Protect Your Pipes

State Farm says that over 250,000 families have damage from frozen or burst pipes every year. The costs of a frozen pipe can be pretty significant. First you may have to call a plumber to unthaw frozen pipes and/or repair broken pipes. A plumber visit will run you at least $100 you can assume. Worse yet frozen pipes may burst resulting in water damage to your home and belongings. Water damage could be very costly running you hundreds or even thousands of dollars to fix. It is a serious enough problem that State Farm is concerned with it undoubtedly due to the amount of money they have to pay due to claims from their customers.

Frozen pipes are generally preventable so don't let it happen to you. Now is the time of year you should make sure that your homes water pipes are protected against freezing.

Key tips:

Don't shut off your heat completely if going on vacation.
Insulate pipes that are exposed to outside walls or in an unheated basement or crawl space.
Disconnect garden hoses
Locate your master water shut off valve in case of a freeze

For more information check out these sites:
Red Cross page on preventing and thawing frozen pipes
State Farm's frozen pipe page.