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Plumbers: Deep freeze means frozen pipes, broken furnaces

Posted at 11:28 PM, Dec 07, 2016
and last updated 2016-12-08 01:28:23-05

AURORA, Colo. -- The deep freeze in Colorado means plumbers are ready for broken pipes and faulty furnaces.

"This was a house call for no heat," said Bryan Stiles, a technician for Bell Home Solutions who spoke to Denver7 while working on a furnace in an Aurora home. "In this case, we've got a bad igniter."

The homeowner is lucky because the bitter cold has already caused a three-day backlog for heating and plumbing repair calls.

"You're probably going to wait a couple of days because of the scheduling and because so many people are in demand," said Stiles.

This is just the beginning, though, because eventually the frozen pipes will start to thaw and then they will burst, Stiles said. Simply repairing broken pipes can cost about $600, but the damage can be much worse.

"I've seen icicles hanging from chandeliers," said Stiles. "I've seen multi-million dollars homes destroyed with water."

To prevent your pipes from freezing, open the cabinets and leave water dripping from the faucet.

If your pipes are frozen, you can try thawing them out yourself with a hair dryer or calling a plumber to use more professional methods, said Stiles.

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