Preventing Frozen Pipes

Because of the usually mild winters here in Virginia, we do not often think of frozen pipes until an artic frost is forecast or when it’s too late and the pipes are already frozen. Now is a good time to prepare to avoid frozen pipes. The typical advice on very cold nights is to let a small stream of water run in the bathroom furthest from the water main entry. Do not do this if you have a septic system, it will overload the septic system. If you are on public water and sewer this can work, but will increase our water cost for the month.

In Virginia bathrooms are often build above garages or have pipes that run through dormers. If you have a bathroom above a garage keep a small ceramic electric heater ($40) connected to a thermocouple that turns it on when the temperature in the garage falls below 40 degrees Fahrenheit. Turn on the heating cube in the garage and check it functioning. It goes without saying that the garage door should be closed on cold days.

After garages and dormers the most likely pipes to freeze are against exterior walls of the home, or are exposed to the cold, like outdoor hose bibs, and water supply pipes in unheated interior areas like basements and crawl spaces, attics, or kitchen cabinets. Pipes that run against exterior walls that have little or no insulation are also subject to freezing. When the weather is forecast to fall into the single digits or lower open the cabinet doors below sinks located on outside walls or against attic dormers, and keep the heat set over 60 degrees.

By this time of year you should have turned off the water to your outside hoses, there should be a valve for each in the basement next to the main water line. In older homes this is not always true. Next, unscrew the hoses. Most modern homes have frost-free sillcocks (hose bibs) installed, and if they are properly installed with a correct angel to drain the water back they should be fine all winter; however, sometimes they are simply not installed right.

If you have a well, your well supply line can freeze. In sub-zero weather wells with and without separate well houses can freeze. Keeping the temperature in a well house above freezing or your well pipe insulated can prevent this. It used to be that an inefficient 100 watt incandescent bulb gave off enough heat to do the job, but now with more efficient bulbs insulation and other sources of heat have to be used. An electric blanket can do the job. Deep wells are unlikely to freeze, it’s usually a supply line that was not buried deep enough, but the turn at the pitless adaptor can freeze.

When there is a thick layer of snow on the ground the snow actually helps to insulate the water well line and the septic system and keep them from freezing. Unfortunately, the rare artic freeze we get in Virginia does not always come with a thick snow cover. Dropping temperatures without snow cover can allow the pipes in septic systems to freeze and/or can identify a well line that was not buried deep enough.

The typical advice on very cold nights is to let a small stream of water run in the bathroom furthest from the water main entry, but this will overload your septic system. However, do use the water especially hot water if you are worried your system is starting to freeze. This would be an excellent night to run a load of hot water laundry before bed followed up by the dishwasher.