UPPER FAIRFIELD TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- Cold temperatures have been keeping plumbing and heating businesses busy this week. Employees of a plumbing company in Lycoming County spent their afternoon thawing frozen pipes.
A light hum was barely noticeable until we made our way to the back of a home near Montoursville where Rick Wolfgang from Sampson Plumbing and Heating was sitting with a heat gun working to thaw out a frozen sewer line.
"All you have to do is touch this pipe and you could tell it was full of ice," said Wolfgang.
Employees with Sampson plumbing and heating have been working overtime. The cold weather has left dozens of homes with frozen pipes.
"I had 12 missed calls while I've been working on this, well, calls I haven't answered yet," Wolfgang said.
"Very busy, especially these last couple of days with the cold weather we had, we are getting a lot of calls with the lines frozen," said Brian Sampson of Sampson Plumbing and Heating.
Brian Sampson's team is dealing with more than just frozen pipes. Many people are struggling to keep their homes warm and homes with broken furnaces and little heating are more likely to have pipes freeze.
Sampson tells us people are not dealing with their frozen pipes now may be calling for another reason soon.
"Come Monday, when it's 50 degrees, the water lines unthaw but then there is a crack in the water line and you have a flood," Sampson said.
To help prevent your pipes from freezing people can leave cabinet doors open.
Never use an open flame to try and unthaw a pipe, Sampson advised.
"Hairdryers, heating guns, if you have a little heater to set by it, that's the best thing to do," Sampson added.
If you have a frozen pipe, Sampson recommends people call a professional for help.