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Think Spring. But in the mean time, don’t forget it’s winter. Roads, sidewalks, and roofs require snow removal. Diesel engines require a fuel additive to tackle the brisk conditions. And homes require a little bit of preventative maintenance as well.
Houghton City Manager Eric Waara said, “It’s winter. We have had a really good run of cold weather here and we have had a handful of freeze ups thus far. Some of them have been internal to the houses, of course which are a homeowner type issue. We had a couple that were related to a leak issue that we had at the water main and we’ve had a few out there that have genuinely froze.’
An old trick that homeowners use to prevent pipes from freezing is to open a faucet just a little bit and let the water run. Running water takes longer to freeze than still water, but that will increase your water bill if you’re on a city water system, so Waara says there are better alternatives.
Waara said, “Some of the bigger things that people can do is just keep an eye on things in your house. Don’t let that extra bathroom out in the addition sit there for three weeks before anybody checks on it and finds the water’s frozen. A lot of people don’t realize, too, that a lot of their plumbing under their sinks don’t get a lot of heat to them. So sometimes it’s necessary to open the cupboard doors overnight just to make sure that the heat circulates.”
For seasonal rooms with plumbing that go unused during the winter, it’s recommended to shut off the water supply to that room until spring.
“Our Public Works Department or our Water Department keeps a close eye on what’s going on out in the system to make sure that we don’t have main line or service line freeze ups to the extent possible,” said Waara.
