It’s not too late to protect your pipes from the freeze
COLLEGE STATION, Texas (KBTX) – One thing to watch out for during a freeze is the risk of plumbing issues, like frozen or bursting pipes.
Preventing water from freezing in your pipes in the first place is one way to keep that from happening.
Plumbing experts said to run a pencil-width stream – not just a drip – of water out of your faucet.
This will keep the water moving through the pipes, making it harder to freeze.
”They say to drip your faucet, which can be misleading. Dripping your faucets isn’t typically enough when the temperatures are gonna be below freezing for an extended period of time,” general manager of Benjamin Franklin Plumbing Brent Blassingame said.
Another important step to take is to keep things insulated, which Blassingame said can be DIY-ed.
“You can always take some wall insulation or fiberglass and wrap it around with tape, whatever you can do to keep these guys out of the wind and out of the weather,” he said.
Exterior pipes also need to be insulated. If you haven’t disconnected your water hoses yet, there may be cause for concern.
“Whenever that happens, it’ll freeze and break this tube. So your water won’t start leaking immediately, but then once you go to turn this guy back on, this is cracked,” he added.
If you realize your pipes are frozen, Blassingame said to find your water meter and turn it off. Still, some leaks won’t show up until the ice starts to melt.
“If there was a leak during the freeze, when you turn that water back on there’s still going to be the same leak and it’s going to be gushing out at that point,” he said.
When that happens, plumbers get busy. Blassingame said he expects him and his crew to work from sunup to sundown.
