How to stop your pipes from freezing tonight

People often think dripping a faucet works because moving water cannot freeze. The real reason dripping saves your pipes is pressure relief: if ice starts to form inside the pipe, an open faucet lets the displaced water escape out the tap instead of building 2,000 PSI of pressure and bursting the wall.

If you only do three things

1. Drip the faucet farthest from where water enters your house—plus any sink on an outside wall.
2. Drip BOTH the hot and cold handles slightly (or set a single-handle faucet to the warm middle position) at a steady trickle about the width of a pencil lead.
3. Open the cabinet doors underneath kitchen and bathroom sinks so room heat can reach the pipes behind the vanity.

Should you drip hot water, cold water, or both?

Both! Your home has two separate plumbing networks running side by side inside the walls: the cold supply line and the hot supply line from your water heater.

Once hot water sits still inside an uninsulated wall for 30 minutes, it cools down and freezes just as easily as the cold line. If your sink has two handles, open both slightly. If it has one lever handle, set it right in the middle so both hot and cold lines flow into a slow trickle.

How to find your Main Water Shutoff Valve right now

Do not wait until water is spraying out of your ceiling to look for your shutoff valve. Walk through your house today and find it:

• Northern homes with basements: Usually on the front foundation wall facing the street, right next to the water meter.
• Homes on a concrete slab or apartments: Often inside the utility closet near the water heater, in the garage, or under the kitchen sink.
• Southern homes (TX, FL, GA, CA): Frequently in an underground plastic or concrete box near the front sidewalk/curb, or on an exterior wall where the main pipe enters the house.
• How to turn it off: A round wheel-style 'gate valve' turns clockwise (righty-tighty) several rotations until it stops. A straight lever 'ball valve' turns 90 degrees so the handle sits perpendicular (crosswise) to the pipe.

Related guides

• What to do if a pipe freezes or bursts: Emergency steps if no water comes out of your tap.
• Pipe freeze risk calculator: Check your home's risk level by temperature.