How to use this plan
Walk the house once on a mild day and fill in the table below for your own rooms. Mark which sinks sit on exterior walls, which bathrooms sit over the garage, and which faucets have run slowly in past winters. When an arctic front is forecast, the work is then a ten-minute routine instead of guesswork at bedtime.
The goal on a cold night is simple: keep warm air moving to the pipes most likely to freeze, keep water moving through the lines farthest from the main, and keep cold air out of the spaces next to plumbing. Turning the thermostat up a few degrees helps, but it does far less than opening the one cabinet that sits against a north wall.
Room-by-room settings for a cold night
| Room or space | Faucet | Doors | Other |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kitchen sink on exterior wall | Thin drip, hot and cold | Sink cabinet open | Clear items from the cabinet back |
| Bathroom over the garage | Drip at the vanity | Vanity open, bathroom door open | Keep the garage overhead door shut |
| Laundry on garage wall | None needed if washer valves closed | Laundry door open to the house | Close washer valves overnight |
| Basement bath or wet bar | Drip if on a walkout wall | Cabinet open | Make sure heat registers are open |
| Garage | Not applicable | Overhead door closed | Do not use fuel-burning heaters |
| Rooms not in use | Drip if plumbing is on an outside wall | Leave doors open so heat reaches them | Do not shut off their registers |
Evening to morning
- Afternoon before the front
- Check the forecast low and wind. Disconnect any hose that was reattached. Close the garage.
- Early evening
- Set the thermostat at your normal setting or slightly above. Skip any deep overnight setback for this one night.
- Bedtime
- Open the cabinets on the list, start the drips, and confirm everyone knows where the main is.
- First thing in the morning
- Run each dripping faucet at full flow briefly. A faucet that slowed overnight means ice; keep it open and see the explainer on finding the frozen section.
- Midday thaw
- Walk the house again, especially ceilings under bathrooms and the garage ceiling. This is when hidden splits usually start leaking.
General information for Parker, not a quote or professional advice. In an emergency, call 911.