Once you’ve experienced the trauma of frozen water pipes, you take extremely cold weather and the vulnerability of your home more seriously. Due to the low temperature, the water in the pipes freezes. The pipes can then burst and cause major damage. Take some precautions to prepare for freezing water pipes and avoid waking up on a cold morning and turning on the faucet to find no water is coming out.
During a cold spell, run a small trickle of water through the pipes to keep it from freezing. Open the cabinet doors that hide the pipe that goes to the faucet and remove anything inside to allow warm air to circulate around the pipe. If you have copper or plastic tubing, use a hair dryer or heat gun to heat the tubing and melt the water. Direct the heat toward the pipe and away from anything that could be burning from the heater. Use a small space heater to help.
If you succumb to a frozen pipe, a plumber will charge $259, including labor and materials, to thaw it and fix the leak when the pipe bursts. But that’s a tricky business, and often it’s not just a pipe that’s frozen over or within easy reach.
A skilled homeowner with plumbing tools and experience can fix a small ruptured pipe for $65, the cost of the pipe and fittings. You will need a hacksaw or pipe cutter and an assortment of slip joint pliers and pipe wrenches to cut and remove the bad section of pipe and splice a short section of new pipe. You might get lucky and fix it yourself, but we’ve found that hiring a plumber is the way to go when it comes to frozen pipes. Call a pro to fix a galvanized steel pipe.
To avoid freezing pipes in the future, insulate all pipes – especially on the north-facing exterior walls. Cover them with a foam sleeve or wrap strips of fiberglass around them. And pay attention to weather forecasts.
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