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On Sun, 09 Jan 2011 15:10:09 -0500, aemeijers
wrote:

On 1/9/2011 2:24 PM, wrote:
On Jan 9, 2:18 pm, wrote:
Here in winter, most days it at least gets above freezing.
(Alabama/Georgia) The nights are supposed to be down in the low 20s
this week.
In my sister's house, the water heater is in a utility room
with no heat. The hot water pipe is in an outside wall so her hot
water freezes during these cold times. I have suggested she put a
100W bulb in the overhead light and leave it on to keep the pipes from
freezing. This has helped, but it still freezes if the temp stays
below freezing for more than a day.
She only needs enough heat in the small x small room to keep
the pipe from freezing. A 100W lamp is not enough and a room heater
is really too much. Can someone suggest something in between?

I'd just keep a hot water faucet open so just a trickle is running.
Probably more effective and not much money. A 100W bulb in the
middle of a room
isn't going to do much. You'd have to have more like 500W, one of
the little heaters from Walmart or similar to heat the room enough.
Must not be insulation in that wall either or it would take more to
freeze it.

A thermostatically controlled heat tape on however much of the pipe you
can get to. For the part buried in the outside wall, next time it breaks
and you have to open up the wall anyway, reroute it, or at least
insulate the heck out of it.

My house in Louisiana has the WH in the garage storage shed. Shares a
wall with the house, and enough heat leaks through to keep it from
freezing. I wouldn't build things that way, but when the budget only
covers existing houses, what're ya gonna do?

Heat tape would be a good idea if it wasn't me that would have to
install it (I don't mind doing it, but my health is not best). She
has a brother in law in the same state that does her plumbing. I live
one state away.

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