Frozen pipe? Here's the drill
Annual · typically December · weather can move it up
Why it matters
Your winter-prep card works to keep this day from coming; this card is for when it comes anyway. One faucet runs dry during a hard freeze, and the next hour decides whether this is a story or a claim. Two facts drive everything: ice blocks the pipe _before_ it splits it, so a frozen pipe is often still an intact pipe — and if it did split, the flood starts at thaw, not at freeze. That's why the response is: thaw gently, watch closely, and know your shutoff cold.
What skipping it costs
$500–$15,000
Water expands about 9% when it freezes, and pipes lose that argument. The cruel part is the timing: the split happens during the freeze, but the flood waits for the thaw — often while you're relieved it's over. A frozen pipe handled right is an anxious afternoon; handled wrong, it's a wall open to the studs and every trade in town booked solid.
Two ways to get it done
Do it yourself
You'll need: Hair dryer, Space heater (used safely), Towels, Flashlight.
- Confirm the scope: one fixture dry = local freeze near that run. Whole house dry = frozen at the main entry or meter — skip to gentle heat there.
- Open the affected faucet (both handles) and leave it open. Moving water thaws faster, and the open tap relieves pressure as ice melts.
- Find the cold spot: follow the run toward the supply, feeling for the coldest section — usually where the pipe passes an exterior wall, vent, or unheated space. Frost or a bulge marks the spot.
- Heat gently from the faucet side toward the freeze: hair dryer, heat lamp, or a safely placed space heater warming the whole cavity. Warm towels work on reachable pipe. Never a torch, ever — open flame near framing starts more house fires every winter than the freezes do.
- Stay with it. As flow returns, watch and listen: dripping in the wall, a hiss, water where it shouldn't be. Any of that → main shutoff immediately (you know where it is — that was your first card) and call the plumber with the freeze point already located.
- After a clean thaw, fix the _why_ while it's fresh: insulate that run, seal the draft that froze it — same-day, while the fear is still useful.
Hire it out
$200–$500National fair range — local labor moves this number.
A plumber's freeze call runs $200–$500, and it's the right call when the frozen section is inaccessible, when the whole house is dry, or the moment you find a split. What you're buying is professional thawing gear, a pressure check of the run afterward, and a repair if the pipe let go — plus the permanent fix (insulation, heat cable, reroute) quoted while the culprit is exposed.
During a regional freeze event every plumber is triaging burst pipes, so an intact-but-frozen line puts you behind the floods on the list. That's not an insult; it's a reason the DIY thaw above is worth knowing. Use the wait productively — heat to the space, faucet open, shutoff located — and you'll often solve it before your slot comes up.
Ask the tech
- Where exactly was the freeze point, and what about that spot made it vulnerable?
- Is there any sign the pipe split — did you pressure-check the run after thawing?
- What's the permanent fix for this run: insulation, heat cable, or rerouting?
Red flags you're being upsold
- Emergency thawing billed at crisis rates for what a hair dryer was already doing — if water's still off everywhere in town, ask what they'll do that you can't.
- A whole-house repipe pitch from a single frozen run. One vulnerable pipe means one vulnerable spot, not a $15,000 project.
- Torch thawing. Any pro who opens a flame near your framing is a fire waiting for a headline — that's a leave-the-house-now level of wrong.
Second opinion time: Any post-freeze quote over $2,000 — burst repairs are localized; big numbers need justification you can see.
The call
DIY the thaw with patience and a hair dryer — but the moment you find a split or hear water where it shouldn't be, the main goes off and the phone comes out.