Home › House Cleaning › House Cleaning: Pipes

House Cleaning: Pipes

Pipes - To Prevent Frost. - Wrap exposed water pipes with bands of hay or straw twisted tight around them, or cover with the asbestos tubes that are on the market for this purpose.

Pumps To Prevent Freezing.-Remove the lower valve and drive a tack into the under side of it, projecting in such a way that the valve cannot quite close. The pump will work as usual, but the water will gradually leak back into the well or cistern.

Or have at hand a suitable hook of stout wire by which to lift the valve and let the water out of the pipe at night.

To Thaw Pipes. If the pipe is accessible, wrap woolen cloths, as old pieces of underwear, carpet, and the like, thickly about it and pour on boiling water. This holds the heat and melts the ice gradually.

Or, if possible, pour boiling water containing as much salt as it will dissolve into the pipe above the frozen part. This will settle and dissolve the ice.

To Clear Drainpipes. - Flush the pipe once a week with boiling water HOUSE CLEANING containing sal soda. Rinse the kitchen sink daily with strong soda water. - To Stop Leaks. For cold-water pipes apply a thick paste of yellow soap and whiting mixed with a little water. Or, if the leak is too large, wrap the pipe tightly with a tarred cloth bandage, melt the tar, and spread it over strong duck canvas or burlap cloth three or four inches wide. Begin to wind the bandage several inches from the leak and lap it one half or more upon itself at each round.

For hot-water pipes mix iron filings with vinegar and sulphuric acid to a thick paste. Dry the pipe, fill the cracks with this mixture, and keep them dry until it sets. This is very durable.

To Protect Lead Pipes. - Coat the inside of the pipe with sulphide of lead. This is insoluble and cannot be acted upon by water. To effect this fill the pipes with a warm concentrated solution of sulphide of potassium, and let stand fifteen or twenty minutes. Then rinse it out. The sulphide coating will be formed by chemical action.

To Clean Boilers. - To prevent scale forming on the inside of the boiler put into it two or three white oak saplings. These will be entirely dissolved in three or four weeks, and the boiler will be clean.

CLEANING THE ATTIC AND CLOSETS - Closets and Drawers. Choose a sunny day and empty the contents of bureau drawers, wardrobes, closets, and other storage places upon an old quilt or a sheet spread upon the lawn.

Shake and dust these vigorously with a whisk broom, and sort them. Put in one pile ragged articles that are no longer useful except for carpet rags or to sell to the ragman; in another, those that are available for dusters, mops, dishcloths, and the like. Lay aside articles that need to be mended or renovated. Separate woolens and flannels, which require protection against moths, from cotton fabrics, which are moth proof. After removing with a whisk broom all traces of moths, hang the larger pieces on the line and leave the others out of doors exposed to direct sunshine.