Icicles hanging from a brown pipe. Frozen water and metal surface, winter time concept. selective focus shallow depth of field photo

LUC personnel are actively helping customers diagnose water service outages today as we all deal with the extremely cold weather. Thankfully, service interruptions have been minimal to this point. However, as cold temperatures linger, the temperature of the water in your pipes will continue to drop. More pipes will continue to freeze throughout the week. Here are some helpful tips put together by our friends at the Louisville Water Company for preventing and protecting your plumbing. 

When the temperature takes a nose dive, water in your pipes can freeze, causing them to burst. Water floods your home and ruins your furnishings, and you have to pay to have it all repaired and replaced. It’s costly and inconvenient. But it doesn’t have to happen if you follow these simple precautions.

Wrap Up for Winter (Video Link)
Wrap exposed pipes with insulating material.  Pipes under kitchen sinks, in crawl spaces, near windows or in unheated basements are areas susceptible to freezing.

Find Your Shut-off Valve (Video Link)
Locate your inside water shut-off valve now!  The shut-off valve controls all of the water into your home.  If a pipe bursts, knowing the location of your shut-off valve and how to turn it off, can save valuable time and prevent water damage. Our video can help you find the water shuf-off valve.
The shut-off valve may be located in the basement, under the kitchen sink, in a utility closet, near the hot water heater, or even under the house in a crawl space.  If you cannot locate or do not have a shut-off valve, call your plumber.
Try turning off your shut-off valve. Then turn on each of the faucets in your house, if no water comes out you found the main shut-off valve.  Once you locate the main shut-off valve tag it so everyone in your family can find it should an emergency occur.

Make Sure You Have it Covered (Video Link)

If your house has a crawl space, cover the outside vents to prevent winter winds from entering and freezing pipes.  Keep the garage door closed if you have a slab foundation.  Some water pipes are located under concrete floors in the garage.

Run a Small, Steady Stream of Cold Water (Video Link)
Keep the water running, especially if you’ve had problems with frozen pipes in the past. Try running a small steady stream of water from a cold water faucet in extremely cold weather. The cost of the water is small compared to dealing with the cost and inconvenience of frozen or burst pipes. Make sure you run the water from a faucet children don’t use, because they may inadvertently shut off the faucet after using it.