Frozen pipes: thaw them safely before they burst
A frozen pipe isn't broken yet. What you do in the next hour decides whether it thaws quietly or splits and floods the room when the ice lets go.
Faucet stopped running in the cold? Do this
- Leave the faucet open. As the ice melts, running water helps clear it and relieves pressure in the line.
- Find your main shut-off valve now, before anything thaws. If the pipe has already split, water will come out as soon as the ice melts, and you'll want to close the valve in seconds.
- Warm the frozen section gently with a hair dryer, a space heater kept clear of anything flammable, or towels soaked in hot water. Start at the faucet end and work back toward the cold area.
- Never use a torch or any open flame. It can start a fire inside the wall and can damage the pipe.
How to tell a pipe is frozen
- One faucet gives a trickle or nothing while others in the house work.
- The problem fixture is on an outside wall, over a crawlspace, or fed through a garage or attic.
- You can see frost or a bulge on an exposed section of pipe.
- Every faucet is dry: the freeze may be at the main line where it enters the house, or it may be a utility problem. Check with a neighbor or your water utility before assuming.
If you can't reach the frozen spot
Pipes inside walls, under floors and in crawlspaces are the ones that usually freeze, and they're the hardest to warm. You can raise the heat in the house, open the cabinet doors under sinks on outside walls, and aim a space heater at the wall from a safe distance. If the pipe hasn't thawed after that, or you can't find where it's frozen, call a plumber. They carry equipment made for thawing lines without opening the wall.
Keep it from freezing tonight
- Keep the heat at 55°F or higher, even if you're away, and hold the same setting day and night during extreme cold (IBHS, American Red Cross).
- Let faucets on exposed pipes drip. Even a trickle helps.
- Open cabinet doors under kitchen and bathroom sinks on exterior walls so warm air reaches the pipes.
- Insulate pipes in garages, attics and crawlspaces before the next cold front.
- Leaving town? Don't turn the heat off. If you shut the water off at the main as a precaution, know that State Farm notes this also disables fire sprinklers.
It happens in "mild" cities too
The worst freeze damage tends to hit places where homes aren't built for deep cold.
| City | What happened |
|---|---|
| Tulsa, OK | February 2021: 450 breaks on city water lines in under a month, nearly 5,600 customers without water, plus breaks on private lines. |
| Knoxville, TN | December 23–29, 2022: the utility took more than 1,000 calls about frozen or broken pipes, and plumbers were booked for days. |
| Wichita, KS | January 21, 2025: −9°F, the coldest January reading since 1988. |
When a cold snap hits a whole city at once, every plumber gets the same call. Knowing where your shut-off valve is, and closing it fast, matters more than anything else you can do while you wait.
Will insurance cover a pipe that froze?
Standard homeowners policies usually cover sudden water damage from a burst pipe, but freezing claims can be denied if the home wasn't kept heated with reasonable care. Keep the thermostat on, and if a pipe does burst, document everything before cleanup. Details in does homeowners insurance cover a burst pipe?
Local guides
Pipe frozen and you can't thaw it, or it already split?
Talk to an available local plumber.
Free referral service — you speak with the provider directly.
Sources
- American Red Cross — Winter storm safety; Severe cold safety
- IBHS — Winter weather ready guide
- State Farm — Emergency shut-off; Home and property claims
- Public Radio Tulsa — Tulsa's winter storm water crisis
- Knox News via Yahoo — Burst pipes: here's what to expect (Dec 2022)
- National Weather Service Wichita — January 2025 cold