On Tuesday, February 11, 2014 12:06:47 PM UTC-5, harry wrote:
wrote in message

...

Have you had Frozen Pipes this winter?



It seems everyone I know has had frozen pipes this winter, even those in

the south, qwho normally dont experience such severe cold temps. It's

been a very severe winter, and I have actually given up on some pipes

that repeatedly keep freezing. Carrying containers of water si becoming

the norm, and is much less trouble than constantly fighting with frozen

pipes. I even drained the pipes in a trailer house that I have on my

property, and just gave up the battle till weather warms up. I have

pipes that NEVER froze since I moved to this farm about 15 years ago.

The heat tapes just can not keep up, while my electric bills are

frightening.



Even my sewer pipe is now frozen, going to the septic. I had to just

quit using the toilet, and use a camper toilet in the house, which gets

dumped outdoors. I disconnected the sewer pipe, and rigged a pipe

outdoors that just drains the gray water on the lawn. It's a major pain

in the ass, but what else can I do????



Come warmer weather, I'm going to redo some of these pipes. But for

now, all I can do is live with it, and wait till the weather warms up.



I'm posting this to find out how many of you are having these same

problems. I bet it's far more extensive than expected.

Come Spring, I bet plumbers are going to be making lots of money and

working overtime.



There is a cure for this so long as you don't have a water meter.

Just leave the tap/faucet trickling/dripping.

You want the faucet furthest away from the incoming pipe so that as much

pipework as possible is protected.

Enough water comes through to prevent freezing.

I think the key here is that enough water has to be flowing.
I see people all the time saying just leave a faucet dripping.
It would seem to me that the flow that's needed to keep
one foot of 1/2" pipe in a wall that's partly insulated from
freezing is going to be a lot less than the flow required to
keep 20 ft of 1" pipe that's more exposed from freezing.




Make sure the drain doesn't freeze up.



The colder it gets, the more water you need to be running through.

In the UK, a fast drip is sufficient and only by night. Maybe you need more

in the US.


I think it depends on the temperature and the pipe you're trying
to protect.


As to the original question, the only thing I know of that froze
here is a friend who had the furnace in his attic shut down. The
furnace is horizontal, with the condensate drain trap on the bottom.
So, you have a small plastic tank of water sitting there. I guess if
the furnace ran enough, it might avoid freezing. But it's setback
for long periods to 50F, so it might not run for hours. Condensate
trap froze and cracked. How that ever passed inspection, IDK.
Should clearly have been heat taped and the condensate line, where
it's exposed should be taped too. All they did was put pipe insulation
over the condensate line and even that, they missed spots.