ASHEVILLE, N.C. (WLOS) — Temperatures have dropped, and they’re going to continue to drop as the night goes on.
As we head into Tuesday night, temperatures are expected to hit the teens and single digits, which will make this the coldest it’s been since the Christmas freeze of 2022.
As the community deals with the coldest temperatures seen in more than a year, News 13 spoke with a local plumbing company about what people should be doing to protect their pipes.
Mike Anderson, the service manager for T.P Howard’s Plumbing Co., explained that a freeze is bound to happen at some point throughout the year in Asheville.
“Last year, the big freeze, you know it kind of knocked out a lot of Asheville, and then this year, we’ve got another deep freeze coming up,” he said.
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Anderson described 2022’s freeze as organized chaos.
“It gets to be a hard workload for us trying to keep up, and we couldn’t keep up last year. You’re trying to help everybody, but you just couldn’t, couldn’t do it,” he said.
Anderson said that while they know what they’re getting into as they gear up for this freeze, the first few days typically aren’t that bad for them.
“After two or three days and nights of teens, single digits, wind chill, then we’re getting into some high call volumes coming in,” he said.
Anderson said it takes a little bit of time for the ground to get frozen enough to penetrate back deep into the crawl space where there could be some exposed lines.
During the 2022 freeze, Anderson said he remembered a lot of customers who called because they didn’t know where their shut-off valve or meter was located.
“Knowing where your water meter is or where your shut off is in your house, that’s very important. If you’re on a well, knowing where the breaker is to turn off that breaker,” Anderson said.
He said anytime the temperature drops below freezing people need to become concerned about their pipes.
“Make sure you have insulation on your water lines, whether they’re in your attic or your crawl space,” he said.
He said you can save yourself by just knowing where your water pipes are and that they’re insulated.
“Keep your cabinets open throughout the day and night and let the house heat, you know, get in there just to prevent the freezing inside the house,” Anderson said.
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Anderson also said the location of pipes can make some more vulnerable, depending on the wind.
If your pipes do freeze, Anderson said that there’s only one thing to do — turn the water off.
“You’re just going to have to wait until the sun will heat back up,” he said.
Anderson said it’s also important to remember to look for cracks in your pipes even as they begin to thaw.
“Check your outside to make sure there’s not just water bubbling up in your yard,” he said.
Anderson said extra crews are on standby to help if needed over the next few days.
“Please be patient with your plumbers because we’re trying to take care of everybody,” he said.
Anderson said they expect they will start to receive many calls over the next few days and that they will work as quickly as they can.
wlos.com
https://wlos.com/news/local/asheville-plumbing-company-prepares-for-harshest-temperatures-since-2022-tp-howards-plumbing-co-service-manager-mike-anderson
