{"id":137576,"date":"2026-01-30T12:40:36","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T12:40:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/137576\/"},"modified":"2026-01-30T12:40:36","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T12:40:36","slug":"how-to-prepare-pipes-for-rare-cold-blast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/137576\/","title":{"rendered":"How to prepare pipes for rare cold blast"},"content":{"rendered":"

ORLANDO, Fla. \u2013 Central Florida homes are designed to handle extreme heat, intense sunshine, and strong winds from tropical systems, not long stretches of freezing cold. <\/p>\n

Most winters, our biggest concerns are protecting pets and plants during the occasional chilly night.<\/p>\n

With rare prolonged dangerous cold, exposed pipes could become a real concern when temperatures sit below freezing for more than 4-6 hours. <\/p>\n

Sunday morning is shaping up to be the coldest morning<\/a> that Central Florida has seen in decades. There is now a high chance of a hard freeze for most of the area. An Extreme Cold Watch was issued<\/a> for parts of the region, excluding Sumter County, from Saturday evening through Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n

[FLORIDA FREEZE GUIDE:\u00a0Everything you need to know<\/a>]<\/p>\n

As water in the pipes freezes, it expands, putting pressure on the pipe from the inside. <\/p>\n

Why pipes can burst in the cold<\/p>\n

In colder climates, pipes are built deeper underground and heavily insulated. In Central Florida, plumbing is often closer to the surface and not designed for prolonged cold, making even a brief freeze a bigger risk.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s talk about simple precautions you can take ahead of the cold blast<\/a> to help prevent costly damage.<\/p>\n

Cover outdoor faucets and pipes<\/p>\n

Wrap the spigot with a towel or cloth, then secure it with plastic or a zip tie to keep moisture out.<\/p>\n

Cover outdoor spigots and exposed pipes<\/p>\n

Let faucets drip overnight<\/p>\n

A slow, steady drip keeps water moving and reduces the chance of freezing.<\/p>\n

Keep a slow drip –<\/p>\n

Open cabinet doors inside the home<\/p>\n

If you have plumbing under sinks along exterior walls, open the cabinet doors to allow warmer indoor air to circulate around the pipes.<\/p>\n

Keep pipes warm –<\/p>\n

Know where your main shutoff valve is<\/p>\n

If a pipe does burst, turning off the water quickly can limit damage.<\/p>\n

Daily Forecast<\/p>\n

The News 6 Weather team ensures you’re always on top of the day’s weather.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by WKMG ClickOrlando – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORLANDO, Fla. \u2013 Central Florida homes are designed to handle extreme heat, intense sunshine, and strong winds from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":133511,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[58933,147,519,28,30,29,4715],"class_list":["post-137576","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-arctic-front","tag-central-florida","tag-cold","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-weather-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137576","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=137576"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137576\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/133511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=137576"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=137576"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=137576"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}