Preventing pipes from freezing

P

pinpointdan

New member
The cold got me the other day. I forgot to turn the water on when I left the house and when I came home it was frozen. Turned out to be the meter so it was the utility's problem.

How does one keep pipes from freezing? Turning them on to a drip works but its kind of a pain and if I forget disaster can come. Are there any systems/gadgets that can circulate water? What do you people where it gets into the negative teens do?
 
Wrap a heat tape around them then cover with pipe insulation. Then wrap with Saran Wrap to insure wind doesn't get in. And when it comes to purchasing a heat tape don't buy the cheapest you can find. Remember you get what you pay for. I like Heat Line.
 
make darn sure if you are going to let your pipes drip you don't have a low spot in your drain pipe! We had pipes freeze twice so I let the shower drip for a couple days. Next time my wife takes a shower it backs out from under the toilet. Turns out we had a low spot in our drain pipe and that little drip would freeze and expand until it form a solid chunk of ice 8 feet long in four inch pipe. Blew a day and half trying to thaw that out so we could use our kitchen and master bath again. The easiest way to prevent it all is heat tape and cranking up your thermostat.
 
JBurd said:
make darn sure if you are going to let your pipes drip you don't have a low spot in your drain pipe! We had pipes freeze twice so I let the shower drip for a couple days. Next time my wife takes a shower it backs out from under the toilet. Turns out we had a low spot in our drain pipe and that little drip would freeze and expand until it form a solid chunk of ice 8 feet long in four inch pipe. Blew a day and half trying to thaw that out so we could use our kitchen and master bath again. The easiest way to prevent it all is heat tape and cranking up your thermostat.
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Wow, never even thought of that. Remind me to rethink the pipe dripping approach.
 
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