Before the cold arrives
Watch the forecast for arctic fronts. The ones that cause trouble usually follow a warm, sunny stretch, so people have not thought about winter yet.
- Disconnect garden hoses. Most Aurora homes have frost-free hose bibs, but they only work if the hose is off. A hose left on traps water in the valve, and it freezes and splits inside the wall.
- Shut down the sprinkler system. Turn off the irrigation supply valve and have the lines blown out. Our sprinkler and swamp cooler guide covers it.
- Open cabinet doors under sinks on outside walls so warm room air reaches the pipes.
- Let faucets drip on the coldest nights, especially ones on exterior walls. Moving water is much harder to freeze, and the drip relieves pressure if ice does form.
- Keep the heat on. If you travel, leave the thermostat at 55 degrees or higher and ask someone to check the house. Many policies limit coverage for freeze damage in a home left unheated.
- Close the garage door. Water lines often run through garage walls or ceilings, and an open door on a zero degree night can freeze them.
Signs a pipe is frozen
A faucet that gives a trickle or nothing at all, frost on an exposed pipe, or a toilet that does not refill all point to a frozen line. Check the faucets on outside walls first.
Thawing a frozen pipe
- Open the faucet the pipe feeds so melting water has somewhere to go.
- Warm the pipe with a hair dryer, heating pad or space heater kept a safe distance away. Start at the faucet end and work back toward the frozen spot.
- Never use a torch or any open flame.
- If you can't reach the frozen section, or it is inside a wall, call a plumber.
Before you thaw anything, find your main shutoff valve. If the pipe has already split, water will start running as soon as the ice melts.
If a pipe bursts
- Shut off the main water valve right away.
- Turn off power to rooms where water is near outlets or fixtures.
- Open a low faucet to drain the lines.
- Photograph the break and every wet area.
- Call a plumber for the pipe, and call us to get a crew drying the house.
Drywall soaks up water for hours after a leak stops. Getting fans and dehumidifiers running the same day keeps the tear-out smaller.
Related services in Aurora, CO
- Emergency water removal: Pumps and extractors for standing water, then fans and dehumidifiers to start drying.
- Frozen and burst pipes: Leaks from pipes that froze in a cold snap, cleaned up and dried before the drywall goes bad.
- Drying and mold prevention: Dehumidifiers, air movers and moisture readings until the walls and floors are dry again.