What February 2021 taught Edmond homeowners
The Oklahoma Mesonet called February 15, 2021 the coldest day statewide since at least 1915, with an average of minus 0.7°F across Oklahoma. The next day every one of its 120 stations dropped below zero, and Oklahoma City bottomed out at minus 14°F. In the middle of that stretch, Edmond Electric asked customers to conserve as much electricity and natural gas as they could for at least 48 hours, and suggested setting thermostats lower than usual, as the regional power grid hit an emergency.
That request made sense for the grid and was hard on plumbing. A house that is a few degrees cooler inside leaves the attic, the garage and the back of a cabinet on an outside wall a lot colder than that. Those are the spots where pipes burst. The next time a utility asks you to turn the heat down in a hard freeze, open the cabinet doors on exterior walls, drip the faucets on those walls and keep the garage door shut.
Where pipes burst in Edmond homes
Roughly 4 in 10 Edmond homes have been built since 2000, according to Census estimates. In the two-story houses among them, supply lines often run through the attic, over the garage and into bonus rooms, where a pipe can be separated from the cold by little more than a layer of insulation. Older homes near downtown and UCO add a different risk: crawlspaces open to cold air and aging galvanized pipe that can burst from corrosion as well as ice. On acreage properties, lines to shops, barns and yard hydrants are exposed for long stretches.
The damage adds up fast. According to IBHS, even a 1/8-inch crack can pour out upward of 250 gallons in 24 hours, and a pipe that splits open lets go of far more.
Emergency water leak repair after freezing
Not every freeze-damaged pipe bursts on the coldest night. Many leaks show up hours or days after the thaw, when a pushed fitting or a hairline split finally gives way. After a cold snap, check your water meter with everything off, look for new ceiling stains below attic runs, and test outdoor hose bibs, ice maker lines and your sprinkler backflow preventer. If something is dripping, shut the water off at the main and call. We handle these post-freeze leaks the same way we handle a burst, as an emergency.
For more on how we approach split and burst lines, see our main burst pipe repair page. Local housing, utility and freeze history is on our Edmond plumbing page.