Frozen Pipe Repair in Hamilton, OH

How cold does it get, and which pipes freeze first

Southwest Ohio winters are mostly mild, which is exactly why frozen pipes catch people off guard. The region's 30-year January average is about 31 degrees, but arctic outbreaks drop far below that. Cincinnati's all-time record low is 25 below zero, set on January 18, 1977, and January 19, 1994 came within one degree of it.

A pipe freezes when cold air actually reaches it, which can happen on a night that is only moderately cold outside.

The usual places in Hamilton homes are supply lines on exterior walls behind kitchen sinks, pipes in unheated additions and enclosed porches, lines running through garages, and hose bibs where a hose was left connected. Older houses in the historic districts often have plumbing added to back porches and kitchens long after the house was built, sometimes with little insulation.

Signs a pipe is frozen, or already split

• A faucet gives a trickle or nothing while others in the house work.
• Frost on an exposed pipe in the basement, crawlspace or garage.
• A bulge or crack in a pipe or fitting you can see.
• Water stains or dripping from a ceiling or wall once the weather warms.
• A hose bib that runs inside the wall when you open it in spring.

That last one is easy to miss. A split frost-free sillcock can leak into the basement ceiling for weeks before anyone notices.

How we thaw pipes safely

The goal is to warm the pipe slowly, starting from the open faucet and working back toward the ice, so melting water always has somewhere to go. We use warm air, heat tape and electric pipe thawing equipment that warms metal lines from the inside, depending on the pipe material and where it is.

Open flames are how frozen pipes turn into house fires, especially inside walls with old wood framing. PEX and CPVC also soften with direct high heat. If you are warming a pipe yourself before we arrive, a hair dryer and patience are safer than anything hotter.

When the pipe has already split

Ice expands and the pressure between the ice plug and the closed faucet splits the pipe, often a few feet from where the ice actually formed. The leak starts only when the ice melts. That is why a pipe can seem fine at 7 a.m. and flood a kitchen by noon.

With the water shut off, the split length gets cut away and new pipe goes in its place. Copper splits are repaired with new copper or push-fit fittings. PEX is more forgiving and stretches before it fails, but its fittings can crack. If the split sent water through the house, our burst pipe repair page explains the next steps.

Keeping it from happening again

Most repeat freezes come from the same few spots. The fixes are usually small.

• Disconnect hoses from outside faucets in the fall so frost-free sillcocks can drain.
• Insulate exposed pipes in the basement rim, crawlspace and garage.
• Prop open the cabinet doors under outside-wall sinks on bitter nights so warm room air gets in.
• Let a faucet drip on the coldest nights. Moving water is harder to freeze.
• Have a line that freezes every winter rerouted to an interior wall. The IPC-based Ohio Plumbing Code calls for pipes in freezing locations to be protected, and a repair is the right time to fix that.
• Protect the sump pump discharge line, which also freezes. Our sump pump page covers that.

Frozen pipe service in Hamilton and the townships

We handle frozen pipes across ZIP codes 45011, 45013 and 45015, and out into the townships. Rural homes with wells and long runs to outbuildings in Ross Township often freeze in pump houses and barn lines. If the frozen pipe is the buried service line itself, see our water line repair page.