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Frozen Pipes

If This is a Frozen Pipes Ottawa Emergency, Turn Off Your Main Water Valve ASAP

Anyone that has had to deal with frozen pipes in Ottawa before is well aware of the inconvenience of waking up and not being able to flush your toilet or take a shower.

But what is really scary is the potential damage that frozen pipes can cause.

When your pipes freeze, the water inside the piping will begin to expand, and your copper or pex piping won’t hold up to it.

The image you see is of a pipe expanding due to water freezing inside of it in the image above you can see the pipe has frozen to the point that it expanded and split the pipe.

What if I’m Unaware of my Frozen Pipes in Ottawa?

The problem is that you may not be aware that it is frozen. In this example, you can see split, but there would have been a long time between it freezing and it creating a flood. The reason is that once it expands to the point that it splits open the pipe, there will be a big glob of ice there and no leak. It won’t start leaking until it warms up as the split is blocked with a chunk of ice. Hopefully you’re lucky, you will be home when it thaws, and aware of the damage and flooding so you will be able to turn your water off and minimize the damage.

If you’re not home however, things are less pretty. If this leak has gone undetected, and it happens to warm up while you’re away at work, or sleeping at night, your house will be entirely flooded.

So what do we do in case of a frozen pipe?

Turn off the water to your house at the meter

Check any plumbing fixtures that are on exterior walls in your home as this is where pipes freeze most often

Using a hair dryer, warm the area where you suspect the pipes to be frozen

Turn the water back on, and listen and look for leaks

Check to see if your water is flowing again

If these steps don’t solve your problem, call John The Plumber and we will use our pipe thawing equipment to help solve your frozen pipe issue without creating an unnecessary flood.

What Do I Do If My Pipes Freeze?

If you live in an area like Ottawa you know we get some extreme temperatures in the winter. With these temperatures you run the risk of pipes freezing in your home. If the water in your pipes does get a chance to freeze it can cause the water to expand by up to 10% and this pressure can cause your pipes to split or even burst. This can potentially cause sever water damage in your home. To prevent this from happening we have provided some helpful tips so you don’t run the risk of having frozen pipes in your home this winter.

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