As the thaw comes, unfortunately many across the region will experience bursting pipes. Please prepare now. Make sure you know how to shut off your water. It's one thing to deal with a broken pipe and another magnitude dealing with flood damage and mold remediation. Some have already had pipes break after power was restored after long power outages.

My own meter access is currently buried under 8 inches of snow. If this is your case, think about where you've seen it and clear it off now to be ready in case you need to access it after it warms up. Hopefully your water is running at all facets and you won't have any pipes burst but I fear for many, that won't be the case.

If you shut your water off during a freeze without draining or blowing out lines, which isn't as easy as it sounds, you'll likely have significant pipe damage. This is just a heads up for something that everyone should know how to do but most haven't had to deal with it.

You can buy a meter shut off tool and key at any big box or hardware store. In a jam you may be able to use a long screwdriver to open the meter box and a crescent wrench to shut off the valve.

ALSO - ONLY AFTER THE THAW AND IN THE EVENT OF A PIPE BURST - If you do end up shutting off your water. After any repair, open a couple of facets and SLOWLY open the valve. DO NOT OPEN FAST.

Everyone should own these tools.

Meter Wrench and Curb Key

Water Meter Key




Also - if at all possible, you should always shut off water on YOUR side of the meter. It's often illegal to shut off water on the city side of the meter. Make sure you know where you're own shut off valves are.
Godspeed. Stay strong. We'll be on the other side of this soon...

This will be crucial once the thaw starts.

I thought about covering my pool equipment and heating it up to see what will happen. With the freezing temps in the forecast until the weekend, I'm going to let it stay frozen.

That bronze one is cool. All the years I have dug around in meter cans that beats the heck out of channel locks

You break it you pay for it. Trust me.

They suck just about as much, there's never enough room to get a turn on it. Get the other one, they're great.

Indeed - If at all possible, you should always shut off the water on your side of the meter. Depending on where you live, it may be illegal to shut off the water on the city side of the meter.

I have the tool but city put tamper proof meter lock boxes in last year so in my neighborhood you have to call them or get an ax/axe.

As most of Texas gets above freezing temps today, unfortunately we're likely to see a record number of pipes burst. If you can help, it's a good time to reach out to neighbors that might not be as capable and let them know you might be able to help shut off their water if they have an emergency break. I've reached out to mine and expect I'll be busy this afternoon.

The public water systems are all stressed so helping shut off water flowing from busted pipes will help everyone. The last thing we need is for this to morph into an even bigger problem...

Also, if you have any frozen pipes, it's a good idea to take pictures now to show your insurance provider what it looked like before any damage. It's also a good idea to move anything away from likely areas where pipes might break and off the floor to protect things from water damage that may occur before you can shut off the water.

Stay strong, we'll soon be on the other side of this mess. Keep in mind the spring spawn is just around the corner...


Godspeed~

Jimmy it with a flat head screw driver if needed. New lids here too but a water key still opens it

if you know you have frozen pipes, best to shut off water prior to thaw, have someone ready to shut down and turn on slowly while inspecting for visible leaks, in wall will either make noise or let you know fast at the baseboard.

it's when they thaw and you aren't ready that you can really flood a place.

I lost a ton of stuff and almost all my pictures when a power outage happened while I was on a grand canyon trip, like this storm it was a freak deal but I had probably 6": of water in the house before a neighbor shut it off for me.

6 weeks to repair sucked bad.

Shark Teeth connectors are pretty good thing to have on hand to repair copper pipe bursts. They make some that are about 8" long with flex hose. Cut out the burst and shove the ends into the connector.