Saturday's First Freeze Went After the Outside Faucet

Last week in Battle Creek went from summer to frost in five days. Monday hit about 83 with a low near 55, and Tuesday held near 81 with a muggy overnight low around 63 and gusts near 31 mph. Then the front came through. Wednesday through Friday turned gray and wet, with light rain and fog adding up to roughly four tenths of an inch at the Battle Creek airport, highs in the mid-60s, and a Friday gust near 42 mph. Behind it, Saturday morning dropped to about 32 under clear skies, the first freezing reading of the season, and Sunday opened near 34. That is a fifty-degree swing in one week, and the first thing a first freeze goes after is the faucet on the outside wall.

A garden hose still screwed onto the spigot traps water in the faucet body. On a 32-degree night that water freezes and can split the pipe just inside the wall, even on frost-free style faucets. You usually do not see it on Saturday. You see it the next time someone turns the hose on, when the water runs into the basement ceiling, the rim joist, or a finished wall instead of out the end. Irrigation lines and backflow valves that never got drained, and supply lines that run along a cold outside wall or crawlspace, take the same hit.

Do this today. Pull every hose off the house. If the outdoor faucet has an inside shutoff, close it, then open the outside faucet so it drains. Look at the basement ceiling and wall under each spigot for a stain or a drip. If you find one, or the faucet still drips with the shutoff closed, call A.W. Crooks. We are 24/7 residential plumbing and HVAC in Battle Creek and the surrounding areas, and we do not add a weekend tax during business hours.

That same 32-degree morning is when a lot of Battle Creek furnaces ran for real. Give yours ten minutes on heat: a clean start, no water on the floor, no burning smell that will not clear. The $99 furnace tune-up and $199 boiler tune-up are still live, one system check each, repairs not included. Book at tctcinc.com/specials.

Friday's 42-mph gusts are the kind that flicker power and trip outdoor disconnects. A breaker that will not reset, a panel that buzzes or feels warm, or a house that has gone dark one too many times is The Michigan Electric Company: residential and light commercial electrical, panels, and generators.

Building or running commercial or new-construction plumbing before the ground freezes? That is The Plumbing Company, commercial and new-construction plumbing only, not 24/7. One call to (269) 962-5441, or an email to tctc@mitctc.com, reaches all three.