With temperatures expected to plummet over the next few nights your biggest problems may not be keeping warm.You could see bigger problems than that if your pipes freeze. And they likely could if you don't take some precautions now.
"Our plumbing business has been two to three times as high as usual this holiday season. I think it's from a lot of people having more people over for the holidays. All the extra family and friends seem to be stressing the plumbing for a lot of houses. And since we go to calls in Tahoe we've been seeing a lot of problems with people opening up second homes for the holidays and running into pipe problems," said Jim Patterson, manager of Roto-Rooter in Reno.
More importantly is preventing more problems with freezing temperatures though. And a lot of those problems can be avoided altogether.
"You need to worry most about the pipes on the outside walls. They are the ones that can freeze most easily and they are the ones to worry about. You can have them professionally wrapped or you can buy foam insulation at the hardware store and do it yourself. Don't turn the heat down like some people do at night. Keep the house warm and the pipes won't freeze. You can even open the cabinets so the heat in the house can get to the pipes like say under the sink," said A.J. Rowe, one of five plumbing crews working for Roto-Rooter..
Rowe was on his fourth job at noon today and said he'd be working long into the night.
“The fact that we haven't had any snow adds to all this,” Rowe said. “When we get snow people stay home but since the passes are clear there just seems to be more people coming all the way to Reno and that is stressing a lot of plumbing lines here.”
It's another case where a little prevention work and thinking ahead can save a lot of problems later on.
