Preventing frozen, burst water pipes

FRANKFORT, Ky. (WTVQ) – The freezing cold temperatures can bring some risks to your house and water pipes.

“Everybody needs to, while it’s nice outside [Wednesday] and [Thursday], take a walk around the outside of their house, look at their crawl space vents and make sure they’re closed,” says Joe Hancock, owner of Whitehead Hancock Plumbing, Heating, & Cooling in Frankfort.

Hancock says every spring people open up their crawl spaces to air them out, but they also need to make sure to close those in the winter to keep their pipes from freezing.

“Check your weather stripping around your doors, around your windows. Make sure that your weather stripping is- that you’re not getting a bunch of cold air within the house,” says Hancock.

Lexington Emergency Management recommends insulating your pipes or using heating tape, but Hancock says it’s probably too late to try adding more. Instead, he says people should focus on other preventative measures like leaving cabinet doors open and dripping faucets.

“Make sure the house stays at a consistent temperature, whether you want it at 65 or 75 makes no difference,” says Hancock. “When you shut off portions of the house, you allow that section of the house to become susceptible to different temperatures.”

Hancock says any pipes can freeze or burst, even ones marketed as being unbreakable. If your pipes do burst, Hancock says immediately shut off your water valve to keep your house from flooding and call a plumber. Though rare, if your pipes just freeze without bursting, here’s Hancock’s advice.

“A simple hair dryer going up and down the pipes in where it’s frozen and will help thaw the lines,” says Hancock. “If they’re frozen solid, you’re going to have to call a professional. Don’t take an open flame and put it in the crawl space. Don’t take a turbo heater and put it in the crawl space. That’s very dangerous, you’re going to burn your house down.”