Frozen water pipes wreak havoc on quite a few homes every year.  In this article, we will take a look at ways to help keep your water pipes from freezing and creating a potentially costly repair.  We will also take a look at some of the options for repairing them if they do.

What Causes It?

If you have ever put a full soda bottle in the freezer and forgotten about it, you already know what I am going to tell you next… When water freezes, it expands.  Plainly put, ice needs more room than water.  Picture some water, sitting in a pipe that begins to turn to ice, and it is easy to see how, having nowhere else to go, it bursts the pipe.  Then the water thaws, and it leaks all over the place.

How to Prevent It

Really, the best solution is insulation.  Now just any insulation, though.  For your outside pipes (which are the ones most likely to freeze) you need good, weather-proof insulation.  Standard insulation will wear out over time, as it is exposed to the elements.  The results can be a mess that is not particularly fun to replace.

It is possible to insulate outside pipes with standard insulation, with a tight wrapping of 10mil pipe tape.  The drawback there is that any gap, even the smallest, will let in moisture, and ruin it.  You best bet is to make sure your plumber (or you, if you are a do-it-yourself-er) uses weather proof pipe wrapping.

Remember, your outside pipes are the most likely to freeze, but that does not mean that your other pipes should be neglected.  This is especially true if you live somewhere that gets really cold in the winter.  At Allstar Plumbing, we recommend all of your pipes be insulated.

How to Repair a Frozen/Burst Pipe

Frozen pipe repair can be a challenge, depending on access, how much pipe is left in good condition, the material, etc.  The material most prone to bursting is PVC.  It can quite literally shatter.  It can also be very difficult to repair properly, especially in tight spaces.  Sometimes the only way to make a repair, short of replacing a major section, is with a “repair coupling”.  That is not recommended, due to the fact that repair coupling add weak points to the system, and offer more places to leak.  They have been also known to fail.

For this reason (amongst others), we do not recommend using schedule 40 (white) PVC pipe for any pressurized supply piping.  There is a reason it is illegal to use it indoors.

Copper is usually the easiest to fix, as the broken section can be cut away, in most cases, and a new section “sweated” in, with compromising the integrity of the pipe.

Galvanized pipe can also be a pretty big challenge, especially since it is often very corroded, which often leave very little (if any) pipe to connect to, and no easy way to connect them.  Often, your best bet here is to replace the section of pipe with copper.  Just make sure your plumber is using 6” of brass to separate the copper from the galvanized pipe.  This won’t be a problem if you call us.  We always do. 🙂

Really, the message here is that the best way to repair a frozen pipe is to not let your pipes freeze.  If they do, call Allstar Plumbing, and we will be there quickly to get you back in service again.