Home Guru: How to Avoid Burst Water Pipes When the Weather Turns Cold

By Bill Primavera – As I write this in mid-October, I have a quick question: Do you have a water hose still connected to a spigot outside your home?

Other than a fire or tornado, the most damaging event a house can suffer is flooding from a burst water pipe. Yet most people have just cursory knowledge of how to avoid this potential disaster.

One of my most memorable mishaps with burst pipes involved a young couple, buyer clients who had found their dream house and wanted to close as quickly as possible because the lease on their rental was about to expire. But their dream was dashed, at least temporarily, by a discovery we made when we arrived at the house for the engineering inspection.

We were greeted by an ominous sound of water leaking and discovered in the family room that water was spraying through the seams of the plasterboard walls and half of the ceiling had collapsed. The engineer quickly shut off the water main, but it was too late to prevent the extensive damage to the walls, ceiling, built-in cabinetry and flooring.

As an estate sale, the house was empty, but the selling agent had been very careful to monitor the heating system so that the pipes wouldn’t freeze. She couldn’t understand what went wrong. The engineer looked around and found that, outside, the garden hose had not been disconnected from the outside spigot. He explained that water in the hose had frozen and backed up into the pipe that traveled through the unheated garage to the family room on the other side of the garage wall, causing the pipes to burst. When the ice melted, the room flooded.

When water freezes, it has the force of 2,200 pounds of pressure per square inch, said Dave Goldberg, founder of Dave Goldberg Plumbing & Heating, serving Westchester and Putnam counties.

“One of the most common causes of burst pipes is when people forget to detach their hoses for the winter. It should always be done by mid-October,” he said.

“But there are many reasons pipes can burst,” he continued. “It can be a mere draft through a tiny crack in a wall, and if it is cold enough outside, the wind chill factor can cause a pipe to freeze, and it can be anywhere in the house, even over the living room.”

Goldberg also noted that even if a house is winterized, it can be done incorrectly. “When people had summer houses up here and would close them for the winter, it was easier to drain the pipes because the plumbing was designed for that,” Goldberg said. “Now, with modern construction, pipes wind around beams and go up and down, and there are many elbows that can trap water. If just a drop of water is left in the elbow and it freezes, the pipe can burst.”

He added that the best way to avoid this is to have the pipes blown out with an air compressor.

“Things can go wrong even if a house isn’t abandoned,” he said. “If a family takes a winter vacation, for instance, it’s not enough precaution just to leave the heat on. Suppose there is a power failure or the supply of fuel runs out?”

Goldberg cited the popular use of wood and gas-burning stoves as another cause of burst pipes.

“They give you a false sense of warmth,” he said. “It can be 70 degrees inside, but that heat may not get to the outside walls where the water pipes are located.”

As a safeguard, Goldberg recommends that non-toxic antifreeze be added to the heating system so that if the power goes off, the water won’t freeze.

“It’s like putting antifreeze in a car,” he said, “and, it should be checked annually to see that it’s still at an effective level.”

For insulating pipes in the basement or crawl space, he suggests using a heating strip that turns on automatically like a thermostat, and then to wrap the pipe and heating strip with insulation.

Another safeguard in frigid weather is to keep water running from the hot and cold taps if the pipes are against an outside wall, Goldberg said.

If you agree that safeguarding your plumbing from freezing is a good idea, Dave Goldberg Plumbing & Heating offers expert advice and service. Goldberg, who has been my plumber for more than four decades, is now retired, but his son-in-law Doug Maar, will be happy to help. He can be reached at 914-962-3498.

Bill Primavera is a Realtor® associated with William Raveis Real Estate and Founder of Primavera Public Relations, Inc. (www.PrimaveraPR.com). His real estate site is www.PrimaveraRealEstate.com, and his blog is www.TheHomeGuru.com. To engage the services of The Home Guru to market your home for sale, call 914-522-2076.