A Resource Assembled by our own Matt Harriger
When the weather turns extremely cold, water supply pipes are prone to freezing and bursting. Here are some steps you can take to remedy frozen pipes safely, and hopefully, avoid or minimize serious damage. The following tips are applicable to homes with city-provided water service, in Austin or elsewhere. If your water comes from a private well, turning off your water supply will be different, but you probably know that.
- Find your cut-off valve now (even if you know where it is) and make sure it is accessible.
- Don’t wait till you learn that your pipes are leaking. You will need to know where the cut-off valve is located on your property shut-off water to your home.
- For many homes, the cut-off valve is under a round, metal handhole cover about seven inches in diameter. (A handhole cover looks like a smaller version of a manhole cover you see in city streets.) If you live in Austin, your handhole cover may have a star and the word Austin on top. It is possible (but unconfirmed) that some older handhole covers may have the letters “AWW” or “Austin Water Works” on top.
- Your shut-off valve is usually somewhere in your front yard, often a few feet from the street and adjacent to your water meter. The water meter is usually closer to the street than the property owner’s cut-off valve. The handhole cover for your shut-off valve is often located a foot or two towards the house form your water meter, which is a larger metal cover about 12 1/2 inches in diameter and has a curly shaped keyhole in it. The meter box cover will often be labeled “Water Meter” or something similar.
- In subdivisions with alleys, the water meter and property owner’s cut-off valve could be in the back yard or alley.
- Once you’ve located the handhole cover for your cut-off valve, remove the cover to ensure the valve is accessible. Sometimes the valve and water line are covered with dirt or debris, which you should remove to locate the valve. Do that now if you discover dirt is covering your cut-off valve.
- Watch this City of Austin video about how to locate and identify the property-owner’s cut-off valve: https://www.kut.org/austin/2011-02-03/how-to-shut-off-the-water-to-your-home
- If you suspect some of your pipes have frozen, use the property owner’s cut-off valve to turn off the water supply leading into the house. Note that the City of Austin’s website states that if you use the City’s cut-off valve inside the water meter box and damage it, you will be billed for the repair.
- Once you have turn off your water supply, turn on (not all the way, just turn on or open) any faucets. This will reduce pressure on the frozen pipes and minimize flooding if the pipes burst. This is particularly important if you are going to be away from home.
- If the frozen pipe is exposed and visible, use a hair dryer or space heater to thaw the ice blockage. Do not use an open flame and keep space heaters far enough away from walls and flammable materials to avoid fire risk!
