Two nights of bone-chilling low temperatures have Front Range plumbers girding for an onslaught of frozen-pipe calls this morning.
“We anticipate broken pipes to show up tonight or tomorrow,” said Brian Nierode, a plumbing technician with Applewood Plumbing, Heating and Electric, as he worked on pipes Thursday afternoon.
It usually takes a few days in the deep freeze before pipes begin to burst, experts say.
Low temperatures at Denver International Airport, where the city’s weather is officially recorded, hit 9 degrees Wednesday night and dropped to 1 degree early Thursday. The National Weather Service predicted an overnight low of 2 degrees Thursday but said sunny skies should warm today to a high near 33 degrees.
As temperatures rise, plumbers say, frozen pipes begin to thaw and the water starts to flow into basements and crawl spaces.
Nierode and his co-worker, HVAC technician Chris Anderson worked on a Denver home Thursday, preparing it to withstand the freeze.
Nearly the first order of business: making sure the furnace was working correctly.
“I can’t tell you how many jobs I’ve gone into where the heater’s stopped working,” Nierode said. “Maybe the owner went on a weekend ski vacation, and they come back to broken pipes and a furnace that doesn’t work.”
The worst disaster he’s seen was in a house that operated with two furnaces. One furnace was in a part of the house the homeowners never used, and they forgot to turn it on during a deep freeze.
“It was so bad that the toilets in that part of the house had frozen solid,” he said.
During severe cold weather, Nierode advised turning up the heat and opening all the interior doors to allow the warmth to circulate through the home.
He also said opening the doors to kitchen and bathroom cabinets under sinks will help keep pipes warm. A stream of water trickling from faucets is a little extra insurance, because running water doesn’t freeze as easily.
It’s critical to know where your main water emergency shut-off value is located in order to reduce property damage if a pipe does freeze and burst in the house.
“Not as many people know where it is as you’d think,” Nierode said.
Unfortunately, there’s some trouble it may already be too late to fix.
“The biggest mistake people make is waiting too long to have their sprinkler system blown out or winterized,” said Nierode.
If you haven’t done that work, those water lines will be frozen until spring, as will outdoor faucets.
“So in the spring you’re out washing your car, not thinking anything of it, and you go back in the house and realize your basement is water-damaged because the pipe is broken and leaking down your walls or basement or crawl space,” Nierode said.
Colleen O’Connor: 303-954-1083 or coconnor@denverpost.com
Temperatures across the nation
Aspen
• Thursday’s high: 16
• Today’s forecast high: 22
• Tonight’s forecast low: 1
Denver
• Thursday’s high: 17
• Today’s forecast high: 33
• Tonight’s forecast low: 12
Fort Collins
• Thursday’s high: 19
• Today’s forecast high: 31
• Tonight’s forecast low: 7
International Falls, Minn.
• Thursday’s high: 20
• Today’s forecast high: 20
• Tonight’s forecast low: 9
Anchorage, Alaska
• Thursday’s high: 38
• Today’s forecast high: 21
• Tonight’s forecast low: 11
Miami
• Thursday’s high: 81
• Today’s forecast high: 83
• Tonight’s forecast low: 73
