Does insurance cover frozen pipes?
Usually yes, on one condition written into the policy: you kept the heat on, or you drained the system and shut off the water when you did not. A burst pipe in a heated building is a covered water loss. The same pipe in a building where the heat was off is excluded by name, and if the building had been vacant for more than sixty days the water damage is excluded a second time.
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The detail
The commercial special form excludes water that leaks from “plumbing, heating, air conditioning or other equipment (except fire protective systems) caused by or resulting from freezing, unless: (1) You do your best to maintain heat in the building or structure; or (2) You drain the equipment and shut off the supply if the heat is not maintained.”
ISO CP 10 30 09 17, Causes of Loss – Special Form, exclusion B.2.g
The homeowners special form carries the same condition. Freezing of a plumbing, heating or sprinkler system is excluded, but “This provision does not apply if you have used reasonable care to: (a) Maintain heat in the building; or (b) Shut off the water supply and drain all systems and appliances of water.”
ISO HO 00 03 05 11, Section I, Perils Insured Against A.2.c.(1)
A commercial building is vacant when less than 31% of its square footage is rented and used, or used by the owner, for customary operations. After sixty consecutive days of vacancy the policy will not pay for water damage, sprinkler leakage “unless you have protected the system against freezing”, vandalism, glass breakage or theft, and reduces every other covered loss by 15%. Buildings under construction or renovation are not vacant.
ISO CP 00 10 10 12, Building and Personal Property Coverage Form, Loss Condition E.6
Continuous or repeated seepage or leakage of water over fourteen days or more is excluded, so a slow leak from a hairline freeze crack that runs for a month is a different claim from a burst.
In 2024, 48.6% of homeowners insurance claims in Massachusetts were for non-flood water losses and freezing-related damage. The Division of Insurance says a burst pipe is covered “only if the home was properly heated and not left unoccupied”.
For a home left unoccupied with hot-water heat, the Massachusetts Division of Insurance advises: “Set the thermostat no lower than 60 degrees and install a low heat alarm.” For a building left all winter, “Have the water service shut off in the street.”
Massachusetts Division of Insurance, Understanding Home Insurance
Connecticut’s Insurance Department says most policies cover pipe replacement and water damage, “However, coverage may not apply if you turned off the furnace for the winter without winterizing the home”, and in its January 2026 alert: “Keep your heat on, even overnight and when you are away.”
Connecticut Insurance Department, Winter Damage claim tips and Consumer Alert of 23 January 2026
What this means for you
- The condition is heat or drain, and you have to be able to prove which. The adjuster’s first questions after a January burst are what the thermostat was set to, who checked the building, and when. A thermostat log, a low-temperature alarm with a record, or a plumber’s winterization invoice answers them. “We thought the heat was on” does not.
- Sixty days of vacancy is the second trap, and it runs in the background. A tenant leaves in November, the space sits, a pipe bursts in February: the water damage is excluded under the vacancy condition regardless of whether the heat was on. A vacancy permit endorsement, bought at the time the tenant leaves, is what keeps the policy whole through a long re-letting.
- Fire sprinklers are their own problem. The freezing exclusion carves out fire-protective systems, which sounds like good news, but the vacancy condition removes sprinkler leakage unless the system was protected against freezing. A dry system, antifreeze loops or heat in the riser room is the difference between a covered and an excluded sprinkler burst in an empty building.
- A slow leak is not a burst. Water that has been seeping for two weeks or more is excluded on its own clause. Damage found in April from a crack that opened in January is the claim most likely to be argued, and the argument is about the date, so document when the building was last checked.
- Massachusetts and Connecticut regulators say the same thing the form says. Sixty degrees, a low-heat alarm, water off at the street if the building is closed for the season. Following the state’s own advice is the cheapest way to be on the right side of the exclusion, and a claim file that shows you did is a claim that gets paid.
Related questions
- The pipe burst in a seasonal building we close every winter. Is that covered?
If the water was shut off and the system drained, the freezing exclusion does not apply and the loss should be covered; that is the second prong of the condition. If the building was simply closed with the water on and the heat off, it is excluded, and a building closed for a full season will also cross the sixty-day vacancy line unless a vacancy endorsement was bought. Tell your agent when a building closes for the season and ask for the endorsement in writing.
- Does the exclusion cover the pipe itself or only the water damage?
The exclusion is written around the water that leaks out, and the water damage is where the money is: floors, ceilings, contents, and the mold that follows. Repair to the pipe is usually a small part of the claim. A covered burst normally pays for tearing out and replacing the building to reach the leak, and the homeowners form says so explicitly.
- We have a low-temperature alarm. Does that change the price?
It changes the underwriting more than the rate card. A monitored low-temp alarm, an automatic water shutoff and a documented winter check are the things an underwriter asks for on a seasonal or lightly-occupied New England building, and they are the difference between a standard-market quote and a surplus-lines one. They are also the evidence that wins the claim.
- Commercial property insurance
Need this handled?
Reading about it and having it handled are different jobs, and the second one is ours. We place the accounts other brokers decline — claims history, a cancellation, an unusual operation, a business nobody wants to underwrite twice — and we will tell you when the policy you already have is the right one. Tell us the situation and a licensed human replies the same business day.
Written by the licensed brokers at Boring Insurance. Last updated 2026-09-06. See all guides.