Extreme cold and water pipes can be a bad combination. That was case Thursday (January 22) at Streator Baptist Camp in Streator, Illinois, when a water pipe in the kitchen ceiling froze and then burst creating a cold, wet and costly mess for the camp.
As a major winter storm stretched more than 2,000 miles across the U.S. this past weekend, it brought with it dangerously low temperatures and the possibility of frozen water pipes. Churches that routinely turn their thermostats down while their building can be especially vulnerable.
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Costly repercussions
Illinois Baptist State Association Executive Director Nate Adams was recently at a meeting with Gearhart Church Insurance Group where they discussed the costly repercussions of not preparing property for extreme cold and snow. He reminds church leaders, “Simply turning up the heat in your building and allowing more heat access to pipes on exterior walls can make a big difference.”
Cold weather checklist
Brotherhood Mutual has a free “Cold Weather Maintenance Checklist” that you can download to help keep your church building safe this winter. It also provides a free weather alert text service.
This weekend’s storm brought sleet, freezing rain, snow and dangerously low wind chills which can cause prolonged power outages and dangerous travel conditions.
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written and originally published by the Illinois Baptist.
