LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — The frigid temperatures this week could wreak havoc on your pipes.
Plumber and business owner Don Fitzpatrick said he loves that no two days on the job are the same.
But when temperatures drop into the teens, or worse yet single digits, he does start getting a lot of similar calls into Fast Flow Plumbing.
“You're not going to have any water," Fitzpatrick said.
"You're going to turn on your faucet and it's not going to come out. At that point you need to call us and see what's going on with it."
Frozen pipes can crack and create bigger problems once the weather warms back up.
“A lot of times when it thaws it will burst and then you got a flood going on,” said Fitzpatrick.
We’re told one thing you can do is leave the faucets in your home dripping. That keeps the water moving which can help prevent your pipes from freezing.
“If you have a crawl space or you have pipe that's on the exterior you can wrap it in heat tape or insulation, that's your safest measure,” said Fitzpatrick.
Fitzpatrick advises people to be weary about using space heaters to warm pipes because that can be a fire hazard and they should never be left unattended.
It's also important that you disconnect outdoor hoses. A lot of times people forget to do this, then when they go to turn the hose on when the weather warms up, they end up with a flood.
Fitzpatrick told us copper pipes, which are in a lot of older homes, are the ones at risk of cracking.
If you’re concerned plumbers can replace those with plastic pipes that expand instead of crack
If you’re worried about the pipes in your home you can reach Fast Flow Plumbing at (859) 756-3508 or learn more on their website.
