☎ 844-542-6315
← All Plumbing Tips

Seasonal · 5 min read

Winterizing your plumbing

Prevent frozen pipes — outdoor faucets, exposed lines, and vacant homes. An afternoon of prep saves a $15,000 burst-pipe claim.

Water expands roughly 9% when it freezes. A pipe full of frozen water generates enough pressure to split copper, crack PEX fittings, and rupture brass valves. The actual flood happens after the thaw, when pressurized water finds the new opening. Winterizing is about keeping water out of any pipe that could see freezing temperatures.

Outdoor faucets and hose bibs

  1. Disconnect every garden hose. A connected hose traps water at the bib — it freezes, splits the spigot, and you don't find out until spring.
  2. Find the indoor shutoff for each outdoor faucet. Close it.
  3. Open the outdoor faucet and leave it open through winter. This drains the line and gives any residual water somewhere to expand.
  4. Add an insulated faucet cover ($5 at any hardware store) over each outdoor spigot.

Frost-free hose bibs still need this treatment if a hose is left attached — the trapped water can't drain back, so the bib freezes inside the wall and splits where you can't see it.

Sprinkler systems

Don't skip this. A blown-out sprinkler manifold is a multi-thousand-dollar repair.

  1. Shut off the water supply to the system at the backflow preventer.
  2. Set the controller to "rain" or "off."
  3. Have an irrigation tech blow out the lines with compressed air. DIY only if you have a sufficient-CFM compressor — too small and you don't clear the laterals; too big and you blow the heads.
  4. Insulate the backflow preventer or, in cold climates, remove and store it.

Exposed and unheated pipes

  • Crawl spaces, basements, garages, attics: wrap any exposed supply line with foam pipe insulation. It's cheap and slips on in seconds.
  • Pipes in exterior walls: the highest-risk pipes in a house. If a faucet is on an exterior wall, leave the cabinet door open during cold snaps so warm air reaches the lines.
  • Pipes that have frozen before: add electric heat tape with a thermostat. It's the only reliable solution for chronically vulnerable runs.

During a hard freeze (under 20°F)

  • Let one cold faucet on each level drip overnight — moving water is much harder to freeze than still water.
  • Keep the thermostat at 55°F minimum, even when away.
  • Open kitchen and bathroom cabinets to let warm air around the supply lines.
  • If you lose heat, drain the system before the house drops below freezing.

If you're leaving the house empty

For more than a few days in freezing weather:

  1. Set thermostat to 55°F. Don't go lower.
  2. Shut off the main water supply at the meter or main shutoff.
  3. Open the highest and lowest faucets in the house to drain the system.
  4. Flush toilets to empty the tanks. Pour RV antifreeze in each toilet bowl and trap (sinks, tubs, washing machine) to keep the traps from freezing dry.
  5. Turn the water heater to "vacation" mode. If gone more than 2 weeks, drain it.
  6. Have a neighbor check the house every few days during cold snaps.

If a pipe freezes

  1. Open the faucet served by the frozen line — gives the ice somewhere to expand as it melts.
  2. Apply heat from the faucet end backward. Hair dryer, heating pad, or towels soaked in hot water. Never an open flame.
  3. If you can't find or reach the frozen section, or the pipe has already burst, close the main shutoff and call. We're 24/7.

One thing worth installing

A whole-house automatic shutoff (Flo by Moen, Phyn, etc.) detects abnormal flow and closes the main valve automatically. $400–$700 installed — the cost of a single drywall repair from a leak. Particularly worth it if you travel often or the house has any history of pipe issues.