Curious what the board's take on this. Been hearing contradictory opinions/statements on this, and don't want to wake up to a nasty surprise on Tuesday morning after a night of 1 degree weather.

We've used standard Styrofoam pipe covers down into the teens before without any problems, but this single digit stuff is a whole different breed of cat.

Our former residence, we had a shutoff valve for the outside pipes. It guaranteed keeping the pipes from cracking.

I live in Germany now and we don't do anything. Today it's - 12, not sure how they engineer it so we don't have to worry. But my German neighbors said it wasn't necessary.

Drip the faucets outside and be done...

If you have PEX pipes you don't need to worry about them breaking. They can stretch and flex and won't crack like pvc.

I wondered a little about this as well. I wonder what the R value is for the grey insulation pipe wrap? I don't see how the light structure of the Styrofoam could actually do much at all under extreme conditions.

Common sense tells me there is no way that stuff will prevent the pipes from freezing if temps stay below for very long at all. I came to the conclusion that if water keeps moving, it can't freeze. ???

Edit: I think we're fixin to find out.

Jack Squat 83 said:

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I wondered a little about this as well. I wonder what the R value is for the grey insulation pipe wrap? I don't see how the light structure of the Styrofoam could actually do much at all under extreme conditions.

Common sense tells me there is no way that stuff will prevent the pipes from freezing if temps stay below for very long at all. I came to the conclusion that if water keeps moving, it can't freeze. ???

Edit: I think we're fixin to find out.

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Insulation slows the rate of heat loss, but it does not eliminate heat loss. No matter the insulation, stagnant water will freeze if it says cold long enough.

The only way to guarantee they stay above freezing is a supplemental heat source. The pros use pipe heat tracing then insulate.

I am draining my lines.

Throw some handwarmers inside your faucet covers and replace after several hours.

Or drip em at a decent rate once we get into the teens and below. More than a slow drip.

I'm dripping my outdoor faucets. Will probably also drip indoor on Sunday night. Supposed to get down to 8.

I can't decide whether it would be better to drip the indoor faucets or just shut off the water to the house and drain the pipes.

If you run heat in your house is it still necessary to drip interior faucets? Even faucets on exterior walls will receive residual heat thru drywall and insulation right?

MarkoRamius said:

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If you run heat in your house is it still necessary to drip interior faucets? Even faucets on exterior walls will receive residual heat thru drywall and insulation right?

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They will receive heat. It's cheap insurance to keep water moving. The water coming from the ground is warmer and dripping ensures continuous flow of warmer water.

I have an exterior faucet, that is on a bedroom wall that is frozen, the wall inside is 63... so no, it doesn't guarantee it from freezing.

I am leaning to shutting the home water off and draining. I have a softener system and cut off there.

I covered mine with the styrofoam covers yesterday and when I went out today they were frozen. I left them open for a minute and they started running again. Just got through wrapping them with a couple hand warmers and towels, then put the covers on again. We'll see.

Where are you located approximately? I am in Bastrop.

Buda

So one of our hose bibs had frozen water underneath it on the brick. Water came out immediately when I opened it, but it was kind of hard to close it. It hasn't been that cold in NB compared to other areas, and I have had the insulated covers on them. Does the bib need to be replaced or could it possibly have been residual water in the vacuum breaker? Should I be worried about leaking in the wall? Thoughts?

SteveBott said:

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I am leaning to shutting the home water off and draining. I have a softener system and cut off there.

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Thinking of doing the same. Out of town but have someone at the house right now.

Any issues with doing this? Could you potentially empty the hot water heater and then have issues with it running empty?

Thinking about just killing the breaker to the water heater.

Dale Earnhardts Stache said:

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SteveBott said:

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I am leaning to shutting the home water off and draining. I have a softener system and cut off there.

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Thinking of doing the same. Out of town but have someone at the house right now.

Any issues with doing this? Could you potentially empty the hot water heater and then have issues with it running empty?

Thinking about just killing the breaker to the water heater.

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If you're going to shut down the water supply to the house you need to turn off your water heater as well.

AgResearch said:

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Dale Earnhardts Stache said:

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SteveBott said:

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I am leaning to shutting the home water off and draining. I have a softener system and cut off there.

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Thinking of doing the same. Out of town but have someone at the house right now.

Any issues with doing this? Could you potentially empty the hot water heater and then have issues with it running empty?

Thinking about just killing the breaker to the water heater.

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If you're going to shut down the water supply to the house you need to turn off your water heater as well.

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Thanks.

Drain it as well?

I realize we may have 72 hours sub freezing, but I don't know if even that is enough to freeze a water heater.

I read an article that said not to drip your outdoor hose spigots. It didn't say why though.

I've just got mine covered with two insulators. Hope that's enough for 5 degree lows. I am dripping the sinks inside my house, but I have PEX pipes too, so I'm not as worried about the indoor pipes.

You'll have a giant mass of ice

That what I was thinking. If wrapped you would get an ice ball.

You could run an extension cord with a work light on the end of it. That will put off enough heat to thaw it out. Nor sure about these sub teens temps though.

I had a faucet freeze a couple of years ago, and already had a trip to Vegas planned. Went off on my trip and everything was fine when I returned.

They don't break that often. It just sucks when they do.

I ran out of pipe foam and tried a longneck koozie with a zipper, it works. I wrapped a hand towel around that and zip tied it.

For the outdoor faucets this storm I'm giving these a try. So far it seems like they are working but hasn't gotten real cold yet so we shall see

Freeze Miser - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01KYDVTVG/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_i_QNEWN6E65YD02860DSE0

Curious - I found some pieces of rubber and foam insulation that had been squirreled away in the garage. Is it too late to reopen the Styrofoam overs and add them in, or at this point, best to leave things as is?

BlackGoldAg2011 said:

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For the outdoor faucets this storm I'm giving these a try. So far it seems like they are working but hasn't gotten real cold yet so we shall see

Freeze Miser - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01KYDVTVG/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_i_QNEWN6E65YD02860DSE0

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I'd love feedback tomorrow... I might go ahead and order some tomorrow if they work out for you.

PrestigeWorldwideAg12 said:

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BlackGoldAg2011 said:

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For the outdoor faucets this storm I'm giving these a try. So far it seems like they are working but hasn't gotten real cold yet so we shall see

Freeze Miser - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01KYDVTVG/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_i_QNEWN6E65YD02860DSE0

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I'd love feedback tomorrow... I might go ahead and order some tomorrow if they work out for you.

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I'll be sure to report back but I'm not sure if tonight will be the best test. We are only supposed to get down to 33.

My observations so far though have me hopeful. When they first arrived I tested them by putting them in the freezer to get the valves to open and the. Put them on the hose spigot and turned it on. Flowed freely at first but after about 1-2 min had completely shut the flow off. Then today we were around 35-36 all day (activation temp is supposed to be 37) and several times I saw them start to dribble some water for 30-60 seconds before stopping again.

With that's cold as it's going to get won't the water freeze as it comes out and block the mechanism?