TMWA NEWS RELEASE
As temperatures drop, you can avoid the expense and trouble of frozen water pipes around your home. The staff at Truckee Meadows Water Authority has compiled these simple precautions to follow as the cold weather sets in:
- If you have not already done so, shut off and drain your irrigation system. Disconnect and drain all outdoor hoses as well. For instructions, visit the conservation section of www.tmwa.com.
- Insulate pipes or faucets in unheated areas. If you have water pipes in an unheated garage or crawl space under the house, wrap them before temperatures plummet. Hardware and home improvement stores offer appropriate pipe-wrapping tape.
- Close the foundation or exterior vents around your house during the cold months to help keep cold air out of crawl spaces.
- Seal off access doors, air vents and cracks. Repair broken basement windows. Cold-winter winds whistling through overlooked openings can quickly freeze exposed water pipes. However, avoid plugging air vents that your furnace or water heater needs for safe ventilation. Keep garage doors closed if there are water lines in the garage.
- During periods of hard freezes, or when you’re away from your home for an extended period of time, keep your home thermostat at a temperature that will keep your pipes from freezing, no lower than 55ºF.
- Know the location of your master water shutoff valve. In many homes it’s where the water line comes into your house from the street. If a pipe bursts anywhere in the house — kitchen, bath, basement or crawl space — this valve turns off all water and will save your home from water damage. So, find it now and paint it a bright color or hang a tag on it. Be sure everyone in the family knows where it is.
For more tips on winterizing your home, please visit the conservation section of www.tmwa.com.
Truckee Meadows Water Authority (TMWA) is a not-for-profit water utility, overseen by elected officials from Reno, Sparks and Washoe County. TMWA employs a highly skilled team who ensure the treatment, delivery and availability of high-quality drinking water around the clock for more than 330,000 residents of the Truckee Meadows.
