills repairs or substitute.

· Transfer your reverse osmosis water filter system to a heat location.

Reverse osmosis (RO) water filtering methods are safer when relocated to a hotter space throughout winter. That’s as a result of there isn’t a secure approach to winterize an RO filter. As soon as the system freezes, the RO membrane – one of many system’s costliest elements – can develop into dry and cracked. A damaged RO membrane isn’t solely pricey to switch, however it might probably additionally permit water to cross by means of it with out getting filtered. As such, we suggest disconnecting the RO unit, draining it (utilizing steps outlined above), and transferring it to someplace heat for the winter.

· Shut down the filter.

In some circumstances, shutting down the water filter system, draining it, and maybe transferring it to a hotter location may be the very best transfer to maintain the system secure through the winter. This primarily applies to cabins or trip houses that individuals go away unattended for weeks or months at a time.

Remaining Ideas

Because the temperatures drop and the chilly climate units in, be sure to’re taking steps to winterize your water filter system. Along with stopping your water filter system from freezing, you additionally need to monitor your water high quality throughout these frigid climate months. When you discover any modifications within the odor or style of your ingesting water, you may order a water check equipment and ship a pattern to a laboratory to have your water examined completely. Don’t let the chilly damage your valuable water filter system and cease you from getting the standard ingesting water you and your loved ones deserve. So, take the correct measures in the present day to guard towards the brutal and formidable chilly.