Hi

We live in Pennsylvania where it can get to zero overnight.
We will be away for 2 weeks in January.
How low can we set the temperature in our house to keep the pipes from
freezing?
The lowest we have ever let the house get it 55 degrees, with no problems

Rich

Rich wrote:

Hi

We live in Pennsylvania where it can get to zero overnight.
We will be away for 2 weeks in January.
How low can we set the temperature in our house to keep the pipes from
freezing?
The lowest we have ever let the house get it 55 degrees, with no problems

Rich


Depends on too many factors. If 55 worked, I would stick with it.

Bigger question is: What happens to the house if there is
a power outage?? Even if you have a neighbor watching,
what can he do??

The only way to help ensure you don't come home to a very
messy flood is to shut the water supply off and drain
the piping plus traps, toilet bowl/tank, appliances.
Fill traps with RV anti-freeze.

If all that is too troublesome, at least shut the water
supply off...

Jim

Speedy Jim wrote:

Depends on too many factors. If 55 worked, I would stick with it.

The whole idea is to keep the pipes from freezing. Dropping too much below 50-55
and you run the risk of a pipe in a marginally insulated wall getting too cold.

"Clark W. Griswold, Jr." wrote in message
...
Speedy Jim wrote:

Depends on too many factors. If 55 worked, I would stick with it.

The whole idea is to keep the pipes from freezing. Dropping too much below
50-55
and you run the risk of a pipe in a marginally insulated wall getting too
cold.

we're in central pa. we keep our house at 50, except in the wake up
hrs--then it's 55. so far, no
probs. it's an old house, and i don't think it has much insulation in the
walls. but it does have
clapboard siding and wood is an insulator. we have a domestic loop system
with radiators
and a holding tank.

It depends on the type of heat, how well insulated the house is and
where any pipes containing water are located. If you have forced air
heat and water runs are located well inside the house or well
insulated, then you can get away with a lower temp. If you have hot
water heat with runs in exterior walls and no antifreeze and not much
insulation around pipes in walls, then you need a higher min temp. One
problem of course is without doing some testing, you have no way of
knowing how much insulation and/or drafts there might be in any
exterior walls with pipes. One tip to consider is leaving any kitchen
or bath cabinets below sinks by outside walls open, as this lets some
warm air get closer to the pipes in outside walls. You can also take a
look at where your water pipes are run in walls.

I have a reasonably insulated home with forced air heat that is about
18 years old here in NJ where it gets down to single digits
occasionally, have kitchen and bath pipes in outside walls and I've set
it for 45 with no problems. But for 2 weeks, it's better to be safe
than sorry, as the few bucks diff in heating isn;t much compated to
having a big disaster.