How to prevent frozen pipes this winter

A frozen pipe isn't just an inconvenience — when the water inside freezes and expands, the pipe can crack or split, and the real damage comes when it thaws and that crack lets water pour into your walls or basement. In our region, where temperatures regularly drop well below freezing for weeks at a time, frozen and burst pipes are one of the most common — and most expensive — winter calls we make. Almost all of it is preventable.

Why pipes freeze

Pipes freeze when they're exposed to cold air and the water inside sits still long enough to drop below freezing. The pipes at highest risk are the ones in unheated or poorly insulated spaces: exterior walls, crawlspaces, unfinished basements, garages, and the lines running to outdoor hose bibs. The danger isn't the cold itself — it's still water losing heat to cold air on all sides.

The prep: before the cold hits

Disconnect and drain outdoor hoses. This is the single most important step. A hose left attached to a bib traps water in the fixture, and when that water freezes, it expands back into the pipe inside the wall. Disconnect every hose in the fall, shut the indoor valve that feeds the outdoor bib (if you have one), and open the bib to drain it. Frost-free hose bibs help, but only if the hose is disconnected — the frost-free design drains the stem, and a connected hose defeats that.

Insulate vulnerable pipes. Foam pipe insulation sleeves are cheap and effective. Focus on pipes in unheated spaces — crawspaces, unfinished basements, garages, and anywhere a pipe runs along an exterior wall. For pipes in genuinely cold spots, consider heat tape or heat cable with a thermostat; it turns on when the temperature drops and keeps the pipe just above freezing.

Seal the drafts. Cold air leaking into the spaces where pipes live is the real enemy. Caulk and spray-foam gaps where pipes, wires, or vents enter the house, and seal openings around basement windows and rim joists. A pipe in a drafty corner of a crawlspace freezes far faster than one in a sealed, insulated space.

Keep the heat on, even when you're away. If you travel in winter, don't set the thermostat below 13°C (55°F) — and warmer is safer. The cost of heating an empty house is a fraction of the cost of a burst pipe. Open the cabinet doors under kitchen and bathroom sinks so warm air reaches the pipes in the exterior wall behind them, and let a faucet on an exterior wall drip slightly during the coldest nights; moving water is far harder to freeze than still water.

The coldest nights: active defence

When a deep cold snap is in the forecast, a few habits make a big difference:

• Let a faucet drip. A slow drip from the faucet furthest from where the water enters the house keeps water moving through the whole system. Moving water resists freezing, and even a tiny flow relieves the pressure that builds if ice does form — which is what actually causes the pipe to burst.
• Open cabinet doors. Kitchen and bathroom cabinets on exterior walls trap cold air between the pipe and the room. Open the doors so room-temperature air circulates around the plumbing.
• Keep the garage door closed. If you have plumbing in the garage or a wall shared with it, a closed garage door keeps the space dramatically warmer.
• Keep the thermostat steady. Don't drop the temperature overnight during a cold snap. The few dollars you save on overnight setback aren't worth the risk to pipes that are already cold.

If a pipe does freeze

If you turn on a tap and get only a trickle or nothing, a pipe has likely frozen somewhere between the tap and the main. Keep the tap open. As the frozen section thaws, water will start to flow, and an open faucet relieves the pressure that could otherwise burst the pipe.

Never use an open flame or a torch to thaw a pipe. A hair dryer on low, a space heater kept a safe distance away, or warm towels wrapped around the pipe are the safe choices. Start at the faucet and work back toward the frozen section, so thawing water has somewhere to go. If you can't find the frozen spot, or if the pipe has visibly split or is bulging, shut the main water valve and call us — we'll find the freeze, thaw it safely, and repair any damage before it floods.

The one thing that fails most often

In our experience, the pipes that freeze aren't usually the dramatic ones — they're the outdoor hose bib someone forgot to disconnect, or the pipe in the crawlspace where a piece of insulation fell off and nobody noticed. The disconnect-and-drain step on every outdoor hose, every fall, prevents more burst pipes than every other measure combined. Make it a habit, the same weekend you swap the seasonal tires.

If you'd rather not roll the dice, we can identify the vulnerable pipes in your home, insulate them, and install frost-free hose bibs where they're missing — a small investment that prevents the single most expensive winter plumbing failure we see.