ORANGE COUNTY – Cold temperatures can cause several headaches to our homes such as power outages and frozen pipes.

Orange Water and Sewer Authority’s Greg Feller has several tips to help keep your pipes from freezing as temperatures drop well below freezing. He suggests paying careful attention to pipes that aren’t well-insulated.

“If someone has an unheated area such as a crawl space or basement where there are water pipes, then it is important to close off any openings to keep cold air from getting into the crawl space,” Feller says.

Feller suggests filling any cracks with a piece of insulation, plastic or paper.

To keep the pipes from freezing, he recommends turning the faucets on to a slight trickle or slow stream to keep the water moving through the pipes. Feller adds well-insulated pipes do not have to run a drip; that is only necessary for long-term freezing temperatures.

“Our recommendation is to let water drip from the highest faucet or spicket in a house,” Feller says. “If all of the faucets are at the same level, it really doesn’t matter which is done.”

Feller adds that if there is a water pipe next to an exterior wall enclosed in a cabinet, opening those cabinet doors can let in heat to help prevent the pipes from freezing. He also suggests making sure that covers on OWASA meters remain closed to prevent damaging its elements.

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