Cold Weather Tips for Preventing Frozen Pipes

Cold weather tips for your plumbing:

Open up the cabinet doors under your sinks to let the warm air from the house keep your pipes warm.

If any of your plumbing pipes run through unheated areas of your home, let the faucet drip until temperatures are above freezing again.

If you turn on the faucet and no water comes out, or it comes out very slowly, call a plumber right away. Turn off your water at the main shut off valve. Your pipes are frozen!

Never thaw out frozen pipes with an open flame. You will burn your house down or damage the pipe. Use a hand-held hair dryer instead, but not if there’s standing water on the floor! (If there’s standing water, thaw out frozen pipes with hot towels, not anything electric.) Direct the air from the dryer toward the faucet and work your way to the end of the pipe.

If you leave home for an extended period during the winter, don’t turn your heat off unless you have bled all the pipes first. Do that by turning off the water at the main and then running all the faucets until they run dry. If you are away for a short time, don’t turn your heat off or too low. You may come home to frozen pipes!

Wrap water pipes in insulation or lawyers of newspaper, tied on with plastic bags.

Remove, drain and put away your outdoor hoses. If they are out in the yard with water in them, they are going to burst.

If you lower your thermostat at night, don’t do it when the weather is below freezing. Keep those water pipes warm!