Frozen pipes can burst and flood your home. How to protect at-risk pipes, when to let faucets drip, and what to do if a pipe freezes or bursts in NEPA winters.
A frozen pipe is bad. A burst frozen pipe is a disaster that can flood a room in minutes and cost thousands to clean up. In the Wyoming Valley, where January nights routinely drop into the single digits, prevention is a lot cheaper than repair. Here’s how to keep your pipes from freezing this winter.
Know Which Pipes Are at Risk
The pipes most likely to freeze are the ones in unheated or exposed spots: basements, crawl spaces, attics, garages, and along exterior walls. Older NEPA homes often have plumbing running through cold, uninsulated areas, and the century-old housing stock around Wilkes-Barre is full of exactly that. Those are the ones to protect first.
Insulate and Seal
Wrap vulnerable pipes with foam pipe insulation, which is cheap and available at any hardware store. Seal up drafts and cracks near pipes, especially where cold air sneaks in around the foundation or through the rim joist. Keeping the cold air out is half the battle.
Let Faucets Drip on the Coldest Nights
When temperatures are set to plunge, let a faucet on an exterior wall drip slightly. Moving water is much harder to freeze, and the trickle relieves pressure in the line. It’s a small waste of water that can save you from a burst pipe.
Keep the Heat On and the Cabinets Open
Don’t set your thermostat too low to save money on the coldest nights, and never turn the heat off entirely if you’re away. Keep it at 55 degrees or higher. Open the cabinet doors under sinks on exterior walls so warm room air can reach the pipes. If you’re traveling, have someone check the house, or shut off the water and drain the lines.
Is Heat Tape a Good Idea?
It can be, on the right pipe and installed properly. Electric heat cable is genuinely useful on a run you cannot insulate or reroute, like exposed plumbing in a crawl space. Two cautions matter. Buy cable rated for the pipe material you actually have, since the product for metal is not always right for plastic, and never wrap it over itself, which is how heat tape overheats and starts fires. Older cable degrades, so anything more than a few seasons old is worth replacing rather than trusting for another winter.
If a Pipe Freezes or Bursts
If you turn on a faucet and only a trickle comes out, you may have a freeze starting. Keep the faucet open and gently warm the pipe. If a pipe bursts, shut off your main water valve immediately, then call us. A burst line is one of the five situations that genuinely need an emergency plumber, and we treat it as emergency work. We answer 24/7, all winter long, because frozen and burst pipes don’t wait for business hours. Call (570) 822-8158.