Cold weather is coming! Take steps now to prevent frozen pipes in your home

Cold weather is coming! Take steps now to prevent frozen pipes in your home
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It’s about to get very cold outside! Freezing temperatures can lead to frozen pipes and water damage in your home. Fortunately, there are several steps you can take right now to help prevent freezing pipes.

• 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 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 home, 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.

For more tips, including what to do if a pipe does freeze, check out this helpful article:
http://disastersafety.org/wp-content/uploads/Freezing-Bursting-Pipes_IBHS.pdf