How to protect your home from frozen pipes as temperatures start to drop

PITTSBURGH — Whether you are home this weekend or traveling, these tips are important to put in place.

“First locate where your main water line comes into your house it’s usually next to the water meter. You want to exercise the valves to shut the water lines off to the house in case a line were to burst,” said Rick Mongiovi who’s the owner of Mongiovi & Son Plumbing Contractor, L.P.

That’s the first step when it comes to keeping your house safe from frozen pipes. As the temperatures start to drop and winds pick up, anyone is at risk for damage.

“There’s people out there who say my pipes never froze before and then this year they freeze it’s the way the wind blows,” Mongiovi said.

Mongiovi advises to take a good look at where your pipes sit. If there’s a draft or cold air from outside walls coming in, it’s smart to pick up a little extra installation from any hardware store.

“You want to put it on the pipe it has a sticky side just wrap the pipes with installation and if any cold air is coming in this will help slow down any freezing,” Mongiovi said.

It’s also important to turn off the levers to any outside spouts and drain them to get all the extra water out.

Then you should turn to your kitchen.

“As the temperatures are dropping to around 32 degrees and lower it only takes about 6 to 8 hours to freeze so you want to turn the faucet on to a drip to get the water moving through the pipe and so it doesn’t freeze open up your cabinet doors to let the heat from the house go under the sink,” Mongiovi said.

But even with all those precautions, you may end up with a frozen line. You’ll know it when you turn on the water and nothing comes out. That’s where the heating elements come into play.

“Take a hair dryer down on to the pipes go under the sink and look for the water lines coming up and you want to put heat to them not a blow torch or flammable objects maybe a space heater to put under the sink to get the heat to get everything warm underneath,” Mongiovi said.

Mongiovi said these precautions are important because at the end of the day if a pipe does burst you are looking at thousands of dollars in damages.

“To have a plumber come over a repair the line isn’t as expensive as the damages the water caused. You are getting into a lot of money after it blows to get to the leak, open up ceilings, drywall patches, painting that’s where the big costs come in,” Mongiovi said.

The company provides 24-hour service. Despite the holiday, with these cold temperatures, they are ramping up and adding additional plumbing emergency crews in order to help if you find yourself with a frozen or burst pipe.

Download the FREE WPXI News app for breaking news alerts.

Follow Channel 11 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch WPXI NOW

Fern Hollow Bridge reopens to traffic day earlier than anticipated due to incoming winter storm

©2022 Cox Media Group