Unless you live in the very southern parts of the country, you will experience freezing temperatures in the winter time. If you own a home or the building your business is in, part of your winter maintenance is to protect your water pipes from freezing.

Your water pipes will have water left in them even if you haven’t used them for awhile. If these pipes are not properly insulated or drained, when the temperature gets to freezing or below – that water will freeze. And when it does, it expands taking up more space in the pipe than when it was liquid. The pressue in that pipe can go from 40 lbs per square inch up to 40,000 psi – that’s a tremendous amount of pressure.

This pressure then causes the pipes to crack and burst. That’s why it’s recommended to drain your water pipes (the ones exposed to freezing temperatures) before the thermometer gets to 32 degrees Fahrenheit.

How Do You Stop Pipes From Bursting In The Winter?

If the weather reports temperatures will hit 20 degrees or lower – this is your alert to take the following steps to keep your pipes from freezing and eventually bursting.

1) Keep your garage doors closed to retain as much heat as you can inside your garage.

2) Open the kitchen and bathroom cabinets (in case there are any pipes behind those cabinets).

3) Turn a faucet on so that water drips (leave it on while the temperature is 20 degrees or lower). This forces water to run through the pipes and helps to prevent sitting water from freezing.

4) Keep your thermostat at the same temperature during the day and night.

5) Any insulation that you can add to your home, in the walls, wrapping pipes, windows, cracks in doors, etc. will help to prevent your water pipes from bursting and creating an expensive mess.

These steps will help you to prevent burst pipes and the damage to your home that could be caused by that.

When Should I Be Worried About Pipes Freezing?

When you know that the temperature will be dipping below freezing (32 degrees Fahrenheit) then you know that it’s time to begin the process of winterizing your home’s plumbing system.

Should You Let Your Faucet Drip In Cold Weather?

Yes, this is one tactic that works very well to help keep your pipes from freezing. Following are our recommendations on how to best us it…

Choose a faucet in your home that is the furthest away from your water heater. So, this could be a bathroom upstairs or perhaps in your basement.

When the temperature drops below 20 degrees Fahrenheit which here in the Atlanta, Ga. area is often during the evening turn the cold water on just slightly so that water drips from it. This keeps the water supply running through the plumbing system helping to prevent it from freezing.

When the temperature rises above 20 degrees you can then turn the dripping faucet off.


If you have any questions about winterizing your plumbing or are having some problems with cracked or frozen pipes, call Atlantis Plumbing today at 770-505-8570. We are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.