Where frozen pipes actually burst in a Wichita house

Shut the water off at the main first. It is usually at the meter or where the service line enters the house, and every minute it stays open after a burst puts roughly another twenty gallons into the building. Find that valve now, before you need it, and make sure it actually turns.

A frozen pipe does not burst where it froze. Ice forms a blockage, water pressure builds between that blockage and the closed fixture downstream, and the pipe splits at the weakest point in that pressurised section. That is why people look at the frozen spot and find nothing.

The pipes that freeze in Wichita are the predictable ones: runs in unheated crawl spaces, exterior walls on the north side, attached garages and anything on the cold side of insulation. Hose bibs are the classic, particularly non-frost-free ones with the hose still attached.

The repair should address why that run froze, not just the split. Insulation, heat tape or rerouting the pipe are all cheaper than doing the same repair next January, and a section that froze once will freeze again under the same conditions.