And here we are in January 2018. Cold weather all around the United States. In Great Chicago land area 2 weeks of ridiculous cold weather created a lot of problems in Plumbing. Most of those was related with burst piping in the walls, crawl spaces and even in finished basements. Also the kitchen sink drains because of the grease was the other major problem. Some outside pump drainage frozen, but those are normal and we do not comment.
But what we do with the others? First the winter is always with bad weather, snow, low temperature, So if there is not a right temperature around the piping the problem is there. The normal temperature around the piping with or without insullation is between 60F and 65F at least. In basements can be even 50F-55F with a adequated ventilation. In this conditions you can be safe.
Also before winter if you know you cook a lot and the sink drain is on exterior wall will be recommended to do a proactiv cleaning of the drain. Regular cost for kitchen sink cleaning is $200.00 significantly lower than a burst pipe followed by flodding. Your choise.
At the end proactic means money kept in the pocket.
All the best in 2018.
BBP Plumbing, Inc.