Harvey W. Hottel, Inc.

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703-876-9599

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How to Prevent Frozen Pipes in Your Northern Virginia Home

Bitter cold outdoor temperatures can bring the indoor hazard of frozen pipes to your household. By taking a few simple precautions, you can avoid pipe freezing and possible bursts, ultimately saving yourself a physical and financial clean-up. Before winter sets in, be sure to dress your home for cold temperatures by taking the following steps:

• Know how to shut off the water supply to your house and understand where the valve is. Test the valve to make sure it would work in case of an emergency.
• Insulate exposed pipes in your home's attic and crawl spaces, as those exposed pipes are the most susceptible to freezing. No matter how well your walls are insulted, pipes can freeze if the temperature dips low enough and there is no source of heat for the pipes.
• Wrap pipes in heat table or heat cables approved by independent testing organizations for their intended use, whether that be outdoor or indoor.
• Examine entire length of pipes looking for cracks, breaks, or holes. An eighth-inch crack in a pipe can release up to 250 gallons per day!
• Inspect spaces around your pipes for any air leaks or cracks near electrical wiring, vents and pipes. Caulk any cracks to keep the cold out and the heat in.
• Disconnect garden houses and shut off and rain water from pipes leading to outside faucets.
• Open cabinet doors to allow heat to get to pipes under sinks and near walls. In the same vein, keep the door open between a heated room and unheated room to allow heat to circulate.
• Allow a trickle of water to drip overnight from faucets when temperatures are especially cold.
• If leaving your house for a long period of time, never set the thermostat lower than 55 degrees Farenheit and shut off and rain the water system. Ask a friend to check on your home daily.

In the unfortunate event that a pipe does freeze, never use open flame to thaw frozen pipes, which may lead to water in the area to boil and burst the pipe. If you turn on your faucets and nothing comes out, leave the faucets turned on and call a plumber immediately. If you believe the pipes have frozen and burst, turn off the water at the main shut-off valve, leave the faucets turned on, and call a plumber immediately.

When preparing your home's pipes for winter or fixing any frozen pipes, look to plumbing and HVAC expert Harvey W. Hottel. Based in Gaithersburg, Maryland, Harvey W. Hottel serves the entire Baltimore, Northern Virginia, and Washington DC metropolitan area, delivering heating and air conditioning, plumbing, duct cleaning, and geothermal services to such neighborhoods as Silver Spring, Reston, Gaithersburg, and Bethesda.