Frozen or Cracked Water Meter in a Clay Basement
The meter in a Clay basement is OCWA's property, but the damage when it freezes is the customer's, so what you do with it tonight matters.
Burst and Frozen Pipes quote in Clay
Tell us what the water is doing, whether it has stopped and whose home it is. A person reads every request and matches it to a licensed, insured plumber for the part that cannot wait. We cannot promise how soon a request sent at night is read, so close the main shutoff first.
Would you rather talk it through? Call (315) 640-3590.
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What OCWA's meter rules and Clay's occupied housing mean in a freeze
ACS 2020 to 2024 estimates give the Town of Clay 26,282 housing units, the most of any town in Onondaga County, with a vacancy rate of 2.1 percent, the lowest in this metro, and a median year built of 1978. Some 24.6 percent of occupied units heat with electricity and 68.6 percent with utility gas.
Source: US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020 to 2024 five year estimates, accessed 2026-09-24
Section 5.4 of the OCWA Customer Rules keeps meters as Authority property maintained at its expense for ordinary wear, but states the customer will be responsible for damage due to freezing, hot water or other causes.
Source: Onondaga County Water Authority, accessed 2026-09-24
Section 4.4 of the OCWA Customer Rules states that the curb stop valve may not be used by the customer to turn the water on or off and is to be operated exclusively by an Authority employee. Section 4.5 requires the customer to install two shutoff valves, the first inside the building wall no further than 12 inches from that wall, and the second adjacent to the meter.
Source: Onondaga County Water Authority, accessed 2026-09-24
The standard ISO Homeowners 3 Special Form, HO 00 03, does not cover freezing of a plumbing, heating or air conditioning system or a household appliance, or water leaking from it because of freezing, unless the policyholder used reasonable care to either maintain heat in the building or shut off the water supply and drain all systems and appliances of water. The same two conditions appear in the named peril for freezing that protects personal property.
Source: Insurance Services Office, via Maine Bureau of Insurance, accessed 2026-09-24
A frozen OCWA meter in a Town of Clay house
Water is spraying from the meter in a cold basement, or from the pipe right beside it, after a hard freeze. Close the valve inside the foundation wall, the first of the two OCWA requires, which sits on the street side of the meter and stops everything downstream. Do not try to take the meter out and do not touch the valve at the road, which is for OCWA staff only. In the Town of Clay, as everywhere OCWA supplies, the meter stays OCWA's property, but its customer rules make the customer responsible for damage to it from freezing. So phone OCWA about the meter, and a licensed plumber about any pipe that split with it.
What a frozen Clay meter says about the rest of the house
Clay has the lowest vacancy in the metro, an estimated 2.1 percent, so a frozen meter here is almost always in a house someone is living in. That changes the question a claim asks. The standard homeowners form does not cover freezing damage unless reasonable care was taken to keep heat in the building or to shut off and drain the water. In a lived-in house the heat was probably on, so the useful record is where the cold got in: an open basement window, a meter on an outside wall, a garage run. Write down the thermostat setting and photograph the spot before it is warmed up.
Close the inside valve, then look for a second split
Where a meter froze, a nearby pipe on the same cold wall may have split too. Check before you turn the water back on.
Leave the meter to OCWA
It is OCWA's property. Ask them what happens next with it, and photograph it cracked before anyone swaps it.
Thaw without flame
If a pipe is frozen but not split, warm it with a hair dryer or heating pad and keep a faucet open. Never an open flame near a meter or a pipe.
Clay meter spraying and the inside valve now closed?
Tell us whether a pipe split too. We connect you with a licensed, insured plumber for the pipe; the meter is OCWA's.
Other emergencies we connect Town of Clay homes with a plumber for
Clay questions about frozen meters, OCWA and freeze claims
The meter cracked in the cold. Will OCWA charge me for it?
OCWA's customer rules keep the meter as its property and maintain it for ordinary wear, but make the customer responsible for damage from freezing. Ask OCWA directly what it will charge, and photograph the meter before it is replaced.
I shut the valve and the spraying stopped. Is there anything else tonight?
Look along the same wall for another split pipe, and keep the basement from getting colder. The meter itself is OCWA's to replace. If a pipe also split, that part is a licensed plumber's, and it can be a temporary repair tonight.
Send the Clay freeze details: meter, pipe, or both
And whether the water is off now. No obligation.