Frozen and burst pipes in Salt Lake City

Right now

1. Close the main shutoff. In most Salt Lake houses it is in the basement or crawl space where the line comes through the front foundation wall, or in a closet near the front of the house. Turn it clockwise until it stops.
2. Open a faucet at the lowest point of the house to drain what is left in the lines.
3. Turn off power to wet rooms only if you can reach the panel standing somewhere dry. If water is coming through a light fixture, stay out of that room.
4. Keep the heat on. Other pipes on the same wall may be frozen too. A space heater or a hair dryer on a still-frozen pipe is fine if you stay with it; an open flame is not.
5. Photograph everything before you move it, then lift what you can off wet floors.

Which pipes freeze here

Pipes in exterior walls, garages, crawl spaces, unheated basements and the hose bib by the back door. The Building Research Council field tests found the onset of freezing came at about 20°F outside for uninsulated pipes in an unheated space, and that pipes can freeze above that in wind or where insulation has gaps.

Salt Lake has been getting fewer of those nights. The airport averaged 32.1 nights a year at 20°F or colder over 1991-2020 and 16.4 over 2016-2025. 2013 still had 56. Fewer cold nights means fewer people drain the sprinkler lines and disconnect the hose before the first one, which is part of why a single cold snap brings a wave of calls. The benches and the canyon mouths run colder than the airport.

Average nights at or below freezing, by month

How the cleanup goes

A licensed plumber repairs the pipe; in Utah, work on a plumbing system needs one even on a small job. The restoration company opens the wall or ceiling where the water ran, pulls wet insulation, extracts what is on the floor, and dries the cavity with air movers and dehumidifiers. In dry winter air a wall cavity that has been opened up usually dries in a few days. One that is left closed can stay wet for weeks.

Fixr lists clean-water extraction at $3.75 to $4.25 per square foot and most water damage jobs at $1,200 to $5,000. A supply line that ran overnight into a finished basement can go well past that. What restoration costs.

Insurance

A burst pipe is the textbook sudden and accidental loss most homeowners policies cover. Two things can complicate it: a vacant or unheated house, which many policies treat differently, and a slow drip that went on long enough to cause rot. Call your insurer the day you find it, keep the plumber's invoice that names the cause, and keep the split section of pipe. Insurance claims in Utah.

Next winter

• Drain and blow out sprinkler lines before the first hard freeze; the average first freeze at the airport came around October 28 over 2016-2025.
• Disconnect hoses so the hose bib can drain.
• Insulate pipes in garages, crawl spaces and exterior walls.
• On a night forecast in the teens, open the cabinet doors under sinks on outside walls and let a faucet drip.
• If you travel, keep the heat on and have someone check the house.