A frozen pipe is one of the more stressful things that can happen to a home, and Durham gets just enough cold each winter to make it a risk. The good part is that the pipes at risk sit in predictable places. Protecting them takes an afternoon in the fall and a few small habits on cold nights. This post walks through where to look, what to do, and how to handle a pipe that freezes anyway.
Why pipes split
Water expands as it freezes. In a closed pipe, ice forms at the coldest point and traps the water between itself and a closed faucet. As the ice grows, pressure builds in that trapped water until a fitting or the pipe wall gives way. The split is usually a little downstream of the ice, and the leak often stays hidden until things thaw. That is why so many burst pipes are found on the afternoon after a freeze rather than during it, and why the habits below focus on relieving pressure as much as adding warmth.
Where Triangle homes are vulnerable
Pipes here freeze in a handful of places, and knowing them is half the work. Outdoor spigots freeze first, along with the short run of pipe behind them. Supply lines in the crawl space come next, especially near open foundation vents where the wind moves across them. Pipes in exterior walls, including the ones behind kitchen and bathroom sinks on an outside wall, freeze when the cabinet doors stay closed and block warm room air. Garages with a water heater or a laundry hookup, attic lines, and the pipe feeding an irrigation backflow preventer round out the list. If your home is on a well, add the line from the well head to the house and the lines inside the well house, which usually depend on a small heater or insulation that can fail quietly.
Once each fall
- Disconnect and drain the garden hoses, and fit insulated covers on the spigots.
- Wrap every exposed pipe in the crawl space, garage, and attic with foam pipe insulation.
- Close the foundation vents and seal gaps around pipe penetrations, dryer vents, and the sill with foam or caulk.
- Shut down and drain the irrigation system.
- If you have a well, check that the heat lamp or heater in the well house works and the insulation is intact.
On the night of a hard freeze
- Open the cabinet doors under sinks on exterior walls so room heat can reach the pipes.
- Keep the thermostat at 55 degrees or higher overnight, even if you are away.
- Set a faucet at the far end of the house to a slow drip. Moving water resists freezing, and an open faucet relieves the pressure that splits a pipe.
- If you are leaving town during a cold stretch, shut off the main water valve and open a faucet to drain the pressure from the lines.
If a pipe freezes
A frozen pipe usually shows up as a faucet that gives a trickle or nothing at all, sometimes with frost on the visible section. Leave that faucet open. Then warm the frozen section slowly with a hair dryer, a heating pad, or towels soaked in hot water, working from the faucet back toward the ice. Please never use a torch or any open flame on a pipe. As the ice melts, the water will start to flow again, and the open faucet gives it somewhere to go.
If a pipe has burst
First, close the main shutoff valve and open a few faucets to drain the lines. Then let us know, and we will get someone out for frozen and burst pipe repair. The technician finds the break, replaces the damaged section, and checks the rest of the run, because a hard freeze rarely damages just one spot. Older homes with galvanized steel supply lines, or with polybutylene, a gray plastic pipe used from the late 1970s into the mid 1990s, tend to freeze and fail in the same places winter after winter. Once that pattern sets in, repiping the vulnerable runs is usually gentler on the budget over a few years than repairing them one freeze at a time, and we are glad to walk you through both options.
We are here any hour
Happy Home Services has served the Triangle since 1955. If you hear water running behind a wall or see a wet ceiling after a freeze, shut off the main valve and reach us 24/7 by phone or website chat, or use our emergency plumbing page to request service. Every repair comes with honest, upfront pricing with a 100% money-back guarantee, and members of the VIP Club pay no overtime charges for after-hours or weekend calls.