On Sunday, October 27, 2013 6:20:28 AM UTC-4, micky wrote:

Exactly how much it takes to freeze a pipe is a
question most of us have worried about one time or
another. There isn't any easy answer. Any we
sure don't have enough info from the OP to try to
make a guess. But given that the OP said this:

" In the past, with rare long-ago exceptions, the
coldest it gets is 28 or so, possibly 25 F."

"Yes, I know about leaving the water drip but that doesn't always
seem to work - I've still had them blocked by ice early in the morning.
Then too, there's the well pump, water tank and associated plumbing"

All it takes is one rare exception.


The next issue is how exposed it is. Sitting
out in the wide open, with free air flow on all
sides is going to be worst case. If it's under
a porch, in a crawlspace or otherwise partially
protected, it will take colder/longer to make it
freeze. Another issue is what the pipe material is.
But clearly it has frozen enough to block it,
how much more you have to go to burst it, IDK,
but I would not be taking the chance.

If this is the well water for the house, I don't
understand why it would have been installed so
that it can freeze to begin with. How exactly
to best protect it IDK because we don't have
enough info.

If someone is going to be there for sure when it
could freeze, then leave the water running so
the pump will come on about once an hour. With
new 50F water coming in, that will keep it from
freezing. A drip won't do it. It's obviously
not fool proof because it depends on someone
being there, remembering, etc.