Local plumbers working to keep residents with water and heat
LAFAYETTE, La. (KLFY) -- The Arctic blast continues to create frozen pipes and cause school closures.
One local plumbing company, Hargrave's Plumbing, LLC, allowed News 10 to follow along as they dealt with numerous calls of residents needing help with water or heat. Owner Travis Hargrave said been a busy day.
“It's been pretty hectic all morning. Water out. We have people who have their gas out, actually, and we're just trying to get everybody's heat and their water turned back on as fast as we can,” said Hargrave.
He said to stay prepared they purchase the items that are needed to use to insulate houses to make repairs in bulk beforehand.
"That way we have them on our trucks ready to go and each truck is fully stocked to do any repair we need to in the next two weeks,” Hargrave said.
Hargrave's Plumbing, LLC has been in service for 16 years and the owner Travis said before his own company he did construction and plumbing since the nineties with his father.
Although the arctic blast that Acadiana is experiencing is now unfamiliar to some of us Louisianans, for the crew it is all familiar.
“We're getting to the point, sadly, that we've done this two or three times where we had this severe blast and the guys are pretty ready to handle it and we're equipped to take care of it now,” Hargrave said.
So what to do to keep your home protected during the cold temperatures?
“You do the typical stuff, you insulate your pipes, wrap your house if you can," Hargrave explained. "You know, if you have items that are on an outside wall, you open the cabinets and turn your heater up. That's one of the most important things, I think. Turn your heater up a little higher than normal just to make sure you have the temperature from the inside of the house radiating downward and then once you do that, that's about all you can really do.”
Hargrave gave some advice for those whose pipes are already frozen.
“Some people will go out with a blow dryer, try to get it, don't get too close to it, but just try to warm it back up slowly and steadily and then see if you can get it flowing again,” said Hargrave.
For instance when News 10 was out with the crew they were helping a woman who had been without heat for about a day and a half.
The crew got the permit for it and worked to restore her heat by the afternoon. The crew also stopped at Animal Care Hospital which had a pipe bursting water. Also, a business where a water leak was causing water to crease through the concrete and flow into the road and cover the parking lot near Peach Cobbler Factory.
“We have people who are sick. We have doctor's offices we work for, and it really makes you feel good to get out there and get it done as soon as possible,” Hargrave said. “This isn't just some, you know, something that us Cajuns are used to. This is some significant weather and it has some serious implications. So we're just trying to get as many people taken care of and make sure that our community's taken care of in the proper way.”
For more information on any plumbing service you may need click here.