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Cold Weather Tips
When the temperature takes a nosedive, water in your pipes can freeze causing them to burst. Water floods your home and ruins your furnishings, and you have to pay to have it all repaired and replaced. It’s costly and inconvenient.
Louisville Water offer these simple precautions to help avoid a mess.
Wrap It
Wrap exposed pipes with insulating material. Pipes under kitchen sinks, in crawl spaces, near windows or in unheated basements are areas susceptible to freezing. Our video can help you learn more.
Find Your Shutoff Valve and Tag It
Locate your inside water shutoff valve now! The shutoff valve controls all of the water into your home. If a pipe bursts, knowing the location of your shutoff valve and how to turn it off can save valuable time and prevent water damage.
The shutoff valve may be located in the basement, under the kitchen sink, in a utility closet, near the hot water heater, or even under the house in a crawl space. If you cannot locate or do not have a shutoff valve, call your plumber.
Try turning off your shutoff valve. Then turn on each of the faucets in your house. If no water comes out, you found the main shutoff valve. Once you locate it, tag it so everyone in your family can find the shutoff valve during an emergency. Louisville Water offers free, waterproof tags that attach to the valve. Customers can get tags at Louisville Water’s downtown office at 550 South Third Street. You can also use a bright-colored ribbon.
Cover It
If your house has a crawl space, cover the outside vents to prevent winter winds from entering and freezing pipes.
Close It
Keep the garage door closed if you have a slab foundation. Some water pipes are located under concrete floors in the garage.
Drip It
Keep the water running, especially if you’ve had problems with frozen pipes in the past. Try running a small steady stream of water from a cold-water faucet in extremely cold weather. The cost of the water is minimal compared to dealing with the cost and inconvenience of frozen or burst pipes. Make sure you run the water from a faucet that children don’t use because they may shut off the faucet out of habit.
Louisville Water maintains over 4,200 miles of water main throughout its distribution system. In addition, the company is responsible for nearly 25,000 public fire hydrants. Prior to the winter season, crews train in winter safety procedures, winterize fire hydrants, and adjust the company’s inventory to prepare for any cold weather issues with water mains.