Fall in McKinney is the easy season — mild days, cool nights, and a few weeks of breathing room before the first hard freeze. It is also the best window all year to get your plumbing ready for winter, because the two most expensive cold-weather failures we see are both preventable with a little work now.
The first is a water heater that quits on the coldest morning of the year, when it is working hardest and you least want a cold shower. The second is a burst pipe from a freeze, which North Texas learned to take seriously after Winter Storm Uri. Neither is a given if you spend an afternoon this fall on the basics.
Here is the checklist we give McKinney homeowners. Most of it you can do yourself; a couple of items are worth a professional set of hands.
Get the water heater ready for its hardest season
Your water heater works harder in winter than at any other time, because the incoming water is colder and it has to heat it further. Going into that stretch with a tank full of sediment is asking for trouble.
- Flush the tank to clear sediment. On our hard NTMWD water, sediment builds fast — it insulates the burner from the water, wastes energy, and shortens the tank’s life. A yearly flush going into fall keeps the unit efficient.
- Test the temperature-and-pressure (T&P) relief valve by lifting the lever and letting it snap back. It should discharge and reseat. This is a safety valve; if it does not work, have it replaced.
- Look for corrosion, rust streaks, or moisture around the base of the tank. Rust at the bottom is an early warning that a tank is aging out — better to plan a replacement now than to be tankless-by-accident in January.
- Check the thermostat setting. Around 120°F is the sweet spot for safety, scald prevention, and energy use.
Freeze-proof the vulnerable pipes
North Texas does not freeze often, but when it does, it can freeze hard and stay there for days. The pipes that burst are almost always the exposed ones — in the attic, the garage, along exterior walls, and outdoors.
- Disconnect, drain, and store garden hoses. A hose left connected traps water in the bib, which freezes and can split the pipe behind the wall.
- Insulate outdoor hose bibs with foam covers, and wrap exposed pipe in unconditioned spaces — attic, garage, crawlspace — with pipe insulation.
- Find and tag your main water shut-off now, while it is calm. In a burst-pipe emergency, the minutes you save finding it are the difference between a mop and a remodel.
- Locate the shut-offs and, if you have them, the drain valves for your irrigation system, and plan to shut down and drain the system before the first freeze.
- Know which faucets to drip on a hard-freeze night and keep cabinet doors open under sinks on exterior walls to let warm air reach the pipe.
Check the everyday fixtures and drains
The holidays bring a full house, more cooking, and heavier drain use than any other time of year. A little attention now prevents the classic Thanksgiving-morning kitchen backup.
- Test every shut-off valve under sinks and behind toilets. Old valves seize; you want to know they turn before you need them in a hurry.
- Check for slow drains and clear them properly now — do not wait for a house full of guests to discover the kitchen line is half-blocked with grease.
- Look under sinks and around the base of toilets for drips, water stains, or a wobble that signals a failing wax ring.
- Run water in guest bathrooms and rarely used fixtures to fill the traps, so sewer odor does not greet visitors.
- If your kitchen line is prone to grease clogs, get it cleared before the cooking season rather than after it backs up.
What to leave to a professional
Most of this checklist is homeowner territory. A few items are worth having a licensed plumber handle, either because they need tools you may not own or because getting them wrong is costly:
- A full water-heater service if the tank is older, or a replacement if it is showing its age.
- Clearing a stubborn or recurring drain clog, especially in the main line — a professional cable machine or hydro jet does what a store-bought snake cannot.
- A camera inspection of your sewer line if you have had backups, so roots in the Blackland Prairie clay do not surprise you over the holidays.
- Replacing seized shut-off valves or a failing pressure-reducing valve.
An hour of prevention this fall is cheaper than an emergency call in January. If you would rather have us run the checklist for you, call (831) 290-4327 and we will get you on the schedule before the cold sets in.
Frequently asked questions
Aim for October or early November, before the first hard freeze. That gives you time to flush the water heater, insulate exposed pipes, and address any slow drains while a plumber’s schedule is still open and not slammed with emergencies.
McKinney Pro Plumbers
Licensed McKinney plumbers serving Collin County and North Texas. Work performed under a Texas Responsible Master Plumber (TSBPE). Questions? Call (831) 290-4327.