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?

"peter" wrote in message
news:YYUch.3052$bW2.358@trndny04...
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.

The underground pipes don't freeze because (hopefully), they're installed
below the frost line - the depth at which the ground freezes in your area.

If you have a water heater and you won't be present, you should
probably drain that device too.

On Mon, 04 Dec 2006 13:04:26 GMT, "JoeSpareBedroom"
wrote:

"peter" wrote in message
news:YYUch.3052$bW2.358@trndny04...
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.

The underground pipes don't freeze because (hopefully), they're installed
below the frost line - the depth at which the ground freezes in your area.

JoeSpareBedroom wrote:
"peter" wrote in message
news:YYUch.3052$bW2.358@trndny04...
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 underground pipes don't freeze because (hopefully), they're installed
below the frost line - the depth at which the ground freezes in your area.

wrote in message
oups.com...

JoeSpareBedroom wrote:
"peter" wrote in message
news:YYUch.3052$bW2.358@trndny04...
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.

JoeSpareBedroom wrote:
wrote in message
oups.com...

JoeSpareBedroom wrote:
"peter" wrote in message
news:YYUch.3052$bW2.358@trndny04...
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.

wrote in message
ups.com...

JoeSpareBedroom wrote:
wrote in message
oups.com...

JoeSpareBedroom wrote:
"peter" wrote in message
news:YYUch.3052$bW2.358@trndny04...
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?

In article .com,
says...

JoeSpareBedroom wrote:
"peter" wrote in message
news:YYUch.3052$bW2.358@trndny04...
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

Depending on the layout of the house, his method could work fairly well.
If you turn off the water with all the faucets open, the upstairs
plumbing will drain through the downstairs faucets. If you then flush
all the toilets, they're usually the lowest fixture in each bathroom, so
they'll drain much of the remaining water in the system. Especially if
you flush each toilet again to make sure there's no water left in the
tank.

But I'd still worry in a hard freeze, this method doesn't clear the
water out of the toilet traps or other drain traps, it doesn't drain the
water heater, and it doesn't drain all the pipes in the walls. It
really is best to drain the whole system from a low-point drain valve if
you have one.

--
is Joshua Putnam
http://www.phred.org/~josh/
Braze your own bicycle frames. See
http://www.phred.org/~josh/build/build.html

On Mon, 04 Dec 2006 12:59:36 GMT, "peter" wrote:

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?



When we lost power for a long time, I was told to open cabinet doors.
The house heat would transfer to the pipes easier, and with proper
insulation, water wouldn't freeze for a while. Now this is advice I
was given.

later,

tom @ www.NoCostAds.com

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


The best way ... basically same as a cottage, drain the system (switch
off that now empty electric water heater), put antifreeze in the
toilet(s). FWIW, my water tanks are in the basement and have drains on
the bottom ... can't imagine a tank that doesn't have some means of
draining ... e.g. for replacement. A short length of garden hose to the
floor drain and I can drain the system ... which I've done to install
new copper lines in the basement.

On 4 Dec 2006 07:41:57 -0800, "bowgus" wrote:


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


The best way ... basically same as a cottage, drain the system (switch
off that now empty electric water heater)

Backwards. You have to switch it off BEFORE you empty it. If it
runs without water covering the elements, it will quickly burn them
out. Less than 5 minutes I think. Maybe less than one?

, put antifreeze in the
toilet(s). FWIW, my water tanks are in the basement and have drains on
the bottom ... can't imagine a tank that doesn't have some means of
draining ... e.g. for replacement. A short length of garden hose to the
floor drain and I can drain the system ... which I've done to install
new copper lines in the basement.

"peter" wrote in message
news:YYUch.3052$bW2.358@trndny04...

In the unfortunate event of losing electric power for days during freezing
weather, what is the best way to prevent water pipes from freezing?

Ask your water utility. We do not know whether
you are in Wisconsin or Mississippi.

--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)

"Don Phillipson" wrote in message
...
"peter" wrote in message
news:YYUch.3052$bW2.358@trndny04...

In the unfortunate event of losing electric power for days during
freezing
weather, what is the best way to prevent water pipes from freezing?

Ask your water utility. We do not know whether
you are in Wisconsin or Mississippi.

--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)



What about Saskatchewan?

Anyone that interested in proving a point is hiding some sort of
benevolent agenda. "Don't listen to anyone else or the internet,
listen to me" screams 'control issue'.

But, I'm not a psychologist...so this is just my experience, I'm not
going to come back and start arguing that you're a "control freak"
simply because it's good form as I'm not a professional experienced in
fixing control freaks.

wrote in message
oups.com...
Anyone that interested in proving a point is hiding some sort of
benevolent agenda. "Don't listen to anyone else or the internet,
listen to me" screams 'control issue'.

But, I'm not a psychologist...so this is just my experience, I'm not
going to come back and start arguing that you're a "control freak"
simply because it's good form as I'm not a professional experienced in
fixing control freaks.


What????? :-) I'm not telling anyone NOT to garner advice on the web. I'm
saying it's not a good idea to ignore actual experience. This is the damage
done by the web: Fear of experimentation, failure to consider why a
non-standard technique may work, and a complete distrust of personal
experience. How did some people gather knowledge before the web existed and
there were no links to so-called experts, many of whom are no more "expert"
than you or I?

it was directed at the opposite side of the argument...