Freezing temps could cause freezing pipes

COLUMBIA, MO (KMIZ)

Temperatures will fall below zero over the weekend with a chance of a couple of inches of snow can cause an issue with water pipes.

Downton Columbia experienced multiple water main breaks Friday. The affected areas in Columbia included; 24 South Ninth Street, 705 Marion Drive, 1025 Ashland Drive, and 1333 East Business Loop.

Samantha Williams, the external affairs manager for Missouri American Water, said this is what they consider winter main break season. Williams said, due to temperatures remaining below freezing, the water pipes underground become extremely cold and break easily.

This is the time of year that is most important to protect water pipes at home. Williams said the most important thing anyone could do during this time is keep your pipes warm.

"Whenever you feel cold your pipes feel cold too, so go ahead and wrap those pipes with pipe insulation or heat tape if you want to save some money you can even use fabric and newspaper, just pretty much make sure you have a blanket for your pipes,” said Williams.

Williams said the first thing to do is to locate freezing points within a home. These are typically crawl spaces or unheated rooms. It's important to warm up the pipes within those areas, as those pipes are typically the ones that are more vulnerable to freezing.

"Again it's small things putting that fabric around the pipes, putting that newspaper around the pipes, it's like a glove for your pipes or like a sweater for your pipes.", said Williams.

Locating the main water shut off valve within your home and tagging it or marking it, could make it easier to locate in case of an emergency. If pipes become frozen the main shut-off valve will need to be accessed in order to shut off water within the home, before starting a thawing treatment on pipes.

Keeping a small trickle of water running in either the bathroom or kitchen will help to prevent freezing pipes by allowing water to continue to move through pipes.

The temperature inside of a home shouldn't be below 50 degrees during these bitterly cold temperatures. A warm home helps with warm pipes, even keeping cabinets and doors open will allow for warm air to flow to pipes.

If your pipes happen to freeze during this winter weather event, Williams said first start by shutting off your water at the shut off valve, thaw out the pipes, then turn your water back on once pipes are completely thawed out.

"Slowly thaw the pipes with warm air you can melt the frozen pipe with either a space heater or a hair dryer just be careful do not use kerosene heaters and do not use open flames on pipes, don't do that.", said Williams.