I live in MO and my water pipes are right under the house. It is freezing down there and my pipes are freezing. I have been defrosting them by dropping a space heater down a hole in the floor but am afraid the pipes are going to burst eventually.

Should I keep a space heater down there? Leave the hot or cold water dripping? To get new pipes put in to prevent this will cost quite a bit and will not be able to be done until Spring. This is past annoying.

The first thing I would do is to go around the outside of the house and make sure there are no drafts coming in from cracks, pipe holes, wire holes, or vents. If you have vents in your foundation close them or block them off with something.

Eliminating drafts will help considerably. secondly, if you use a forced air furnace for heat, you might be able to cut in a vent that will blow heat into the crawl space near where the freezing problem is. I don’t recommend the space heater and am not fond of heat tapes.

Another option is to insulate the walls of your crawl space (if possible to move around in there) with 1 inch thick styrofoam insulation. You may be able to just get some pipe insulation, if you choose this option make sure you completely cover all exposed copper piping. copper pipe transfers temperature very rapidly, so even if you leave a small portion uncovered, it can still freeze if it gets a draft.

Seal the insulation with duct tape. If you’re only having a freezing problem in certain areas, chances are this is the best place to start looking for drafts from the foundation. expanding foam or some type of silicone caulk will fill most cracks or holes.

It may also be easier to do this from the crawl space as it will be easier to see light coming in from the outside. Get a pair of coveralls and something you can push around to lay on and fill them in.

Good luck.

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I looked into the pipewatchman but the website is offline, the number doesn’t work and it got a poo rating on amazon.

Should I just leave my hose on drip?

HELP! Otherwise it is another year of filling coleman camping containers with water and taking them by sled, LOL.

If the line is freezing underground, the only solution would be to dig it up and put the line deeper, below the frost line. Your local extension agent should be able to give you a recommendation as to how deep.

We are just now running the waterline out to the barn, about 200 feet of line. So here’s my pointers for a happy water winter.

1. Dig the trench a foot below the “frost line” for your area.

2. Run TWO lines from your source to the barn. One “live” that you’ll hook up to your main source and to the barn fixtures, and one “dummy” that you will cap on both ends, and lay alongside the live line. Take a plastic loop fastener and attach it to both ends. It will basically just lay there until you may need it some day. Why? Pipe is CHEAP. Digging line is HARD. 10 or more years down the road, if a leak springs up somewhere in between, we dig down at both ends, hook up the new line and voila.

3. Use a “frost free” fixture in the barn, make sure it’s installed correctly. Go pick up a ratty old comforter at the thrift store and a plastic trash can. Wrap and cover the fixture when the temperature drops, or use a heat tape.

4. If you pipe from stall to stall, be sure it’s installed on an angle and leave individual valves open in the cold. (Cut off the water at the main frost free spigot in the barn and let it drain.)

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I’m in NC. The boiler conked out in a 4-unit apartment building I own. Today is Friday. A new boiler will be installed on Tuesday. The night time temperature is supposed to get down to 14 degrees F. on Sunday, which is very cold for here. Day time temperatures will be a little above freezing.

How can I keep the pipes from freezing? I can’t put a heavy load on the electrical system. What’s best – - leave the water running a little? (which faucets??)? a kerosene space heater? electric pipe wrap? (on which pipes?) something else? I’m prepared to spend some money. (No problem with the tenants; they are getting rent relief.) Desperate in Durham

You’ll probably be fine if you keep all the faucets at a drip. It is highly unlikely that you will have a freeze-up at those temperatures for a short time. We have freeze-ups in the north east when the temperature is in the teens for 3 days straight. I don’t recommend kerosene heaters. they make you light headed after an hour. A small space heater near the meter, and one in each apartment would probably be sufficient, and not an overload on the electrical box. GL…..Rich

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There are 3 sinks and one bathtub. Do I have to have every one of the faucets dripping to prevent freezing?

Thanks

I would drip them all just in case. Keep in mind though that depending on how cold it is where you live, there may be nothing you can do to prevent this. Sometimes its just too dang cold.

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A Syncon Homes Construction Defect – Frozen Shower Pipes

Syncon Homes is the company that built our defective house. We are the unfortunate buyers of their house, but we are not representing ourselves as Syncon Homes or Syncon Homes’ employees. Nor are we ociated with them or any of their affiliates in any way.

Syncon Homes built this house with many serious construction defects, code violations and violations of their own building plans. One defect is the water pipes that freeze in our bathroom each winter. That is what we’ve shown on this video. After viewing our video, feel free to stop by our website for more information about the construction defects and how Syncon Homes has treated us. We believe that you’ll find it shocking.

Our website can be reached at: http://www.asynconhome.info We will also be adding other videos to show many other defects found in this house built by Syncon Homes. It’s just a matter of time and the weather. In the meantime, we’ll reveal that there are quite a few construction defects in this Syncon Homes house that have been catagorized as “HEALTH-SAFETY HAZARDS” & “FIRE HAZARDS.”

These are some of the defects that we will be showing in subsequent videos. Again, please take a detour over to our website at: http://www.asynconhome.info It’s a site that we think you should read, especially if you’re considering a house built by Syncon Homes.

Duration : 0:4:56

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My mother passed away and the heat to the house is shut off. I was told I could use windshield washer to put in water pipes, drains to keep them from freezing after water has been shut off and pipes drained (no air compressor). I was told not to use RV antifreeze. This is what I have done and now I am worried as to whether this was the right thing to do. The house is old and not insulated.

You definitely need antifreeze in there, so it can get into drain traps and low points in your pipes. There is antifreeze made especially for this purpose, which is different from RV antifreeze, and different from windshield washer.

It’s pink in color, and of course I have no idea whether you can get it wherever you are. Its primary virtue as compared to car antifreeze is that it doesn’t play hell on the environment when you drain it out. As far as using windshield washer… I’d say if where you are has fairly moderate winters that might be OK, but I sure as hell wouldn’t try it here in Maine…

Make sure to break all couplings connecting pressure tanks to pipes and pipes to your water pump, and be sure to drain out the pump itself, both from the draining ball valve at the rear and by removing the plug from the bottom.

When you antifreeze the toilets, make sure to continue pouring into the bowls until the level starts to fill, and then drops. This will show you when the antifreeze has reached the trap below. Wherever you have ball valves at the disconnected couplings get a little antifreeze in there too and work the valve back and forth.

Don’t forget the water heater. You usually have to tip it around some to get the last of the water out. Best of luck.

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Owns Pluming Co 30+ years

Set your hair dryer on high/high

Hold close to all exposed water pipes . It may take up to 30 minutes per pipe but it will work.

Using any flame on “plastic” pipes will melt them also many house fires have been started by a person trying to thaw pipes with a torch!

Open all faucets, also open all cabinets under the sinks.

Aim any space heaters at your pipes or put them in the basement if you have one.

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