WASHINGTON — It’s hard to imagine that a leaky faucet could be the answer to anything, but letting faucets drip can help prevent them from freezing and bursting in extreme cold.
Spigots serving lawns and gardens are particularly vulnerable.
“Shut your outdoor spigots off or cover them,”聽says聽Larry Gray, the owner of Village Hardware on Fort Hunt Road outside of Alexandria, Virginia.
If it’s difficult to access a water valve to shut it off, Gray recommends letting the faucet drip just a little bit.
“If you don’t, it’ll freeze and break and then you’ve got a big mess,” says Gray.聽Garden hoses should be聽disconnected聽from exterior faucets — preferably before temperatures fall below freezing.
Pipes running through poorly-insulated聽crawl spaces under homes or in exterior walls of lightly-insulated or unheated areas such as garages may be well served by letting faucets drip.
Heat tape also can be wrapped around pipes that might be vulnerable to extreme cold.
“They’re all聽thermostatically聽controlled, so it [the tape] only comes on when reaching a certain temperature,” says Gray.
Bathroom vanities can trap cold air.
“Open the doors, put a little heater in front of it. It聽doesn’t聽have to be turned on high — just enough to keep heat circulating in there,” Gray recommends.
Spouses who argue about where to set a home’s聽thermostat聽might find ammunition in pipe protection聽recommendations from聽the .
Even though it might hurt heating bills not to lower a home’s聽thermostat聽at night, repairs can be even more costly if聽pipes freeze and burst.
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