Preventive Maintenance

How to Prevent Frozen Pipes

The short answer

Before a Knoxville-area hard freeze, walk the home inside and out: disconnect every garden hose, cover exposed outdoor faucets, protect piping in crawlspaces, garages, attics, exterior walls, and well houses, seal cold-air openings, and make sure everyone knows where the main water shutoff is. A short freeze-prevention check can help avoid a split pipe and major water damage.

Common symptoms

A forecast near or below 20°F, especially for several hours
Water lines in a crawlspace, attic, garage, exterior wall, or other unheated area
Outdoor faucets, well-house piping, or exposed water lines without protection
Reduced or no flow from a faucet during freezing weather
Frost, bulging, cracking, or condensation on an exposed pipe

Most likely causes

—Garden hoses, splitters, timers, or spray nozzles left connected and trapping water at an outdoor faucet
—Missing faucet covers, damaged insulation, open crawlspace vents, or drafts reaching water lines
—Exposed piping in crawlspaces, garages, attics, exterior walls, or well houses
—A frost-free sillcock that cannot drain because of a connected hose, trapped water, improper pitch, or another installation issue
—Indoor heat turned down too far or a vulnerable area losing heat during an extended cold snap

Safe things you can check

✓Walk around the entire exterior before the freeze. Find every hose bibb or exterior spigot, including ones behind shrubs, decks, additions, garages, or outbuildings.
✓Disconnect garden hoses, Y-splitters, timers, spray nozzles, and other attachments. A connected accessory can trap water and defeat a frost-free faucet.
✓After removing attachments, allow the faucet to drain. If the home has a dedicated interior shutoff and drain for that outdoor line, use it only if you know which valve it is and how the system was designed.
✓Install a snug insulated outdoor-faucet cover on each exposed spigot. A cover helps, but it does not replace disconnecting the hose or correcting a damaged or improperly installed faucet.
✓Inspect accessible pipes in crawlspaces, attics, garages, cabinets, and along exterior walls. Secure intact foam sleeves or other appropriate pipe insulation with no large gaps, while keeping insulation clear of heat-producing equipment and following product directions.
✓Reduce cold drafts around pipe penetrations, crawlspace doors, foundation gaps, and damaged vents without blocking required combustion air, appliance clearances, dryer vents, or other safety ventilation.
✓Open kitchen and bathroom cabinet doors beneath sinks—especially sinks on exterior walls—so warm indoor air can circulate around the supply lines. Move cleaners and chemicals where children or pets cannot reach them.
✓During an unusually severe or extended freeze, let a small steady drip run from the faucet served by the most vulnerable exposed line. Where both hot and cold piping are vulnerable, protect both sides as appropriate. This is temporary added protection—not a substitute for insulation—and the sink drain must remain open and flowing.
✓Keep the home heated consistently. If you leave town, do not turn the heat off; around 55°F is a common minimum, but vulnerable homes may require more.
✓Treat an attached or detached unheated garage as a freeze-risk area. Keep garage doors closed, inspect supply lines serving laundry sinks or washing machines, and protect piping along exterior walls or near a garage water heater. Insulating the water heater does not protect the exposed hot- and cold-water pipes, valves, or nearby fittings.
✓If temporary garage heat is needed, use only a listed electric space heater approved for the location and follow its instructions. Place it on a stable surface, plug it directly into a wall outlet, keep it at least 3 feet from vehicles, gasoline, paint, cardboard, insulation, and other combustibles, and turn it off whenever the area is unattended or anyone is sleeping. Never use an unvented fuel-burning heater, grill, or open flame in the garage.
✓For a property that will be vacant through freezing weather, consider a complete professional winterization instead of relying only on the thermostat. This may include shutting off the water, safely de-energizing or setting equipment as required, draining the water heater and supply system, opening fixtures, and addressing outdoor lines, wells, pressure tanks, filters, softeners, washing machines, dishwashers, refrigerator ice makers, and other water-using equipment according to each manufacturer's instructions.
✓Compressed-air blowout can remove water trapped in branches and low spots, but excessive pressure can damage fixtures, valves, appliances, and piping. Have a qualified plumber perform it with controlled pressure and the correct connections, especially in a whole house.
✓After a vacant property's drain system and toilets are properly emptied, use only non-toxic plumbing/RV antifreeze labeled for potable-water or plumbing winterization in fixture traps, toilet bowls/tanks, and other locations specified by the product and equipment manufacturer. Never use automotive antifreeze, and do not pour plumbing antifreeze into occupied or pressurized drinking-water lines unless the approved winterization procedure specifically requires it.
✓Plan the spring start-up before winterizing: flush antifreeze as directed, close drains, refill traps, restore water slowly, inspect for leaks, and return the water heater, well equipment, appliances, and treatment systems to service according to their manufacturers.
✓Check a well house before cold weather. Insulate exposed pipe and openings, close the door securely, and verify its safe heat source works. Any heat lamp, heater, heat cable, or thermostat should be listed for that location, securely installed, protected from water, kept at the manufacturer's required clearance from combustibles, and never improvised with extension cords or left where it can fall against insulation.
✓Locate and test the home's main water shutoff before an emergency. Make sure it is accessible, label it for the household, and do not force a stuck or corroded valve.
✓During and after the cold snap, check vulnerable areas for reduced flow, frost, damp insulation, dripping, or water sounds. A frozen pipe may not leak until it begins to thaw.

When to call a professional

If you cannot safely reach or protect exposed piping, are unsure whether an outdoor faucet can drain, need a well house or crawlspace evaluated, or want help winterizing the home, holler at The Classic Plumber. If a faucet has little or no flow during freezing weather, do not use a torch, open flame, propane heater, or unattended high-heat device to thaw it. Shut off the main water if you see a split, bulge, leak, or active flooding, move away from wet electrical equipment, and call us right away.

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