Big Bear... was hit with a cold snap earlier in January and the ever present problem of frozen pipes reared its ugly head throughout the valley. I made the rookie mistake of leaving my hoses attached to the outdoor faucets and woke up to frozen pipes. Fortunately, the problem was isolated to a small area of my home, but I learned from my plumber that over 40 homes in my neighborhood had been affected. Water, as we learned in school, expands when frozen. That's a problem because inside the pipes, there is no room … [Read more...]