Lack of heat in home can lead to freezing or bursting pipes, local plumber says

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Parts of Mid-Missouri will experience frigid temperatures Monday night through Thursday, leading to home owners cranking up their thermostats.

Turning up the heat in a home is often done in an attempt to keep warm, but a local plumber says it's also essential to keep pipes in the home from freezing. Or worse, bursting.

"It just depends on the wind so like if it's really windy out with you know 10, 15 degree weather the wind causes a draft that especially in houses with a crawlspace the wind can blow through and just freeze the lines," Jonathan Tallmage, of Tallmage and Melvin Plumbing, said.

According to Tallmage, mobile homes and houses with crawl spaces frequently experience burst or freezing pipes more than other residence. Not enough heat in the room is typically what Tallmage says is the culprit to the problem.

In order to avoid having pipes freeze over homeowners should leave the cabinet doors to their sinks open in order to draw heat in towards the plumbing.

Tallmage also recommends people leave their faucets dripping with cold water because water in motion doesn't freeze as quickly.

For those with a crawl space in their home, Tallmage says they should close off the vents around the bottom of them. An easy way to do so is by stacking up straw bales to keep the wind from blowing through, he says.

Pointing a space heater toward the sink is another preventative measure people can take to keep their pipes from freezing, especially those who frequently encounter the problem, according to Tallmage.

However, Tallmage says at a certain point it's time to call a plumber.

"If it's frozen or nothing's coming out and it's spraying then I would definitely be calling a plumber," Tallmage said. "But most everybody should know where their main water shut off is if it does freeze and it bursts then you want to go and you want to shut that main water off so that it doesn't keep spraying everywhere."

According to Tallmage, his plumbing company has not experienced many calls for burst or frozen pipes as of January. However, he said things typically pick up in February.

Pipe freezing outside of homes can also create issues.

Utility spokesman Jason West told ABC 17 News via email that frozen water mains have not been an issue for the city so far this winter. According to West, the city has not had any reports of water main breaks since Friday.

"For the most part, the water mains are underground which means they are insulated by the soil surrounding them. If a main were to burst, it would be more likely caused by cold conditions that would cause the soil to shift and cause the the pipe to burst," the statement said.