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1.Homeowners who believe their pipe or pipes are frozen should find the suspected frozen area. Likely places include pipes running against or near exterior walls, or areas where water service lines enter your home through the foundation.
2.Use warm air to thaw your pipes. Do not use electrical devices to try and thaw pipes if there is standing water. Officials also warned not to use a blowtorch, kerosene, propane heater or another open flame to thaw frozen pipes. Using a blowtorch or other open flames could boil the water in a frozen pipe and cause it to explode.
3.Experts also said to keep the faucet open if you believe a pipe is frozen. Water will begin to flow as you heat the frozen area, and the ice begins to melt: Keeping the faucet open and running water through the pipe will help melt more ice in the pipe.
4.Keep applying heat until water pressure returns to normal.
5.Officials said it’s a good idea to check all the faucets in your home as the temperatures drop. If one pipe in your home is frozen, it’s likely others may also freeze.
6.If a pipe does freeze and break, homeowners should “immediately close the main shut-off valve to stop flooding.” The shut-off valve can be inside or outside, but is usually in the basement, crawlspace or garage.
7.Know where your meter cutoff valve is. If pipes freeze, SAWS has created a video on how to turn off water at the meter: https://youtu.be/BYp_9JZQb3A (English) https://youtu.be/mghj_zDD7IU (Spanish)