Denver’s freeze-thaw is mean to poorly run copper. A hose bib without a true inside stop, a kitchen sink on an outside wall, a crawl space with a 40-foot unprotected line — those are the calls we get after a night in the single digits.
Do not torch the pipe
Open flame on a frozen line is how you get a house fire and a split that was only a freeze. We thaw with controlled heat, find the split if it’s already gone, and replace the section. Then we fix the reason it froze: missing insulation, a dead can light in the soffit, a hose left on.
Before the next Arctic blast
- Disconnect hoses. Use frost-free bibs that actually drain
- Open cabinet doors on outside-wall sinks during a hard freeze
- Heat tape is a backup, not a design
- If a line froze once, it will freeze again until the run is moved or insulated
- Safe thaw — no open-flame folklore
- Burst sections replaced, not taped
- Hose bibs and crawl runs winterized