The Big Freeze
- seadiver5
- Nov 7
- 4 min read
Do you remember the deep freeze of winter 2024?
This is a great time to grab yourself a cup of coffee and consider the following.
We finally have some below freezing weather coming to the local area so it's once again time to start preparing for the freezing cold effects on homes that are traditionally not built to withstand them. So what's the difference you might wonder. Well homes that are built in areas that have sustained sub freezing temperatures are structured in ways that help prevent them from freezing up. They often do things like keep the plumbing in warmer areas of the house, Insulation differs, on and on so what is it you need to do.
First the considerations: Why water stops flowing and where the floods and water damage comes from as frozen pipes thaw... Plumbing in our area is traditionally run through the outside walls and crawlspaces leaving them closer to or fully exposed to the coldest parts of the house. Plumbing comes is two forms. 1. Pressurized/supply plumbing and 2. drain plumbing. While drain plumbing can potentially become an issue it rarely ever does so we will focus on the Pressurized or Supply plumbing because this is both where the water stops flowing and the flooding can originate.
Now before we move on with anything you will need to locate any and all water shutoffs to your home and where your water meter is. It never hurts to mark your water shutoffs so you will know what to turn off if an emergency should arise.
First of all the goal is to keep our pipes warm enough so they don't freeze. There are multiple ways to do this so lets dive in. Hose bibs: It should be pretty obvious that since hose bibs are protruding outside the home the cold air and wind directly contacts them. Even though newer homes have what is considered "frost free" hose bibs they can still freeze up. My go to for this is to cover them with a standard Styrofoam Faucet Cover. This is the bell shaped device that covers the hose bib and seals to the wall of the house. How do these actually work? Well they rely on the heat that is constantly radiating from the inside of your home to become trapped inside the Styrofoam cover to keep the plumbing warmer than freezing. They also keep the convection effect of wind from taking heat off of the hose bib. They work well in most cases.
Next lets go inside the house. Now that we are inside we need to think about what we can do to keep the water moving. The first and easiest thing to do is open all enclosed spaces to heat. People often close up rooms and shut off heat to those rooms in an effort to save money and energy but for the few days a year that we are affected by cold leaving these rooms open and warm is a good idea. Next open the cupboards under all sinks and access ports under bathtubs if applicable and leave them open. It only makes sense to keep the areas with the plumbing as warm as possible. Additionally most outside hose bibs T off of sink plumbing so this will be helping you to keep them from freezing as well.
Physics: All of our favorite subject in school... right? Actually this is simple and so effective. Moving water creates a state that makes it hard for Ice Crystals to form so "Dripping your Faucets" can be incredibly effective in keeping all the pipes in your home flowing free. All you need is for them to "Drip" so don't overdo it. If you don't believe me think about this. Lakes and Ponds will freeze long before the Rivers and Streams running out of them will...
Don't overlook your garage. Often garages house washing machines, Hot water heaters, and sinks among other things.
In the land of Spiders, Snakes, Rats and Mice... Crawlspaces are no fun and this may well be where you want a professional to help you out and this is why: Crawlspaces are vented to the outside of the home for healthy house reasons. A well ventilated crawlspace is something that you want however a well ventilated crawlspace also allows the cold in. Since the plumbing pipe is exposed to all this cold weather it can easily freeze. Frozen crawlspace pipes can be a bear to thaw out intentionally so insulating the pipes is the way to go. There can be a couple of ways to do this either with foam insulation or heat tape. Both of these should be installed before the freeze but in the case of foam insulation, definitely do not install on already frozen pipes.
Now for flooding. It's very easy for steel, copper and some plastic pipe to get small to large splits due to ice expansion in them. Flooding can come quick and be devastating to your home. You won't know what will flood until the pipes thaw and depending upon the size of the hole it may take months to find them. Even slow leaks can be devastating to your home because they can promote mold growth and rot. It's important to know how to shut the flow of water off to your home so you can limit the damage as much as possible.
Final thoughts: Portable space heaters and open flame torches (propane or butane or Map gas) can be dangerous. Many people used to utilize bare light bulbs as a safer alternative to warm areas like the inside of cabinets or in a "tented off area" etc. however modern LED light bulbs don't put off any heat so this is a technique that will no longer work (unless you have an old incandescent bulb laying around somewhere). No matter which of these methods you may use just remember that to employ any of them may cause fires so take all the necessary precautions and monitor their use frequently.
Wow I think I need another cup of coffee.
If you would like to speak with me personally about any of what I've said here you can feel free to contact me.
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