CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Ahead of the freezing temperatures anticipated later this week, experts shared their advice to protect home pipes from the cold.
Richard Montalbo, the owner of Aanswer Plumbing & Home, recommends allowing your faucets to drip to allow water to run through the pipes, which will make it harder for them to freeze.
“A constant drip, but nothing that’s gonna flood anything, and nothing that’s going to waste too much water,” he said.
Also inside, Montalbo recommends opening cabinets to expose pipes to the heat inside your home.
“If it freezes and ruptures, you’re going to have a drain leak, which will destroy the cabinet,” he said.
On the outside of your home, Montalbo recommends insulating pipes.
“Insulation is always good for anything exposed to the outside weather. It keeps everything warm when it needs to be warm, and cool when it needs to be cool. So yes, insulation is a good tool to prevent freezing,” he said.
Montalbo does not expect people to have plumbing issues like they did during last February’s freeze, because last year’s freeze was longer sustained, and that, coupled with older pipes in a lot of homes, caused a lot of ruptures.
“You had lines that were in dwellings for a long time that had exposure, were already ready to burst to begin with, which added to the situation,” he said.
At CC Plumbing, manager Vince Deleon said people were coming in before the first freeze this year to buy materials to prep their pipes. He said this year suppliers aren't getting stock as quickly as they were last year, which could cause a problem if there's another big freeze.
“We’re just not getting everything in in the same time as we were before all this,” he said.
Deleon also recommended being prepared ahead of cold weather, because it’s better to do it before the cold weather comes in.
“It’s a lot easier doing it in shorts and sandals than in a jacket,” he said.
