HAMPTON ROADS, Va. – Plumbers have been keeping busy dealing with pipes freezing and bursting in homes and businesses across Hampton Roads.
Some are plumbers told News 3 reporter Antoinette DelBel, service calls are backed up for several days and even weeks.
A Virginia Beach man, who asked not to be identified, is thankful for the little but steady stream coming from his faucets at his home in County View Mobile Court.
“I got no hot water,” he said. “That’s all I got. That’s full blast.”
Just days before Christmas, the homeowner said he didn’t have any water at all after below-freezing temperatures caused his pipes to freeze.
“My toilet, it won’t fill up,” he said.
And he’s not the only one.
Michael & Son Services has had a busier than usual holiday weekend making service calls all throughout Hampton Roads.
The plumbing company said they have 80 customers, with half of them needing help for frozen pipes, on Monday alone.
Plumbing technician Dave Nagg said when temps hover in the 20s like they have been, that’s when you can run into trouble with pipes freezing.
“If the pipe is exposed to the weather, or it’s not properly insulted, it can freeze,” he said.
And that’s when the pipe can burst.
“When it freezes, it expands it and that’s when it splits the pipe,” Nagg said. “Then when it unthaws, the water starts running and it starts gushing out where it’s split.”
The mobile homeowner said his pipes began to thaw on Christmas day. He told News 3 that everyone in the park is responsible for insulating their own pipes underneath to keep them from freezing.
“See the insulation tape on there? Evidently, it ain’t doing its job,” he said.
The homeowner said he used a blow dryer to help thaw out his pipes.
Plumbers said you can use warm air to thaw out pipes, but don’t use a flame from a blow torch, for example, to get the job done.
Most of the time, Nagg said, you have to just wait it out.
“It’s really hard to try to unthaw a pipe,” he said.
If pipes are frozen, plumbers recommend shutting off the water at the service valve.
To keep your pipes from freezing altogether, plumbers say you should keep faucets dripping and keep the thermostat in your home set to at least 55 degrees.
