01/23/2026
Cold weather coming this weekend, with temps in the negatives at night. Please consider the tips to avoid plumbing related issues due to the cold.
1. If you have not drained your outside hosebibs by now, please remove your hose attachments, shut the water going to the outside faucet and open the outside to allow the water to drain out. Placing frost covers over old style hose faucets prevent cold air from causing freezes inside. For newer frost-free hosebibs, shut the water off outside and water will drain of the hosebib.
2. Open cabinets to piping that may be on or in exterior walls. This will allow heat from the room to enter the normally closed off space to help prevent trapped cold air that may occur.
3. If you have rooms that are particularly cold, open faucets to a trickle to allow the water to move. The movement in the water lines makes it harder to freeze as well as allow for some expansion should the lines start to freeze.
4. Ensure exterior penetrations for the home are sealed up to eliminate drafts.
5. Ensure pipes in cold areas are insulated and install electric heat tape to lines that can be prone to freezing. This is helpful for piping in basements and crawl spaces where spaces are not heated. Putting an electric space/room heater in the area will also help protect the lines.
6. Close draft hoods on fireplaces when not in use and if not using for the season, install fireplace balloon or insulation blocking to keep draft out of the home.
7. Set your thermostats for you heat to be the same temperature during the day as at night. If the difference is too great between the two, the home may take a while to drop in internal temp to get down to call for heat at the lower temp, this time period where the system isn't moving can be too long and allow piping in colder areas to begin to freeze, with hydronic systems the heat piping too can freeze and no you won't have heat either in your home. Don't not set your thermostat below 60°f if you are going away.
8. If your protperty has hydronic baseboard (forced hot water), make sure you are running your system. If you have supplemental heating such as mini-splits or wood stoves, ensure that the baseboard thermostats are not going to shut off because the secondary heat is warming an area with the baseboard heat thermostats. The baseboards may not circulate water thinking there is no need, but a wood stove can warm a room but may not warm an entire level of a home. Baseboards in cold rooms can be susceptible to drafts and which may cause the heat system to freeze.
9. If you are going away for the weekend and can not be there for when the temps start to warm up, consider shutting water off and draining the system. Even with faucets trickling, lines can still freeze and burst. When the temps rise, the ice will thaw and now your busting pipes will be dumping water everywhere. If you are not there to shut the system off, this can be extremely damaging.
10. Test your sump pumps to ensure they are working. Once temps rise back up, the snow and ice will melt. You want that water to be able to get out if you rely on a pump system normally to do so.
11. Keep your garage doors closed as much as possible to prevent major heat loss.
12. While sunlight warms rooms, consider keeping blinds and curtains closed in rooms that are not being warmed by the sun to prevent cooler air from coming through draft points and older windows.
Remember, if you end up having frozen pipes feel free to reach out to us to help. 603-440-5820.
If you end up having a disaster (pipe bursts, basement floods, sump pump fails and water backs out of pit, etc) feel free to reach out to Jacob Couturier with Household Environmental to help. The team there can get the mess cleaned up, get the ball rolling with your insurance company and start the steps necessary to get your back to normal.
Stay safe and warm friends.
