Although the temperatures are rising and spring appears to be just around the corner, that doesn鈥檛 mean your waterlines are safe from freezing.
In fact, according to Bruce Thompson, operations manager for the municipality, at this time of year, they鈥檙e more prone to freezing than during the dead of winter.
鈥淲hen warm weather comes, people think that they can turn their bleeder off or their tap off, when in fact the opposite is true because the insulation value of the snow goes away when it starts to melt.鈥�
It鈥檚 the snow鈥檚 insulation on the earth鈥檚 surface that prevents frost from creeping down into the ground toward waterlines. When the snow melts, it loses the air pockets within it and, in turn, it loses its insulating qualities.
This has been the situation in Jasper in recent weeks, and so far the municipality has been called to fix more than 30 frozen waterlines.
The way to prevent such issues, said Thompson, is to run a tap or a bleeder beginning in November and carrying through to the spring, with water flowing at all times.
A bleeder is a valve in the main waterline that runs a small amount of water through the line. For homes without bleeders, it is also possible to just run a tap in the laundry room or bathroom with a low output.
鈥淭he bleeder [or tap] should be run so that the flow of water is about the diameter of a pencil,鈥� said Thompson, noting that the cost of running a tap for five months is subsidized by the municipality.
鈥淚f you do want to run a tap in your house to keep your waterlines from freezing, you can call our utility clerk and arrange a credit, so that you don鈥檛 end up paying for that extra water you use. It doesn鈥檛 cost anybody to run a tap to prevent freezing.鈥�
When a waterline freezes, municipal staff is sent to the house to spray a pressurized hot water hose into the service line in order to thaw the frozen water.
鈥淲e鈥檝e had a couple that we鈥檝e had to go back to again because the [homeowner] decided not to leave the tap running.
鈥淥f those 30 [frozen lines], many of them belong to people that know that they鈥檝e had this challenge before.鈥�
Thompson asks that anyone who knows their pipes are prone to freezing call the utility clerk, get signed up for the credit and start running their taps or bleeders.
Nicole Veerman[email protected]
