KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — As East Tennessee starts seeing warmer temperatures, property owners are finding leaks in their pipes following a weekend of dangerously low temperatures.
Jimmy Hiller, the founder of Hiller Plumbing, Heating, Cooling and Electrical said burst pipes are common when the region starts thawing out.
"Once it thaws out, once it warms up like it is today, then the water starts flowing again and that's really when you find the problem," Hiller said.
He said due to changing temperatures on Tuesday, homeowners need to know where and how to turn off their water system. An unknown water leak can lead to indoor flooding and thousands of dollars worth of repairs.
"If you leave your house this morning and you have some pipes that are potentially frozen, you need to turn that water off before you leave," Hiller said. "Because when it thaws out today, you come back to a flooded house and obviously that's not very good."
He said that over the weekend, the company saw a large increase in the number of calls for plumbers. He said that some facilities saw more than 100 calls per day. He said it was up to 10 times more requests than usual.
"Obviously, we got more volume of people calling in than we have seen in the last 10 - 15 years," Hiller said. "Just a tremendous amount of people and obviously, when it went from 50 degrees down to in the single digits in less than 24 hours, the temperature dropped really fast and caught everybody by surprise."
In Sevierville, some people are already finding pipes with new leaks.
Sean Patel, the owner of Quality Inn Kodak, has opened his doors to people in need of showers. He said this year, there is a high demand and he is seeing more families asking for help.
"There has been a rise," Patel said. "So we've had almost 90 to 100 families this year from Friday and today, and we still have a lot of appointments as well."
He said pipes play a huge role in a building's operation. If they do not function, it's tough to stay in them.
"It does and hurts a lot of families," Patel said. "Especially when you can't use the bathroom, you can't shower for a couple of days — these are families who are stuck in their homes without water for more than two to three days, and it kind of gets ugly."
Pipe repairs come with a price tag. Labor and repair can add up to hundreds of dollars.
"Just to repair goes by service calls and service calls on average for anywhere from $100 to $200 per call. And then you have about $100 to $250 per hour of labor," Patel said.