What do you guys in colder climes do? Down here, it'll be 10* to 15* F for a couple nights and daytime highs below freezing. Considered bitter cold here, lol. Is dripping the faucets in your house still considered warranted? What if you're gonna be out of town... so, what about cutting off the water totally and draining all the faucets, does that solve it? As for outside faucets, do you do anything to them? I replaced the two on the house a few months ago and used freeze-proof or frost-free or whatever they are called but I am not sure if those really work, have no idea.
We have the frost free spigots....do nothing with them in winter (other than drain the hoses) and no issues. The valve is back inside the house, so when you shut the valve, the water drains and none is left exposed to the cold. Nice if you ever need water in the winter, it will run.
No simple answer, it all depends: - Inside house + basement +/or crawl space temperatures - How much insulation - Where the insulation is located, is a pipe wet on the freezing side of insulation. - How deep are outside water pipes buried - Number and location of air leaks, drafts (is an air leak near a water pipe) - How reliable is your heat source - Does anyone visit and check the temperature (an opportunity for an internet device) I never leave my water on if I am out of town for more than one night, leaks happen. My neighbors who snowbird in winter both rely on electric heat since pilot lights and igniters can fail. We never froze anything at -32 deg F since all indoor pipes are exposed to heat, no wet pipe extends outside the insulation, outdoor pipes are over 4 feet deep, and we keep the basement above 55 deg F. Frost proof water faucets work for us but it depends on if freezing temperatures can reach the wet part. Homes are tight here.
We have frost free spigots and hydrants. Never had a pipe freeze even when double digit below 0. Don't have to get ready if you stay ready.
The only plumbing we gave that's on an outside walk is our kitchen sink. When temps are forecasted for below 0⁰f, we leave the under sink cabinet doors open to let house heat circulate. Exposed plumbing in a crawlspace would concern me a bit. A slow drip is still recommended by some.
Yeah never had a freeze unless we left it outside. Never left water running. We got lots of insulation and a reliable heat source when we can feed it and another one when we go away, that one just need a tank truck and I don’t own one.
I have an old outdoor faucet and all I do every year is remove the hose and cover with an outdoor faucet cover. They are about $5 and around here they are pretty much available at any hardware store or BBS home improvement place. I'm not sure about your area though. With frost-free faucets, you should be all set. Even with my older home that isn't well insulated (2x4 construction, there's no room for much insulation), I haven't had an issue with frozen pipes (KOW). Even my FHW pipes, which aren't used because I use pellet stoves or mini split). If it is going to be super cold for a while, I will run the boiler a couple times a day to circulate the water and keep it from freezing. It actually only concerns me because those pipes go thru the garage (along the outside walls), which gets down to the low 30's and sometimes in the 20's.
I agree on all the above, but if one is in doubt, A small steady tiny stream of both hot and cold water is better than the nightmare that is the alternative. Nothing worse than replacing piping in crawl spaces where everything can burn the house down. As an old guy I gotta visit the head once or twice a night, flush each time so the pump comes on and water is moving.
My advice is predicated on an 1880 farm house on loose fieldstone foundation with a 150 years of mouse highways through the walls tunneling in cold. Catching 6 mice a night in traps no big deal.
What not to do....use a torch to thaw the frozen pipes. Story is from yesterday, happened about 10 miles from me. Luckily the guy survived. Fire destroys home after Holly man tries to thaw pipes, fire officials say
For electricity outages from ding dongs driving too fast in snow/ice, or getting snowed/drifted in : Since we moved here I always have bottled water and canned goods on hand. Wood stove for heat, generator for pellet stove or other inside things. Previous home I bought a portable oil radiator in 98', www.amazon.com/DeLonghi-Comfort-Radiant-Heater-Black/dp/B07GVXSX9Z?th=1 used it for so many things I cannot list them all but it was in the tall crawl space many cold winters for our main water line. Before that we used a hair dryer to thaw water line or froze boiler pipes. That said not sure if your married of have daughters, some women (ahem) can be particular about their hair dryers.... I was given one for Christmas that did NOT work like I needed, we used the heck out that hair dryer too, from thawing frozen pipes to reversing down draft in our exterior chimney here (thank you brenndatomu for that simple clever solution!). If your windows aren't tight sheet plastic and double sided tape help alot, hair dryer again to smooth wrinkles and shrink it tight.
For a twofer (assuming your fridge isn't packed full), I keep 8-10, 20 0z bottles of water in the door of the fridge. Sure, I use a bottled tap water daily, but in a power outage the mass will help keep everything cold longer. When I had a separate freezer. It usually wasn't full, so I would fill old milk jugs or liter soda bottles (thoroughly cleaned) with water and freeze those - same idea about the mass keeping everything cold. Plus, if you really need water, and the power has been off for a long time, those can also serve as an emergency supply. Just make sure you leave plenty of head room in those to account for expansion so if they thaw, there isn't water everywhere.
