PORTLAND, Oregon —
Much of the Pacific Northwest has already endured several days of frigid temperatures, but there’s still more to come. With Arctic air sticking around for at least a couple more days, experts said there’s still time for residents to protect their homes from a nightmare scenario: frozen pipes.
“It’s been pretty crazy,” said Justin Cvitkovich, general manager of Roto Rooter in Portland. “As of this morning, I haven't looked in the last couple hours, we’ve had 27 calls.”
That’s more than two dozen homes plagued by frozen pipes, which can burst when the frozen water expands. Over the weekend, the Portland International Airport and Pioneer Place Mall were both hit with flooding after pipes froze.
Cvitkovich said he thinks some people may have been lulled into a false sense of security by how warm December was.
“There’s a lot of things you can do to prevent those frozen pipes, and I think with the mild winter so far people just didn’t take it serious,” he said.
Cvitkovich recommended residents disconnect any hoses on the exterior of the home, cover vents to basements and crawlspaces and put insulation around any exposed pipes.
“Anything you can do to cover any exposed pipe will help,” he said.
He said to pay special attention to areas of the home that may be inside, but aren’t heated, like garages and crawlspaces. Inside the home, residents should open cabinets to let heat in and leave faucets with a slow drip going.
If a home's pipes do freeze, residents should shut off the water at the main valve, usually located on the street in front of the home. One thing Cvitkovich said he sees often, and strongly recommends against, is trying to get water flowing using brute force.
“Do not hit them,” he said. “People try to bang on them to break the ice loose and it tends to break the pipe so when it does melt you now have a bigger issue than just the pipe.”
Cvitkovich said his crews are working to get to as many calls as they can as quickly as possible, but the same weather causing pipes to freeze is also making travel difficult around parts of the metro area.
“For any service industry right now, be patient,” he said. “We are trying to get to as many calls as we can but its difficult with travel around the city.”