A hard freeze is forecast for the Picayune area Tuesday morning, with temperatures expected to be 20 or below.

With temperatures expected to be that low, homeowners need to take care to protect their pipes, said local plumber David Anderson.

He said the greatest danger is where water isn’t flowing, such as commodes and washing machines. Anderson said a thing shim underneath the flapper in the tank would keep water flowing in a commode and unscrewing the hoses from a washing machine and putting the ends down in a deep bucket with the water trickling could keep those pipes from freezing. Otherwise, leaving faucets dripping.

“Your water b ill will be affected, but that should keep your pipes from freezing,” Anderson said.

Homeowners whose homes are off the ground have a couple of options for keeping their pipes from freezing underneath the house. One is to put insulation around the pipes. Anderson suggests using R-11 or R-13 insulation such as that put in walls for wrapping the pipes. He said it offers better protection than the foam insulation that slips over the pipes, though a bit more difficult to put on the pipes.

For outside faucets, he said using the same insulation thickly and taping it should do the trick. Another way is to wrap the faucet with a towel and duct tape it into place. Newspaper wrapped thickly around the faucet also should do the trick, he said.

Anderson said the Styrofoam caps some people use probably should have some added insulation stuffed inside to be effective against the extremely cold tempertures.

For people looking for insulation devices for their outside faucets, Phillips Building Supplies on U.S. Highway 11 has some foam ones that slip over the faucet, and both Ace Hardware on U.S. Hwy. 11N and Quick & Grice on U.S. Hwy. 11S say they have some faucet covers. Home Depot and Wal-Mart on Mississippi Highway 43 South Said on Sunday that they were out of the faucet covers

Anderson said people on septic systems could flood their septic systems by leaving water running, so he suggested taking the other precautions of insulating pipes, or perhaps using buckets under dripping faucets to collect water that would otherwise go down the drains and emptying the buckets outside on the ground.

Outside well pumps that are exposed can be covered with a tarp or blanket with droplight using an incandescent bulb or halogen bulb underneath to provide heat, he said.