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Jay Hanig[_4_] Jay Hanig[_4_] is offline
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Default Wrapping outdoor faucets (hose bibs)

On 2/1/2011 3:37 PM, Bob-tx wrote:
Getting mighty cold in central Texas. Last couple days was 80+ degrees.
Got down to 40 at midnight last night and by 9:00 this morning, it was
32. Going to be 17 degrees tonight, and 15 tomorrow night. In fact, we
may not get above freezing until Saturday sometime. It was a short summer.

Anyway, I went out and dutifully wrapped all our outdoor faucets; first
with a bath towel, then with two inch thick foam rubber, and taped it
all tight around the faucets.

But, I wonder why this keeps them from freezing. Obviously, there is no
heat generated by wrapping them, and there is very little residual
warmth in the faucet / pipe stub. A little residual warmth from the
brick siding, but that is all. It seems to me that the bitter cold would
soak through the towel and foam rubber in a few hours. Then, what good
does it do to wrap them?

I know it seems to help by wrapping the faucets, but I'm not sure why.
Any ideas?




As somebody already pointed out, heat flows from high to low. Wrapping
your faucet insulates it so that the heat isn't so readily lost to the
outside. It's enough to keep it from freezing in most cases.




Jay