Tips To Protect Pipes, Plumbing During Freeze

Top 5 Tips To Protect Pipes And Plumbing System During Freeze In Youngsville, Broussard, Lafayette And The Rest Of Acadiana:

1. Insulate pipes

What to do: Wrap exposed pipes with foam pipe insulation, especially under houses if you can and any other exposed pipes.

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.

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 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: 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. By taking these precautions you can avoid necessary and costly plumbing services like pipe repairs from frozen pipes.

KATC's Rob Perillo and other Lafayette area weather forecasters are predicting a "winter weather mix" of sleet, freezing rain and a small amount of snow flurries for our area in the coming week.

Location: Lafayette, LA