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JoeSpareBedroom wrote:
"peter" wrote in message
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In the unfortunate event of losing electric power for days during
freezing
weather, what is the best way to prevent water pipes from
freezing?

Leave each faucet dripping, or turn off water main?

I'm trying to compile a disaster todo list.

BTW, normally pipes inside houses are kept warm by central
heating.
But
what keeps the pipes under the streets from freezing?


If you're there to keep an eye on things, leave the faucets on a
slow
drip.
If you're gone, turn them on full blast and then shut off the main
valve
to
the house. Last, flush all toilets.


How is turning on the faucets full blast and then shutting of the
main
valve going to prevent his pipes from freezing and bursting? The
solution if the place is going to be left unattended and possibly
without power, is to drain the water system and put antifreeze in
the
toilets

The idea is to leave as little residual water as possible in the
pipes.

And how does turning on the water full blast and then shutting of the
main valve leave little residual water in the pipes? The pipes are
going to still be just about full of water and will certainly freeze
and burst. To prevent freezing, they need to be DRAINED.


Worked fine for me in two houses. One house had a valve right by the
shutoff, and I opened that as well. This house doesn't have such a valve.

What's your issue with the method? What do you suggest?



Well, you got very lucky. How cold did it actually get in the house?
If all you do is open all the faucets, get the water running, and turn
off the main valve, the pipes will still be full of water. How can
you thiink water will be out of the pipes from just doing that?

The system needs to be drained by turning off the water, opening all
the faucets, then opening a drain valve somewhere at the lowest point
in the sytem. The toilets then need to be flushed and some antifreexe
poured in them, plus all the drains, like bathtub, sinks, etc.


Temp: Hovered below 20 degrees for 4 days in both cases.

Lowest point: Correct. But, some residue isn't going to bust the pipes. Have
you ever frozen soup in glass jars? The method involves leaving an inch of
space at the top, and NOT tightening the lids until after the freezing is
complete. In pipes, as long as the valves are open and there's some room for
expansion, you're not likely to have problems. Obviously, this will depend
to an extent on whether or not the house has any strange bends in the pipe
installation (mine didn't).