So...how cold must it be to worry about frozen pipes?

[Lisa loves Pooh]

My utility bill came with a tip sheet and says when overnight lows get in the teens to drip a faucet on the highest floor.

Okay, easy enough....now..can someone be more specific?

Tonight's low is 19 and that is without windchill (which I assume doesn't mean much for my questiOn).

To drip or not to drip, that is the question?

The house is newer construction if that makes a difference (2005).

Thank you from a Florida Refugee.

 

[pixiedustaholic]

We usually drip if it's in the low 20's or below. You can also open the cabinets under your sinks so that they can get some heat. We also "wrap" our outside faucets.

 

[cepmom]

I've never done this and we live in MA. We do however have the water pipes in the basement insulated so maybe that's why we never have needed to drip the faucets

 

[golfgal]

I can't say that we have ever let a faucet drip in the winter. Do you not have insulation in your walls or why would you need to do this?

 

[pixiedustaholic]

I suppose a question we should ask is what kind of foundation does your house have? Ours is a crawl space so our pipes are under the house...the reason we drip. If you have a cement slab foundation and the pipes are in your walls, I would think you wouldn't need to.

 

[DisneyBamaFan]

If your home is heated, and your outside piping meets code, you should never have to drip a faucet.

 

[luvmy3]

If your home is heated, and your outside piping meets code, you should never have to drip a faucet.

Thats what I always thought. The only time we ever left a faucet to drip was when we had to leave for a few days last winter when there was no power or heat on in the house due to a storm.

 

[chipscamping buddy]

Drip the faucet. I am a refugee from the great white north to FL and I can assure the northerners that FL pipes would not meet code in say MN. They are not far underground, and have no protection. A friend of mine had their pipes freeze last night at 24F.

And when you get right down to it, a faucet dripping a few nights when it didn't need to is nothing when compared to a burst pipe. Play it safe.

 

[golfgal]

I suppose a question we should ask is what kind of foundation does your house have? Ours is a crawl space so our pipes are under the house...the reason we drip. If you have a cement slab foundation and the pipes are in your walls, I would think you wouldn't need to.

We have a basement and the basement would be on a slab and we don't have problems with pipes freezing. I guess that is something I wouldn't think would be an issue in the south, learn something new every day. Could you have your bathtub drip onto some plants that you put into the tub or something so you are 'using' the water?

 

[ameraumi]

Drip.

When we were working on this house before we moved in (Jan'10) we had the temp set at 60 while we were gone. Right before we left for the night we heard a pop and saw water all over the floor of the laundry room. A pipe in the wall had burst and I never would have imagined it would. I never would have thought it would need it, but it was on an outside wall and it just got too cold.

 

[SaraJayne]

If your home is heated, and your outside piping meets code, you should never have to drip a faucet.

 

[SaraJayne]

Drip the faucet. I am a refugee from the great white north to FL and I can assure the northerners that FL pipes would not meet code in say MN. They are not far underground, and have no protection. A friend of mine had their pipes freeze last night at 24F.

And when you get right down to it, a faucet dripping a few nights when it didn't need to is nothing when compared to a burst pipe. Play it safe.

I don't think the OP lives in FL...she said she was a FL refugee.

 

[tvguy]

Well since freezing is 32, anytime it's going to be close to 32 we cover the pipes that are outside. But being in a warm part of California, that may only be about 5 or 6 days a year.

 

[lsyorke]

If your home is heated, and your outside piping meets code, you should never have to drip a faucet.

Never have dripped a faucet, and it's cold here in Jersey (17 degrees this morning). Unless one has no heat, I don't see the need for this.

 

[pixiedustaholic]

I still say drip. Always better safe than sorry. Just b/c some of these posters have never done it, it doesn't mean thier pipes will never freeze.

 

[mamacatnv]

Every few years my DH forgets to drain the sprinklers and we have a burst exterior pipe to the sprinkler system which is just a headache come spring

Our house is single story, the daytime temp in the winter is 60, evenings 62 and 55 overnight. It is well insulated, 15 years old, not on a slab and yet when we drop below zero we drip. The local "experts" suggest it since code requirements vary as do age of homes. Our master bath is on an exterior wall, we drip there and at the farthest location from the main which is the kitchen.

 

[donaldduck352]

Drip the faucet. I am a refugee from the great white north to FL and I can assure the northerners that FL pipes would not meet code in say MN. They are not far underground, and have no protection. A friend of mine had their pipes freeze last night at 24F.

And when you get right down to it, a faucet dripping a few nights when it didn't need to is nothing when compared to a burst pipe. Play it safe.

I can not agree more.I live in c Fla and we are getting hammered with freezing weather.Tonight it's gonna be over 10hrs of below freez so I'm taking every precuatioun I can as of NOW.GOODNIGHT as I go get froze preparing.Busted PVC is not want what I want to fix in the morning!!!!!!!!!!!!

A ounce of preventioun is worth a pound of cure!!!

 

[Nancy]

I live in the frozen north too..very old house. In the 23 years we've been in this house I have never left any water dripping in my house...and we've had some really nasty cold weather up here.


But if you are worried about it and it makes you feel better then leave a small drip in one of your sinks.

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

drip the faucets.

We've never had a busted pipe here, knock on wood. But the week before we moved into our house in Ga. we had a pipe burst in the basement. It was along an outer wall and wasn't insulated. Building inspector never said anything about it not being wrapped, DH and I never even noticed it.

All of our stuff was in the basement at the time of the flood, thankfully a neighbor saw the water running out of the basement garage door and shut it off at the street.

Also realize that houses in the south don't need heavier insulation like we do here, even though you have been having our kind of temps.
http://www.energycodes.gov/training/consumer_ed/insulation.stm

 

[Daisy14'sDH]

drip the faucets.

We've never had a busted pipe here, knock on wood. But the week before we moved into our house in Ga. we had a pipe burst in the basement. It was along an outer wall and wasn't insulated. Building inspector never said anything about it not being wrapped, DH and I never even noticed it.

All of our stuff was in the basement at the time of the flood, thankfully a neighbor saw the water running out of the basement garage door and shut it off at the street.

Also realize that houses in the south don't need heavier insulation like we do here, even though you have been having our kind of temps.
http://www.energycodes.gov/training/consumer_ed/insulation.stm

Luckily in Ontario our building codes are pretty strict, unfortunately it doesn't mean that they are enforced! Which is a shame. I'm a Plumber and I see crap like this all the time with pipes splitting due to freezing. The worst places for it beleive it or not are Apartment buildings, they always build these open spaces underneath and think that insulation will be enough to keep them from freezing. Its not, plain and simple. If you know or suspect that you may have an issue with freezing by all means let a faucet drip. But realistically you shouldn't have to worry about that in any northern climate.

I understand in the south water lines may be plumbed differently, I am not up to date on Fla building codes, but even there you are subject to freezing so there shouldn't be plumbing in any outside wall.

Up here its when the wind can get on the pipe, the windchill will freeze them faster than still air. But that is only when codes weren't followed and nobody properly insulated the home. If you suspect that you have pipes in an outside wall, call a plumber and get them either plumbed in a different location, or buy and install a pipe heat trace.

GL and hopefully no one has to deal with the burden of an insurance claim!!