Brutal cold marked by bitter temperatures will remain through the week as part of an arctic blast hitting the Northeast.

For homeowners, that means the higher the risk of pipes freezing, which ultimately could affect their bottom line.

Frozen pipes can lead to expensive repairs, not to mention water damage, which is why it’s important to take precautionary steps.

Lisa Hiles, manager for Hiles Bros in Summit Hill, said the business sticks by the tips it’s been giving to customers over the years.

“In rooms where we have the susceptibility of rooms freezing up, turn up the thermostat,” Hiles said. “In the long run, the cost of having to thaw them or fix them if they’re frozen or busted is typically going to be (a lot more) than the money you’re going to spend on turning your thermostat up a little bit.”

Hiles offered yet even more suggestions.

“The side of your house that’s in the sun, open the shades (and), on the other side of the house, close them, keep heat inside,” she said. “If you have (cabinets) underneath your sink in the bathroom or kitchen that does freeze or has frozen, let your faucet drip; it will make sure that those pipes don’t freeze.”

Hiles said another strategy is to go down to your basement and make sure you have oil.

“We get a lot of emergency calls for people that just lost track; this year, the average person has been using quite a bit more oil than in the last (few) years,” she said. “It’s just sort of being proactive.”

Lou Accardi, owner of Home Comfort Solutions in Lehighton, explained a common problem in older homes is that piping is toward the outside wall.

“So what I tell customers is to keep their kitchen or bathroom cabinets open, even run a small space heater in those areas, or just sometimes having it open and the water drip at a faucet just lightly to keep the water running,” Accardi said. “A lot of times people are using space heaters and they have it too close to the thermostat (on their heating system) so what happens is it freezes up their system.”

If pipes freeze

So, what can a homeowner do if they find that their pipes are frozen?

“Try to generate some heat to that area, safely get some heat into that area,” Hiles said. “The cabinet doors under your sink, leave them open just to get the heat from the room to go under there.”

If that doesn’t work, Hiles recommended to get a space heater pointed at that area just to generate some form of heat.

“The same thing with people who have oil tanks in their basement, oil gets gelled at the filter,” she said. “You need to have some heat generated in that area; if oil gets gelled and stops flowing through that little tube, the oil burner is going to go off.”

Ultimately, Hiles said it comes down to a lot of “basic stuff.”

“The biggest thing is turn your heat up a little bit,” she said. “Spend $20, instead of hundreds of dollars.”

Accardi said that thus farm, a lot of their customers have been lucky enough that haven’t had things freezing up.

“Had a few oil tanks gelling up,” he said. “So people need to put additive in their oil tanks, make sure you get your fuel additive or have someone that delivers it for you deliver additive in.”

Accardi said that when pipes freeze, it’s important for there to be a slow warming of the pipes, and with space heaters, don’t take a torch directly on something.

“You want it to be slow and steady to defrost the pipe,” he said. “You want a slow, steady rewarming of the frozen area.”

Accardi also recommended for customers to

“Make sure people call to get their oil delivery sooner than what they think; these things are running nonstop,” he said. “People aren’t calling soon enough.”

From a humanitarian perspective, Hiles recommended to check on people’s houses for those who are by themselves.

Churches that aren’t used during the week should also be checked.

“Don’t wait from Sunday to Sunday to check it out; a lot of damage could be done in seven days,” she said. “Get somebody to check.”

Last, but certainly not least, Hiles urged pet owners to bring their pets inside.