You turn on the water on a frigid morning, and… nothing. You know immediately that it’s frozen, and a sense of dread overwhelms you – and for good reason. Frozen pipes may sound harmless, but they can cause a lot of damage to a home’s plumbing. Water expands and contracts as it freezes and thaws, and doing this inside your pipes can cause breakage, leading to water damage.
How to Prevent Your Pipes from Freezing
If you haven’t already, make sure that all of your outdoor pipes (over-ground sprinklers, pool lines, even garden hoses) are drained and stored. Ensure that the inside of your home is warm enough that water in the pipes stays liquid, and on especially frigid nights open cabinets in your kitchen and bathrooms to let the heat circulate. Let faucets drip to ensure that water keeps moving through the pipes. Pipe insulation can also be useful for tricky exposed pipes.
Treating Frozen Pipes
Frozen water in your pipes is not something you want to ignore. Turn off your home’s main water line immediately in order to prevent additional water from flowing in and causing a flood. Once the water is off, call in a licensed plumbing professional to help with thawing the pipes safely and checking for any burst pipes.
If you are unlucky enough to be affected by frozen pipes, call Vargas and Vargas Insurance Agency – we can help you start a claim on your homeowner’s insurance and will get you on the road to being good as new. During regular business hours, call 617-298-0655. Outside of those hours, you can call our 24/7 emergency line at 617-322-5289.
