In Atlanta, Georgia (where I’ve spent my career as a plumber) the average low temperatures usually only flirt with the freezing point of water in January and February. Atlanta’s average low is 31 degrees in January and 34 in February. Here in Atlanta (and probably everywhere else too) water freezes at 32 degrees. So Atlanta Plumbers don’t get too many calls to repair frozen pipes that have burst and are now leaking. But there are still the unlucky few who have this happen to them. And like many other Atlanta Plumbers, I have plenty of experience and know-how with broken pipes to repair your plumbing and rescue you from the leaking pipe nightmare.

But why do pipes freeze, why do they burst, and what can you do to prevent your pipes from freezing so that you don’t have to make an emergency call to me or another Atlanta Plumbing company to bail you out?

The water in your pipes will freeze when its temperature falls below 32 degrees. So pipes that are in unheated areas of the house (like the attic or basement), pipes that run along exterior walls which do not have adequate insulation, and pipes that run outside of the house (like the spigot for a garden hose) are all particularly vulnerable to freezing when the weather gets cold.

When water freezes it expands. So if a pipe is completely full of liquid water and it freezes, the ice will take up more space than the water did. This puts pressure on the walls of the pipe and results in a crack. The real fun begins when the ice melts and the water begins to pour out all over the inside of your house. As luck would have it, this happens to most people in the middle of the night, because that’s when temperatures are at their lowest.

Because of the limited number of cold nights we have here in Atlanta, any good Atlanta Plumber will not recommend taking extreme measures to heat the pipes in your basement or attic. But there are a few simple things that I recommend people in the Atlanta area do to protect their plumbing when the weather threatens to dip below 32 degrees.

1. Find the inside cutoff valve for all of your external garden hose spigots and turn them off. This valve is usually far enough towards the interior of your house (about 18 inches from the outside spigot) that water in the pipes leading up to it will not get cold enough to freeze (at least here in Atlanta).

2. Now that the spigots are cutoff from the inside, remove the garden hoses, drain & store them, and open the outside spigots to allow any standing water to drip out. Leave them open until the weather gets warm again.

3. Allow the warm air from the heated portion of the house to circulate into the other areas where the pipes are located. This may cost you a bit more on your heating bill, but it’s a lot less expensive than having a frozen pipe break. Open basement doors, attic doors, and cabinets for sinks that are against exterior walls. As long as the air surrounding the pipes stays warm, the water inside will not freeze.

4. Add insulation to the unheated areas of your house to keep the air and the pipes above freezing.

5. There are devices available that will heat the pipes in vulnerable areas of your home. But again, Atlanta Plumbers rarely recommend items like this because they’re only needed 6 or 7 nights out of the year.

So while frozen pipes are not a huge problem here in Atlanta, it will feel like a huge problem if it happens to you. Please take my advice and use a few simple precautions to avoid becoming an exception to the Atlanta Plumbing norm and having a major plumbing problem.

If you live in the Greater Atlanta Area or north Georgia and you have frozen or broken pipes or any other Atlanta Plumbing needs, call me immediately at 770-318-1615 to avert disaster! Thanks.