Preventing Frozen Pipes in the Treasure Valley

Under the floor near crawl space vents, in exterior walls on the north side, in garage walls and ceilings, and in lines to hose bibs and sprinkler systems.

Disconnect hoses, drain hose bibs, blow out or drain sprinkler lines, close or cover crawl space vents, and insulate pipes under the house and in the garage.

Keep the heat steady, open cabinet doors on outside walls, keep the garage closed and let a faucet on an outside wall drip on the coldest nights.

Valley inversions can hold freezing air for days. Pipes that survive one cold night can freeze on the third or fourth. Keep up the routine until temperatures rise.

Leave the heat on and ask someone to check the house. For long trips, close the main valve and drain the lines.

Open the faucet, then warm the pipe gently from the faucet end with a hair dryer or space heater kept clear of anything that burns. Never use a flame.

Close the main valve, open faucets to drain, and call. See frozen pipe water damage.

Vacant houses in winter are at the highest risk. Keep heat on and check regularly.

Pipes that freeze every winter may need more insulation, a listed heat cable or rerouting. Use only products made for pipes and follow the instructions; homemade fixes can start fires.

Pressurized irrigation and sprinkler systems must be shut off and drained or blown out before the first hard freeze. A backflow device left full of water can crack in one night, and the leak often shows up in spring when the system is turned back on.

When temperatures rise, walk through the house and check the crawl space, garage and exterior walls. Watch the meter with all water off. Many leaks appear during the thaw, not the freeze.

Foam vent covers or plugs are cheap and easy to fit. Put them in after the first hard frost and take them out in spring so the crawl space can breathe in warm weather.

If a kitchen or bathroom sink sits on an outside wall, open the cabinet doors on cold nights so warm air reaches the pipes. Let the faucet drip slowly when temperatures fall well below freezing.

Find the main shut-off valve before winter, label it and make sure it turns. Show everyone in the house where it is.

Keep the garage door closed in a cold snap and seal gaps at the bottom. Garages hold many of the pipes that freeze first.

A faucet with little water on a cold morning, frost on a pipe or a toilet that does not refill are signs of freezing. Act before the thaw.

A smart thermostat can alert you if the house gets too cold, and a temperature sensor in the crawl space or garage can warn you before pipes freeze. Both are inexpensive and easy to install.

Winter inversions in the valley can trap cold air near the ground for days, sometimes with freezing fog. Daytime temperatures may barely rise, so pipes that are slowly cooling never get a break. That is why the third or fourth day of an inversion is often when pipes finally freeze. Keep the cold snap routine going until the pattern breaks.

Open the faucet the pipe serves and warm the pipe gently with a hair dryer, starting at the faucet end. Keep space heaters away from anything that can burn. If the frozen section is inside a wall or you see any water, close the main valve and call.

Landlords should make sure heat stays on between tenants and that someone checks vacant homes during cold snaps. A frozen pipe in an empty house can run for days before anyone notices.

Most frozen pipes are preventable. A short fall routine and a cold snap habit protect your home through the coldest weeks of the year, even when the valley stays under freezing fog for days.

Keep a hair dryer and a flashlight near the crawl space access in winter so you are ready to act quickly if a pipe freezes.

Hoses off, vents closed, sprinklers drained, pipes insulated and the main valve tested. It is the cheapest insurance there is.

Questions about preventing frozen pipes in the treasure valley? Call (208) 923-0564 to reach a local Caldwell provider, 24 hours a day.