dumb ? re:leaving water on to avoid pipes freezing

[lynetteSC]

Do we need to leave on every faucet a little dripping or is just one faucet ok ... sorry to ask stupid question!

 

[Serena]

Pretty much, the only faucets you need to leave on are the ones close to an outside wall.

The other faucets should be alright if you open the cabinet below.

disclaimer, this has been my experience. Don't call me if your pipes burst.

 

[kasar]

Are you talking the pipes in your house? If your heat is on and your house is insulated, you should be fine. If for some reason you don't have heat, I'd leave a couple of faucets dripping a little.

disclaimer, this has been my experience. Don't call me if your pipes burst.

Ditto!

 

[Tiggeroo]

I leave my kitchen one on because it has an outside pipe. If it gets really cold I have left the downstairs bathroom one on. And I have had pipes freeze up in an insulated, heated house in very cold weather. The best solution is to get heat tape on all the exposed pipes but that's not always practical.

 

[Dan Murphy]

The one that most often needs that is the kitchen, as most often on an outside wall by a window. What is the temp going to there tonight?

Edited....I looked on www.weather.com and says about 17. Chilly enough if you do not have insulation and/or poor heat. All you need to do is have a slow, just a bit more than a drip.

 

[lynetteSC]

The one that most often needs that is the kitchen, as most often on an outside wall by a window. What is the temp going to there tonight?

Edited....I looked on www.weather.com and says about 17. Chilly enough if you do not have insulation and/or poor heat. All you need to do is have a slow, just a bit more than a drip.

OK ... thanks guys! It should be around 17. We have new build house, so I will just be extra safe and leave kitchen dripping a tad! (New homeowners, so we are just paranoid ... it is never this cold here!)

 

[Beth76]

Never knew this. It's only supposed to get down to 28 here tonight. Should I leave my kitchen sink on or is this "warm" enough?

 

[bsnyder]

That does seem chilly, for SC!

Hope the pipes stay warm!

 

[SplshMtn99]

We had the pipes freeze & burst last year at work (formerly an old house). So now that temps are hitting zero & below here this week, we've got all the sinks (4 of them) with the cold water at a very slow drip...and the doors to the vanities are open so the heat can get to the pipes.

BTW ------ it is 1 degrees here right now! (Supposed to be -3 tonight.)

 

[Sandyincanada]

I'm lost...why would you let your taps drip? We hit -45 C ( -49F) here and no one worries about pipes bursting unless you are away for a long time and you turn the heat off in the house.

 

[DMickey28]

I'm lost...why would you let your taps drip? We hit -45 C ( -49F) here and no one worries about pipes bursting unless you are away for a long time and you turn the heat off in the house.

I am lost too!

 

[Dan Murphy]

Dripping water a bit keeps the water moving in the pipe, less likely to freeze than still water. Also, the biggest problem comes in areas of the countries that normally do not have temperatures that get too cold, generally the more southern areas. We have little trouble here in Chicago either as the homes are insulated in anticipation of sub zero temperatures every year. Further south, the homes are less insulated, also typically have less powerful heating systems.

 

[Micca]

About 20 years ago our pipes burst and it was a big mess. We walked into the house after coming home from a Christmas party and heard the water and thought "who left the water running?" As we walked into the den and turned on the light, there was water spraying from the ceiling right where the light fixture was. Imagine a shower head installed above the light

Fortunately we were able to salvage the valuables in the room(and there were LOTS). Fast forward to the ice storm here a couple of weeks ago, and the power went out for two days and the temps were frigid. I left a little drip running in each level of the house (basement, first and second storeys) where there was plumbing on the north face of the house. BTW, someone told me that you should run a little bit of hot and cold water running(just a trickle).

 

[missypie]

I've had pipes freeze in Texas in the low 20s. The one time I can remember it getting into the single digits (Christmas of '89) my kitchen pipes froze, even with water dripping. Homes in the south aren't built to withstand low temperatures!

 

[tidoublegger]

Hmmm, good question! We're going to WDW in March for a week. It's typically soooo cold here. Is keeping the heat up enough going to be sufficient to prevent coming home to a disaster?

 

[April76]

When we lived up north....
We had an upstairs bath that had pipes very close to the outside wall... on the north side of the house.... pipes would freeze in extreme cold weather so we left the faucet drip just a bit at night.... we also had a 6" opening in the wall under the sink (inside the cabinet) so I could warm the pipes with a hair dryer if they did freeze. The rest of the plumbing in the house was no problem at all.

Don't miss the cold and the problems that come with it.... I've got blooming flowers in my garden right now!

 

[iNTeNSeBLue98]

My bathroom is on an outside wall, and I don't believe there is any insulation behind them. When the temp gets below 30 we need to let the water drip to avoid freezing. The pipes froze a couple of times last year - not fun trying to locate the problem area to attempt to thaw. Our kitchen faucet is fine because it's in the interior side of the room, along a shared wall with the neighboring rowhouse.