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"  (Photograph by WIN-Initiative/Getty Images) Turn Off the Water Your plumbing system is particularly vulnerable during the winter to such things as bursting water supply hoses on your washing machine and frozen pipes during the winter. These events are bad enough when you&amp;#039;re home and can deal with them quickly. But when you&amp;#039;re away for a few days, the water can pump into your house for hours on end, causing severe damage on all fronts. Fortunately, there&amp;#039;s something you can do about it that takes only a minute: Turn off your main water valve before you leave home (or if you have a well, turn off the pump). No matter what happens to your plumbing system while you&amp;#039;re away, this will greatly reduce the possible damage, says Pat Porzio, a mechanical contractor and PM contributor. &amp;quot;I usually recommend that people turn off their water even if you&amp;#039;re gone for a weekend,&amp;quot; he says. Install a Heating Cable Any outdoor pipes, such as water lines that run in a crawlspace under a house, are susceptible to freezing. Insutation, whether in the walls or around the pipes themselves, can help keep out the elements. But even that might not be enough, especially if you live in a cold climate.  To be sure your pipes won&amp;#039;t freeze, you can install electrical heating cable around the crawlspace pipes. The cable&amp;#039;s temperature automatically adjusts to the appropriate heat output as ambient temperatures change. The cable can be purchased from the LMI Manufacturing Group (www.heattracecables.com.) in prepackaged lengths from 3 to 100 ft. It is available for both plastic and metal pipes. If the pipe&amp;#039;s diameter is less than 1 in., it is not necessary to coil the cable around the pipe. The cable can be laid along the pipe and secured with plastic ties. Never wrap heat cable onto itself, as this can start a fire. Porzio says that the best thing to do is follow the manufacturer&amp;#039;s instructions. Open the Cabinet Doors Porzio says that homeowners should check to see if any of their sinks are located against an exterior wall. &amp;quot;A lot times they don&amp;#039;t insulate that really well,&amp;quot; he says, and the cold air from outside could start to freeze the pipes beneath the sink. To avoid that, he recommends leaving the cabinet doors open when you leave--the warmer air inside the house will get in there and keep the piper warmer. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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