The short answer
If a pipe froze in your Northern Virginia house, don’t use a torch, don’t shut the faucet, and don’t leave a heater running while you walk away. Open the faucet, find your main shutoff, then warm the pipe slowly from the faucet end with a hair dryer, a heating pad or hot towels. Hurrying is how a frozen pipe turns into a fire or a flooded floor.
The list
Swipe to see all columns →
Swipe to see all columns →
| Don’t | Why not | Do this instead |
|---|---|---|
| Use a torch, propane heater, kerosene heater or charcoal | The Red Cross says no open flame. Walls hide paper, insulation and framing, and house fires start this way. | Hair dryer, heating pad, hot towels |
| Close the faucet while you thaw | Melting ice needs somewhere to go, and moving water helps melt the rest. | Leave it open and let it run once it starts |
| Start with the main shutoff unfound | The split often shows only when the water comes back, and then you’re looking for a valve in a hurry. | Find it first, and have someone stand by it |
| Use a hair dryer near standing water | If water is on the floor or coming through a ceiling, electricity is the first danger. | Stay out, shut the main, shut the breaker if you can reach it dry |
| Walk away from a space heater | NFPA’s rule is three feet from anything that burns and off when you leave the room. | Stay with it. Space heater rules |
| Pour boiling water on it | It’s hard on the pipe and the fitting, and now there’s scalding water on the floor. | Hot towels, swapped often |
| Assume the pipe is fine because water came back | A split can start small, and it can be in a wall or ceiling. | Walk the house and check under sinks for an hour |
The $67 Heating Check
We check your furnace, heat pump or boiler before winter. Through December 31. See the offer
How to tell which pipe froze
One faucet with a trickle or nothing, while the others run, means the freeze is on that branch. No water anywhere on a cold morning usually means it froze near where the line comes in, or at a meter in an unheated spot. The usual places are outside walls, the sink cabinet on an outside wall, a bathroom over a garage, an unheated crawl space (crawl space vents matter here) and the line feeding an outdoor spigot. Frost on the pipe or a bulge tells you where to start.
What’s safe to do yourself
If you can see the pipe and it isn’t split, you can thaw it. Open the faucet. Start warming at the faucet end and work back toward the frozen spot, so melt water has a way out. Keep going until you have full pressure. Then check every other faucet in the house, because if one froze, others may be close.
Stop and call if the frozen section is inside a wall or ceiling, if you can’t find it, or if you see a split. A pipe in a wall usually means opening the wall, and a good plumber will tell you that instead of guessing. Here’s what a pipe repair looks like.
If it already burst
Shut the main, open the lowest faucet in the house to drain the lines, and stay away from wet electrical. Our burst pipe post has it in order, including what to photograph for insurance.
What not to do the next cold night
Don’t drop the heat overnight. The Red Cross says keep the thermostat at the same temperature day and night in a freeze, open the cabinet doors under sinks on outside walls, and let a cold faucet drip. Our full post on keeping pipes from freezing covers those and the pipes worth insulating. Power out too? Heat and pipes in an outage. The rest of the winter list is what we tell neighbors.
Book it
A pipe that froze once will freeze again unless something changes. Water coming through a ceiling right now? Shut the main and call (703) 997-9757, or see emergency plumbing. For the rest of the winter, the $99 water heater flush includes a walk through the house’s plumbing with photos. Book it from goswiftpro.com/cookiesoffer and free MOLTN cookies come with the visit. SwiftPro is rated 5.0 stars across 1,138 reviews on Google, Angi, Yelp, the BBB and Facebook, Virginia Class A license 2705192276.
Questions people ask
What should you not do with frozen pipes?
Don’t use a torch or any open flame, don’t close the faucet while you thaw, don’t leave a heater running unattended, and don’t plug in a hair dryer near standing water. Know where your main shutoff is first.
Can you pour hot water on a frozen pipe?
Skip it. Boiling water on a cold pipe or fitting can make things worse, and you end up with hot water on the floor around electrical. Hot towels, a heating pad or a hair dryer are the safe choices the Red Cross lists.
Will a frozen pipe thaw on its own?
It might, but you don’t know if it split until the water comes back. Thaw it while you’re home and watching, with the main shutoff within reach.
What temperature do pipes freeze at in Northern Virginia?
Water freezes at 32, but pipes in unprotected spots are most at risk once it’s around 20 degrees outside. That’s the number University of Illinois research landed on, and it’s the night to take steps.
