LAFAYETTE, LA (January 18, 2025) – The temperature is forecast to hit 32 degrees just before 10 p.m. on Sunday, January 19, 2025, in Acadiana. You have today and tomorrow to get these chores done, and feel safe and comfortable going into this major freeze. Or not, and go to bed worrying and wondering if your water pipes will bust.
1. Insulate pipes
What to do: Wrap exposed pipes with foam pipe insulation, especially under houses if you can and any other exposed pipes. CPVC plastic water lines (off-white, tan looking) are notorious for busting during a freeze, so insulate them.
2. Allow a very small stream of water to flow out of one of your faucets during the freeze
What to do: Turn on the hot and cold handles of a faucet furthest away from the front of your house or water meter, allowing a very small mix of warm and cold water to flow out of the faucet. Only one faucet is necessary. Moving water is less likely to freeze, reducing the risk of frozen pipes. Water pressure may go down temporarily, but it will go down for a long time if everyone’s pipes burst. Ask your water company for a reduced rate during the freeze.
3. Open cabinet doors AND your inside attic door
What to do: Open cabinet doors along outside walls to allow the warm air of your home to circulate inside the cabinets where copper pipes and other types of water lines are located. Crack open your inside attic door to allow the warm air of your home to circulate in the attic to help protect the pipes up there. Every little bit of warmth touching the pipes helps.
4. Disconnect outdoor hoses
What to do: Remove garden hoses from outdoor hose bibbs and cover the hose bibbs with insulated covers. This prevents water in the hoses and hose bibbs from freezing and building up pressure that can cause burst pipes.
5. Block the wind as best as possible from hitting your exposed pipes under raised houses
What to do: Place a barrier between the ground and your raised house to block the wind. Use wood, metal, tarps or even heavy bed sheets. Metal pipes have a wind-chill factor much like human skin. The outside air temperature might be 32 degrees, but with a wind chill factor the temperature of the metal pipes can be significantly lower.
Bonus Tip: Put an electric heater or heat lamp in the room or area where it’s hard to keep pipes from freezing, such as a shed with a washing machine or a barn with exposed water lines. Use common sense with placement of a heater so you don’t accidentally burn down your structure.
Double Bonus Tip: Locate your water meter or water shut off valve for your house. Figure out how to turn the water off or prearrange to get help so that if you do have a water leak you can prevent costly damages to your home.
Triple Bonus: If you have an outdoor tankless water heater and the temp dips below freezing, you don’t have anything to worry about. HOWEVER, if we lose electricity while it’s freezing, you must drain your tankless water heater. Under your tankless are two sets of valves. Turn the gas valve off. Close the incoming hot and cold water valves, usually red and blue, and open the bleeder caps to drain the water out. Find a video on YouTube or contact me if you need help with this.
I like to put a cup of water outside. If it freezes, I’m letting a trickle of water flow from a faucet.
By taking these precautions, you can avoid necessary and costly plumbing services like pipe repairs for broken frozen pipes.
