01/20/2026
Plumber tips for upcoming freeze
Let’s talk about the Freeze. Plumbers tips.
First thing, locate your emergency shut off valve at the city water meter.This valve is typically located in a concrete box or a black box/black plastic lid top between the street and the sidewalk. Clean this out where you can access the shut off valve. Most shut off valves have two circles, one on the bottom part and one on the valve itself that moves. Lining these two circles up with each other means the water is fully off. I also recommend putting a flag or some
Type of indicator showing where the location of the box is. In case there is snow or icing and you need to locate the box to turn off the valve. Also houses built in last 20 years may have a main shut off valve in the garage wall. An access panel with a ball valve inside.
Attempt to cover your outside hosebibs as best you can. A cover can be bought from stores if they are not sold out. You can also wrap a towel around them and attempt to tape it up.
Open your cabinets where your have plumbing fixtures, opening your cabinets allows heat into the cabinet where the pipes are located keeping them warmer. If you have one I recommend putting a space heater near cabinets where the plumbing pipes are in the exterior wall.
Last freeze we had several call about carbon monoxide detectors going off. If you run your fireplace double check your flu pipe/flapper is fully open.
If you’re able to access your sprinkler system double check device(some are above ground) there should be some handles you can turn off. Turn these off and use a screwdriver to drain the double check assembly. This will keep this from freezing and busting. This should also be insulated if it is located above ground.
Most double check systems that are located in the ground have very rusted handles. I would not attempt to turn these off at this point as it may start a leak.
Another weird thing we saw, customers that lost power for days experienced draining issue with their washing machine. Which was cause by the p-trap fitting being frozen and when they tried to drain the water would back up and flood the laundry room. My best suggestion for this is when it’s alll over and you use the washer, be there to watch the drain cycle to make sure it doesn’t back up.
Tankless water heaters, if your unit is located on the outside of the house you want to make sure you attempt to insulate the pipes inside the access panel. Tankless water heaters located in the home, garage or attic make sure you check for the condensation drain line freezing. This is a very common issue when it gets cold enough. This may cause a small drip in your pan or on the platform below your water heater. This is normal just keep an eye on it and put a bucket underneath if no pan is under the unit.
Last but not least the “drip”. It’s not a drip. Please do not just drip your faucet. It will still freeze up if it’s cold enough long enough or you lose power. It needs to be a stream. If it’s a two handle faucet start by opening the hot side first where it’s a steady stream of water then open the cold side till you can see an increase of flow. If it’s a single lever faucet, open the valve where it’s right in the middle where ideally it would be using some hot and some cold water.
Exterior wall fixtures should have more volume of water streaming out. Toilets located on the outside wall should be flushed every couple of hours.
Also the furthest fixture from the water meter should have a good stream coming out to help keep the water moving in the main lines.
These are just some small tips that may help prevent a major flooding.
Hopefully it’s not as bad as 2021.
