Why Idaho Homes Get Burst Pipes
Idaho homes carry old plumbing. Statewide, 39.0% of Idaho homes were built before 1980, and in 58 of the 100 cities we serve, most homes pre-date 1980. Older homes often still have galvanized steel pipe, a zinc-coated steel pipe that corrodes from the inside and grows weaker and narrower with age, alongside early copper pipe runs. Pipe corrosion thins the wall year by year, so when ice pressure builds, an old line gives way sooner than a new one.
The cold lasts. In 58 of the 100 cities we serve, the average year brings 150 or more freeze days, based on NOAA and NCEI climate normals. Eastern Idaho and the Central Idaho Mountains sit below freezing for long stretches, and even the lower valleys drop hard overnight. A freeze thaw cycle, repeated freezing and warming over a season, works a pipe back and forth until a weak section, often a failed fitting at a joint, finally cracks.
How Idaho homes are built adds risk. Many houses sit over a crawl space where supply lines run unheated, and manufactured homes carry lines in the space under the floor. Pipes in an exterior wall or an unheated attic, the space above the ceiling, get almost no house heat. High desert towns heat up in the day and plunge at night, so a pipe can freeze, partly thaw and freeze again in one week.
Water systems differ too. Farm and acreage homes depend on a well line and an irrigation line, the buried sprinkler piping that must be drained before winter or trapped water splits it. A hose bib left with a hose attached can freeze back into the wall. Strong supply pressure in some newer subdivisions also stresses joints and appliance hoses, and the water heater connections are a common weak point. NOAA National Weather Service Boise covers the southwest of the state and NOAA National Weather Service Pocatello covers the east, and both issue the freeze warnings Idaho homeowners watch each winter.
Homes Built Before 198039.0% Of Idaho Homes
Source: ACS 2024 5-Year
Cities We Serve Where Most Homes Pre-Date 198058 Of 100 Cities
Source: ACS 2024 5-Year, Our City Data
Cities Averaging 150+ Freeze Days A Year58 Of 100 Cities
Source: NOAA/NCEI 1991–2020 Normals
Owner-Occupied Homes72.1% Of Idaho Homes
Source: ACS 2024 5-Year