-- Why Long Island Homes Are Vulnerable
Long Island sits in USDA Hardiness Zone 7a, which means sustained temperatures below 20°F several times a year. That is cold enough to freeze exposed or poorly insulated pipes — and Suffolk County has a lot of housing stock where this is a real risk.
The most vulnerable areas in a typical Long Island home:
Exterior walls. Pipes running through exterior walls that were built without adequate insulation — common in homes from the 1950s through the 1980s — can freeze when temperatures drop below 20°F and stay there for more than a few hours.
Garages. Many Long Island homes have attached or detached garages with water lines for a utility sink, hose bib, or second refrigerator. An unheated garage can drop below freezing within hours on a cold night.
Crawl spaces. Homes with crawl space foundations — common across Suffolk County — sometimes have pipes running through that space with minimal insulation. Cold air circulates freely through unencapsulated crawl spaces.
Hose bibs. Exterior hose connections that were not drained and winterized are almost certain to freeze if temperatures drop far enough. The damage usually happens inside the wall behind the hose bib, not at the bib itself.
Vacation and seasonal homes. Eastern Suffolk County has a large number of homes that are unoccupied for part of the winter. A heating system failure in a vacant house is a recipe for extensive pipe damage.
-- What to Do Before Winter
Winterize hose bibs. Disconnect garden hoses and drain them before the first freeze. If your hose bibs are frost-free (the most common type installed in the last 30 years), they self-drain when the hose is disconnected — but only if the hose is not still attached. A hose left connected traps water and defeats the frost-free design. If your hose bibs are old and not frost-free, have a plumber add a shutoff inside the wall and drain the line.
Insulate pipes in unheated spaces. Foam pipe insulation is cheap and installs in minutes — it slits open and snaps onto the pipe. Focus on any pipe in an unheated crawl space, garage, or exterior wall cavity. Use pipe heat tape in spots that are extremely cold or that you know have frozen before.
Know where your main shutoff is. Every member of the household should know where the main water shutoff is and how to operate it. In a freeze emergency, getting the water off fast is the most important thing you can do to limit damage.
Service your heating system. A boiler or furnace that fails on the coldest night of the year is a frozen pipe risk. Annual service before heating season is the best insurance against this.
Leave cabinet doors open. Under-sink cabinets on exterior walls trap cold air. During extreme cold, leave those cabinet doors open so heated room air circulates around the pipes inside.
-- During a Cold Snap
When overnight temperatures are forecast to drop below 20°F:
Let a slow trickle run from faucets on exterior walls. Moving water is much harder to freeze than standing water. This works best for sinks on exterior walls where you know the pipes are vulnerable. It wastes water, but less water than a burst pipe.
Keep the heat at minimum 55°F in any occupied or unoccupied room of the house — including guest rooms, finished basements, and garages connected to the main structure. Do not turn the heat down low when you leave for a trip in winter.
If you are leaving for more than a few days, either have someone check the house daily, or shut off the main water supply and drain the pipes at the lowest fixture. For a true winterization, a plumber can blow out the pipes with compressed air.
-- If Your Pipes Do Freeze
Do not panic, and do not turn the water on yet. A frozen pipe has not necessarily burst — ice expands, but the pipe may still be intact. The damage happens when the ice thaws and the crack (if there is one) opens up. Keep the water off until you can assess.
Find the frozen section. Usually it is the pipe closest to where cold air gets in — an exterior wall, near a hose bib, or in the garage. Feel along the pipe for the section that is colder than the rest.
Thaw slowly. Use a hair dryer on low heat, heat tape, or warm towels on the frozen section. Work from the faucet end back toward the frozen area so water and steam can escape. Never use an open flame — propane torches have caused house fires this way.
Have towels and a bucket ready. If the pipe did crack during freezing, water will flow when it thaws. Know where your main shutoff is so you can kill the water immediately.
Call a plumber if you cannot locate the frozen section, or if the pipe burst. Pipes inside walls are accessible but require more work to thaw and repair.
-- What Burst Pipes Actually Cost
A pipe burst from freezing can range from a minor repair — a split section of exposed pipe — to tens of thousands of dollars in water damage if the pipe ran undetected while you were away. Homeowner's insurance typically covers sudden and accidental water damage from burst pipes, but policies vary. Most do not cover damage from a heating system failure if the home was unoccupied without proper precautions.
The plumbing repair itself for a burst pipe is usually $200–$800 depending on where the pipe is and how much needs to be replaced. The water damage remediation is what costs real money — anywhere from a few hundred dollars to $10,000–$30,000 or more depending on how long the water ran and which rooms were affected.
Prevention is not expensive. The alternative can be.
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This guide was written by Mike Caruso. If your situation has a wrinkle we did not cover, call us direct. Most questions we answer by phone take five minutes.