Live in an older house? Toronto plumber shares simple tip to prevent frozen pipes

During freezing temperatures and snowstorms, it’s best practice to keep at least one tap on in houses and older apartments, a Toronto-based plumber advises.

With up to 50 centimeters of snow and minus 20 C temperatures expected to hit Toronto on Sunday, Environment Canada has issued an Orange weather warning. The freezing temperatures could affect the water pipes in your house.

According to Jonathan Miljure, a partner at Leaside Plumbing, pipes that run through an outside wall of a house or older apartment building can freeze over in cold, snowy weather. To make sure that doesn’t happen, leave a tap dribbling.

“So, if you have a pump or a heating system, if the water is always flowing, then generally, even if it is minus 10 degrees, it’s not going to likely freeze,” Miljure says. “When you have taps that are open and constantly dribbling, that’s the effect you’re trying to create, and that’s why [plumbers] recommend leaving the tap on a little bit.”

If a water pipe does freeze over, Miljure says there’s no need to panic. With copper or galvanized steel pipes, a plumber can reverse it with a pipe thawing machine that sends an electrical current through the pipe.

However, if the pipes in a home are plastic, you either have to cut through the drywall and aim some heat on the pipe, or wait until it defrosts by itself. 

“If the pipes are plastic, then there’s nothing you can do. You have to basically find a cold spot, cut open the drywall or the wall below that area, and try to get some heat exposed to those pipes,” he says. 

The issue of frozen pipes is not an issue every Toronto resident has to worry about. Miljure says it’s only a problem in older houses, recently renovated open concept houses — where there are no inside walls for pipes to run through — and sometimes, older apartment buildings. 

One tap kept dribbling overnight is all that’s needed to keep the water running in sub-zero temperatures.