Preparing for a hard freeze in a climate that does not expect one

A hard freeze does more damage in Memphis than the same temperature would in Minneapolis, for the straightforward reason that houses here are not built to expect it. Pipes run through uninsulated crawlspaces and exterior walls, and hose bibs sit unprotected.

Before the first hard freeze of the year:

• Disconnect every garden hose. A hose left connected traps water in the bib, and that is the most common burst point in the whole house. Drain the hose and store it.
• Cover exterior spigots. Foam covers cost very little and take a minute each.
• Insulate exposed pipe in crawlspaces, garages and against exterior walls. Foam sleeves are adequate for most of it.
• Find your main shutoff now, and make sure it turns. Standing in the dark trying to locate a valve while water comes through a ceiling is a bad time to learn where it is.

During a hard freeze:

• Let a tap drip — a slow, steady trickle from the fixture furthest from where the water comes in. Moving water is much harder to freeze, and the drip relieves the pressure that actually bursts pipes.
• Open cabinet doors under sinks on exterior walls so household heat reaches the pipes.
• Leave the heat on if you go away, no lower than 55°F. The cost of that is trivial beside the cost of a burst pipe in an empty house.

If a pipe does freeze: shut off the water at the main, open the tap it feeds, and warm the pipe gently along its length with a hairdryer or towels. Never use a torch or any open flame.

Call someone if: a pipe has burst, you cannot locate the freeze, you have no water at all, or anything has been running behind a wall for a while.