Getting your pipes ready for a south Georgia freeze
Freezing nights do happen here. NOAA's 30-year climate averages show about 21 nights a year at or below freezing at the Fort Stewart weather station, about 30 near Glennville and...
Read moreLudowici is home for Howard & Son. Lee and Jerrod Howard are both master plumbers, and we work all over Long County: in town, in the subdivisions and out in the county.
Licensed & insured · Monday–Friday, 8am–5pm
Lee answers the phone himself. If he is on a job, leave a message and he will call you back.
Long County is growing fast. The Census Bureau counted about 16,200 people here in 2020 and estimates more than 21,500 in 2025, and it ranked Long County fifth in the country for percentage growth from 2024 to 2025 among counties of 20,000 or more. Most of those people live outside the Ludowici city limits, and much of the housing is fairly new: Census survey estimates put the typical home's build year at 1998.
Where your water comes from depends on where you live. In town, the Ludowici Water System pumps groundwater from city wells for about 1,650 people. Out in the county, many neighborhoods are served by one of more than fifty small, privately owned well systems, and a U.S. Geological Survey estimate for 2015 found that about seven in ten Long County residents got their household water from their own wells.
A home on a well has its own pump, pressure tank and shutoff, and no water department testing the water for you. UGA Extension recommends testing a private well every year, and the Long County Extension office on West Academy Street in Ludowici is a good first call to ask about it. If your hot water smells like rotten eggs, start with the water heater.
Freezing nights do happen here. NOAA's 30-year averages for the nearest station that has them, at Fort Stewart, show about 21 nights a year at or below 32 degrees, mostly December through February, and the January 2025 winter storm brought snow and sleet across southeast Georgia. Here is how to get your pipes ready.
Sources: EPA, Ludowici Water System; EPA, Long County water systems; U.S. Geological Survey, county water use, 2015; U.S. Census Bureau, 2025 population estimates; U.S. Census Bureau, fastest-growing counties, 2025; U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020-2024; UGA Extension, well water questions; UGA Extension, Long County; NOAA climate normals 1991-2020, Fort Stewart; National Weather Service Charleston, Storm Courier 2025.
The same two master plumbers and the same work we do everywhere else. More about each service.
Short reads on keeping a south Georgia home's plumbing out of trouble.
Freezing nights do happen here. NOAA's 30-year climate averages show about 21 nights a year at or below freezing at the Fort Stewart weather station, about 30 near Glennville and...
Read moreWhen a pipe lets go or a water heater starts leaking, the first thing that helps is shutting off the water. The time to find that valve is now, not with water on the floor. On...
Read moreOne thing first. If the smell is in the air around the water heater or anywhere in the house, not in water from a tap, and your home has gas or propane, it may be a gas leak. Do...
Read moreAll over the county. Ludowici is our home base, and we work in town, in the subdivisions and out in the county.
The pipes and fixtures inside are the same either way. What is different is the water: no water department tests a private well for you, so testing is up to the owner, and UGA Extension recommends doing it every year.
Yes. We do the plumbing for new homes from the ground up, as well as remodels.
Monday to Friday, 8am to 5pm. Lee answers the phone himself. If he is on a job, leave a message and he will call you back.
And the counties around them. If you are not sure we come out your way, call and ask.
Lee answers the phone himself. If he does not pick up, he is under a house or on a job. Please leave a message and he will call you back.
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