Plumbing advice
How to Get a Georgia House Ready for a Hard Freeze
Half an hour in October, and one decision on the night, prevents most of the calls we take in January.
Pipe split right now?
Close the main shutoff first, then open a low tap to drain the pressure. Then call.
- FAILS FIRST
- Hose bibbs and crawlspace runs.
- RARELY FAILS
- Buried mains, frost is shallow.
- DO IN AUTUMN
- Disconnect hoses, find the shutoff.
Why Georgia freezes differently
In a cold climate, houses are built assuming hard freezes. Supply pipe is routed inside the conditioned envelope, frost depth is designed around, and hose bibbs are frost proof as standard.
Here they largely are not, because for most of the year there is no reason for them to be. Frost depth in this part of Georgia is shallow, so buried mains are rarely the casualty. What fails instead is everything the building put somewhere unheated on the assumption it would never really get cold: outdoor taps on exterior walls, supply runs through vented crawlspaces, and lines in an unconditioned garage or attic.
The hard freeze that hit metro Atlanta over the Christmas weekend of December 2022 demonstrated the pattern across the whole county at once. Temperatures dropped fast and stayed down, and the resulting calls were overwhelmingly split hose bibbs and crawlspace runs.
What to do in autumn, once
The half hour that prevents most of it
None of this is expensive and most of it is free. All of it is cheaper than a section of ceiling.
- Disconnect every garden hose so the bibb can drain, which is the single highest value item on this list.
- Find your main shutoff and confirm it actually turns, before the night you need it.
- Insulate exposed supply pipe in the crawlspace, particularly anything near a vent.
- Work out which cabinet doors you would open to let warm air reach pipes on exterior walls.
- Check that crawlspace vents can be closed or baffled if a cold snap is forecast.
- Fit an interior shutoff on outdoor taps if there is not one already.
- Save a plumber's number somewhere you can find it at two in the morning.
What to do on the night
Open cabinet doors
Under sinks on exterior walls, so household heat reaches the pipework behind them. It sounds trivial and it works.
Let a tap drip
A slow drip on the fixture furthest from the main keeps water moving. Moving water is much harder to freeze than still water.
Keep the heating on overnight
Setting back the thermostat overnight saves very little and removes the heat that is protecting the pipes in the walls.
Close crawlspace vents
Where they can be closed or baffled, do it before the temperature drops rather than during.
Know where the shutoff is
If something does split, the time between the split and closing the main is the entire difference between a repair and a renovation.
| Location | Why it goes | Prevention | If it fails |
|---|---|---|---|
| Outdoor hose bibb. | Valve body sits in the coldest part of the wall with water behind it. | Disconnect hoses, fit frost proof. | Short visit, replace with frost proof. |
| Crawlspace supply run. | Vented crawlspace, uninsulated pipe, wind path. | Insulate and baffle vents. | Cut out and replace the split section. |
| Garage or attic line. | Unconditioned space with no standby heat. | Reroute into conditioned space where practical. | Section replacement or reroute. |
| Polybutylene fitting. | Acetal fittings on 1978 to 1995 pipe going brittle. | Plan replacement rather than waiting. | Repair, then a replacement plan. |
| Water heater in a garage. | Standby losses and harder working in a cold snap. | Have anything marginal checked in autumn. | Component repair or replacement. |
| Irrigation backflow assembly. | Above ground and exposed. | Insulate or drain down. | Replacement, and it is not cheap. |
A pipe that froze but did not burst is still worth attention. Ice expansion stresses fittings and stretches pipe without always splitting it the first time. Where a line froze solid and thawed without leaking, the weakness is usually still there waiting for the next cold snap.
If it splits anyway
Close the main. That is the whole first instruction, and everything else is secondary until it is done. Then open the lowest tap in the house to drain the remaining pressure so residual water is not still feeding the split.
Keep power away from any standing water. If water has reached outlets, appliances or a panel, that is the emergency rather than the pipe. Where the split turns out to be under a slab rather than in a crawlspace, the job starts as slab leak tracing instead.
Then call, and say where the split is: crawlspace, exterior wall, garage or attic. That single detail decides what the plumber brings and how quickly the work can start. The repair itself is straightforward burst pipe repair, and it is held to the Georgia State Minimum Standard Plumbing Code, the International Plumbing Code (IPC) as adopted with state amendments, whether it happens at two in the afternoon or two in the morning.
The judgement call after a freeze event
One split in an otherwise sound copper line is a straightforward repair and nothing more should be read into it. The picture changes when the pipe that split is the same age and material as everything around it.
Two failures in one winter on the same polybutylene system is not bad luck. Repairing the third in isolation is spending money to postpone a decision rather than to solve anything.
Quick answers
Freeze questions
Is letting a tap drip actually worth the water?
On a genuine hard freeze night, yes. The volume is small and moving water is considerably harder to freeze than still water, particularly in a run that crosses an unheated space.
It is not a substitute for insulating an exposed run, and it does nothing for a hose bibb with a hose still attached.
Should I turn the water off if I go away in winter?
For anything more than a couple of days in cold weather, it is a sensible precaution, along with draining the system down at a low tap.
Leave the heating on at a low setting rather than off entirely. A cold house is exactly the condition that produces the failure you are trying to avoid.
Why did my neighbour's pipes burst and mine did not?
Usually a difference in exposure rather than luck. Crawlspace ventilation, which direction the wind hits, whether pipe runs against an exterior wall, and whether a hose was left connected all vary house to house.
The consistent factor is that the failures happen in unheated space rather than underground.
Is frost proof the same as freeze proof?
Not quite. A frost proof hose bibb moves the valve seat back into the heated part of the wall so the water drains away from the exposed section. It works very well, and it stops working if a hose is left attached, because the tap cannot then drain.
Disconnecting the hose is what makes the fitting do its job.
Freeze damage, or want it checked before winter?
Call and describe where your pipework runs. Crawlspace runs and outdoor taps are quick to look at in autumn and expensive to deal with in January.