MARION COUNTY, Fla. – With temperatures dipping below freezing in Marion County, it seems like a good time to familiarize yourself with some tips on how to keep your pipes from freezing.
“This is Florida,” chuckled Marion County Utilities Director Tony Cunningham. “We don’t expect it to be this cold."
But here we are.
Cunningham met with News 6 Friday afternoon at Marion County’s water treatment plant, where he showed an outdoor pipe fitted with insulation.
“This is just a really good example of something that may be very similar at your home,” Cunningham said, pointing to a pipe.
Cunningham said he was not too worried about conditions overnight, considering temperatures would not amount to a prolonged “hard freeze.” But, he did advise people to consider buying insulation to protect their aboveground pipes.
He also suggested letting faucets in your home drip.
“It’ll just be a light drip,” Cunningham said. “It just needs to be that water’s running.”
Allowing the faucets to drip reduces the amount of pressure in your pipes, avoiding a possible burst.
News 6 also spoke over the phone with a University of Florida extension agent who covers Marion County. She advised people to turn off their irrigation system completely during a freeze.
