When another cold front hit Austin earlier this month, Austin plumbers recommended people drip their pipes to avoid any damage, but temperature fluctuations varied enough during the day to prevent most pipes from freezing. This week's forecast looks more severe when it comes to just how cold it's going to get.
Temperatures are expected to dip below freezing every night this week through Friday with 18 degrees as the lowest forecasted.
So, whether you live in a house, condo or apartment, the advice remains the same: Drip your faucets.
Fabian Pecina, manager at L&P Plumbing, said he expects he'll see more leaks, a sign of burst pipes, this time around.
“It’s always the overnights that are the worst of it,” he said. “Between Monday and Tuesday, it’s going to be pretty cold. ... Customers are going to start seeing leaks as the week goes on.”
Part of that, Pecina said, is because temperatures will stay colder for longer.
Why do we drip our faucets?
Plumbing systems are susceptible to the cold in much of Texas. If there’s water in your pipes, it can freeze and expand, causing pipes to burst.
Running water is less likely to freeze than still water. Keeping a consistent flow of water through the plumbing can help prevent it from freezing and bursting. That’s why we set our faucets to drip.
Pecina said dripping both hot and cold water overnight is a good precaution to take this week. He recommends dripping at least one faucet in every bathroom and the kitchen and keeping any cabinet doors under the sink open to let in the warmth.
“We tell customers it’s better to have a high water bill for a month than an expensive plumbing bill for a day,” Pecina said.
Does this advice differ for large apartment buildings?
Apartment buildings come in all shapes and sizes. Pecina said that variety extends to the plumbing systems within them. Some units have multiple buildings under one plumbing system, while some only have a handful of units per water meter.
“Traditionally the apartment complex will take their own precautions,” Pecina said. “But Mother Nature’s a hell of a beast, so she’ll do whatever she wants to do to us.”
KUT called apartment complexes in Central Austin and all recommended dripping pipes, opening sink cabinets and keeping the apartment temperature above 65 degrees.
Reid Pieuvre works the front desk at The Braxton Apartments and said the complex has had issues with pipes bursting in the past.
“We do have an FAQ sheet about the winter weather posted in the elevator, and we sent out a bulk email to everybody with some precautions they can take, because it's happened before,” Pieuvre said.
Are renters liable for burst pipes?
Nelson Mock is a Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid attorney representing families with housing problems. He said landlords are responsible for making sure that a property is safe and habitable, which includes making repairs as needed to plumbing and heating systems.
Usually, a renter’s lease contract will include what the expectations are if there is damage to the property, but that can vary lease by lease.
“If a landlord is given a tenant notice of the freeze and ask them to drip their pipes, we would recommend that they do that because of potential liability,” Mock said.
He said he’s been thinking about what may need to change in the long-term about construction practices in Texas if winter weather continues to become more extreme.
”One of the bigger questions is whether or not landlords have a responsibility to winterize their apartments,” Mock said. “Because some of these issues are things that can't be resolved by just simply dripping your pipes.”
If there's no water coming out of your faucet and the temperature outside is below freezing, the water in the pipe could be frozen. Try taking a hairdryer to it — and only a hairdryer. A plumber KUT spoke to last year said homeowners run the risk of melting a pipe or starting a fire with other devices. Here's what else they told us.
The City of Austin has winter weather preparedness tips available, including how to locate your water shutoff and how to thaw pipes after a freeze.