Prevent Frozen Pipe Water Damage
Personal Lines
When the temperature drops, frozen pipes are one of the biggest risks of damage to your home. During a severe cold spell, sprinkler or water pipes can freeze, burst, and produce devastating losses.
Here are some simple ways you can help prevent significant water damage in your home:
- Keep garage doors closed if there are water supply lines in the garage.
- Disconnect all outdoor hoses and turn off water to exterior faucets and drain lawn sprinkler systems.
- Open kitchen and bathroom cabinet doors to allow warmer air to circulate around the plumbing.
- Keep heat at 55 degrees or higher even when you are out of town.
- During a cold spell, turn on both hot and cold faucets near outside walls to allow a small trickle of water to run during the night.
- Wrap pipes in foam insulation tubes, especially those close to outside walls, attics or crawl spaces where the chance of freezing is greatest.
- Seal air leaks surrounding or near pipes.
- If you need to be away from your home, or business leave the heat on and drain your water system before you go.
- Identify the locations of shutoff valves so you are prepared to stop the flow of water as soon as possible should a pipe burst.
- Install a water flow detection device* with a master plumbing valve shutoff capability
For more tips, including what to do if a pipe does freeze, check out this helpful article on freezing and bursting pipes from the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS) or contact your M3 Private Client Group Team Member.
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*Many insurers are providing premium discounts for homeowners with superior security features such as water flow detection devices. In addition, you can contact your M3 Private Client Group Team Member for a discount promo code on the purchase price of a FloLogic System.
