Just to hone in on one area, that is the outdoor faucet. Up north they are ‘freeze proof’, with the shutoff valve inside the pipe a ways, 10” or so. Even with that, they can freeze then lead to a cracked pipe. BTDT.

I have a better way now to drain the line before winter, no more problems. Even living further south, the outside faucet for the hose may be freeze resistant. Since the piping goes in where it’s cooler, easier to freeze.

Then the hoses themselves, I get the water out before they freeze and potentially crack.

We live in NW Missouri about an hour north of KC and our temps get in the single digits frequently in the winter and some days below 0. Low teens and 20's are common Nov-March

We have heat trace around all our pipes, plus in this area our pipes between the main and our house are buried below frost depth, in our area this is about 36-42"

We still drip our faucets when it gets in the single digits and keep our cabinets open under the sinks.

Basements. The water line coming to the house is below the frost line. Supply lines are in the basement and they don't typically run in exterior walls. Outside spigots have a shutoff in the basement so they get isolated and drained in the fall. Currently it's 10 degrees here.

Up here in Norther Indiana it regularly gets into the -20s for a few weeks out of the year, and I've seen -50. Our house was built in 1900, and remodeled probably in the 60s or 70s. I don't run faucets or anything like that and we've never had a broken pipe.

It's all in how the house is built. Provided they didn't do anything stupid like put pipes in exterior walls, and you have adequate insulation it's not a big deal. Our pipes run through the crawl space next to the heater duct-work, so the ambient heat from that probably helps as well.

Our kitchen sink is by a west-facing wall, but the plumbing comes up through the floor and the outside wall is well insulated. The outdoor spigot (freeze-proof type with the valve set back about 12" into the tube) is connected to the supply line under the sink, and we've never had a problem with it. I do make sure I disconnect and drain the hose before it freezes in the fall.

We usually keep the thermostat set at 65. Back when we bought the place in 2007 a $200 utility bill mid-winter was extreme. These days, post Bidenomics, we pay that in the spring and fall when the windows are open and furnace and A/C don't run all month. We had a mild winter last year and midwinter bills were close to $500/month. We bit the bullet and put in a wood stove this December. Hopefully that helps mitigate that somewhat, although it's quickly becoming clear that I'm going to need a lot more wood than I'd estimated.

quote:

Originally posted by stiab:

quote:

Originally posted by motor59:

The heat produced by the bulb was sufficient to keep the pipe from freezing up. and relatively cheap to operate.

The problem is you can no longer buy normal light bulbs that produce significant heat. And heating bulbs are too hot to put under your house. My dental hygienist lost her entire house and all contents because she kept chickens under the back deck and used a heating bulb in a brooder lamp, like the one you show.

My house is over 100 years old and I use the system you describe, but am running out of old stype bulbs that produce heat. I used to buy them at estate auctions when I could find them, but not anymore.

[URL= https://www.amazon.com/Medium-...736514234&sr=8-5]Old Fashioned Incandescent 100 watt bulbs CLICK HERE[/URL]

These are, at this time, basically exempt.
.

quote:

Originally posted by OKCGene:
(Amazon link)

These are, at this time, basically exempt.

Thank you for that!

We don't have to do anything special here in Ohio unless it gets well below zero. Most are insulated well enough to withstand most winter temperatures. All homes are equipped with frost proof hose bibs, odd to me that everyone across the country wouldn't use them since there are only about 1-2 on each home and not that expensive.

However, I will say that who does your insulating is very important so that it is done correctly. Our current home has "holes" in the insulation or spots where cold is getting in. I've seen ice form on a wall when it was -15F, but only like a 3" circle. Borrowed a friend's FLIR camera adapter for an iPhone and you would surprised where you have air leaks or gaps in insulation. Bitter cold temps will prove it out too, but at a time you don't really want.

Our residential building code is also about a decade behind the times too where it really needs brought up to a more current standard. A lot of has changed in the technology used to seal and insulate buildings and the methods, materials, etc.

I was in Alaska about a decade ago, two weeks before Christmas and you learn really quick to appreciate a well insulated building when it's -25F for the HIGH and can get down to -60F. A point as which your tires will freeze in a flat donut shape.

One of the best Air Sealing technologies I have seen is by Aeroseal. It sprays an atomized sealant into the air while the building is pressurized which helps it to find and plug the leaks.

If I had to pick a new insulation to use, it would be RockWool since it is fireproof, waterproof, and insect proof. The downside is it can be heavy and bulky depending on your application.

Basements, frost lines, building codes, and keeping plumbing on interior walls.
My house is 100+ years old and has been kept in the family.
The pipes have frozen once, when my grandpa was snowbirding in Fl and lost heat.
Min temp set in winter is 55 degrees up here, iirc.
It’s just something we don’t worry about if the houses are built to code and the heat is on. I love to hear the clanking with the radiant heat pipes and the booming of the house as it shifts on its foundation in the extreme cold. It’s comforting.

quote:

Originally posted by Rightwire:
I live in SE Michigan and have a small ranch with a full basement. All pipes are in the floor between the basement and main floor. I keep the house around 70 year around so there are no freezing issues inside.

This describes our situation, except the original homeowner put on an addition over a crawl space that includes the master bath. So there's about ten feet of water pipe that runs near an outside wall.

That wall is insulated all around, there are screened openings between the basement and crawl, and there is heating ductwork in there.

I put a wireless thermometer in there one winter to keep an eye on the temperature near the outer wall near where the pipes run. Temperatures never got anywhere close to freezing.

quote:

Originally posted by Rightwire:
Outdoor faucets have an indoor shut off that I turn off the first time the temp dips below freezing for more than a few days. Usually around Thanksgiving.

Same.

quote:

Originally posted by Rightwire:
I typically wouldn't worry about pipes freezing unless I lost power during a hard cold spell. In which case I'd close the main shut off into the house, drain the pipes, and wait for power to return.

Same, except we have a small gasoline generator that supplies enough to run the furnace (and a bunch of other stuff), so that's not yet been a problem. We also have a wood stove—but I don't know if heating the house with that would transfer sufficiently into that crawl space. Luckily: We haven't had to find out... yet.

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
I've always lived in the South. The farthest north I've lived was west central North Carolina, and that was only about 18 months on a work transfer, apartment living.

Where I live, the coldest it's gotten in 38 years is 5 degrees, and that was once, and for a day or two. It got down to 7 degrees back in the 1990s. You get the idea. In a typical winter, we might get down to 20, or 17/18 on rare occasion.

We manage to keep our pipes from freezing via the usual method of letting a bit of water drip overnight in a couple of faucets in the house, and putting covers over the outdoor spigots.

I've taken to setting the delay on the dishwasher so it runs at 3 or 4 in the morning, so that a bit of water runs through the kitchen pipes. Probably not even a half gallon with newer dishwashers, if that.

So, what do you do when you get much colder temps every winter? Are there different construction methods for homes built in, say, Minnesota or Montana or New York? Extra insulation on pipes, or what? It seems to me that the method of keeping a bit of water moving through your pipes would be cost prohibitive if you have to do it for three months straight. What about our members in Alaska or Canada?

Just curious. What's the story?

Para the construction of very energy efficient homes was my wheelhouse for over 37 years. Some of the information presented here is good advice…other, not so much. If you could tell me more about your home I can give you some specific advice on what you can do. This won’t help for the next few days but many utility companies will do a free energy audit of your home and offer specific suggestions on cost effective steps that can be taken to reduce your bill.

Of course most involve more insulation, at least R-38 if not R-50, yes even in the South and sealing up your home around your windows and doors.

If you want we can take this discussion offline and I can give you specific recommendations if you share some specifics of your home. My email is in my profile…

Eddie

Electrical outlets and wall switches are potential cold air leakage sources. Foam gaskets can be easily installed.

Old windows in this house are a serious insulation weakness. We replaced about half the windows and those are excellent summer and winter. The old windows we manage with good pull-down shades to modulate the sunlight.

I've installed heated mats on the front porch and stairs. The roof needs heat tape along the edges where there are gutters, to prevent ice dams and water backing up under the shingles. The water can cause expensive damage inside the home.

Snow piling up against the exterior can cause a lot of damage to the siding and to doors. Good design helps, and keep the snow cleared as necessary.

All the plumbing runs internally.

Yes, local code is important. We had enormous damage to a home in NM when a pipe in the roof crawl space failed during an extreme cold spell. We were away on vacation, of course. It met all the code requirements but was not sufficient for the conditions.

quote:

Originally posted by Fly-Sig:
The roof needs heat tape along the edges where there are gutters, to prevent ice dams and water backing up under the shingles. The water can cause expensive damage inside the home.

This has been our main problem. When Dad was alive he would used a roof rake.
I like heat tape better (it's really a cable) run up the downspout, in the gutter, then back zig-zagging on the the roof.
https://youtu.be/2XNPZgKiWlk?si=9P6hcyzFP4v6BPb0

I've lived in Alaska and Texas, and home construction is drastically different:

Piping - all of my piping runs through the attic in Texas. None of my pipe ran in unconditioned space in Alaska. Hell, the lazy POS developer in Texas didn't even put the city water line through the foundation and instead it comes aboveground outdoors and enters in the side of my house. In Alaska, my waterline entered the home underground.

Attic - even though my Texas home is 15 year newer it has less attic insulation. Alaska was R49 and Texas is R38. Also, in Alaska, the only thing in the attic was insulation but here in Texas my HVAC units are in the attic and there are plywood paths everywhere with compressed insulation underneath (I doubt these areas are R38).

Walls - tie as both are r19

External faucets - this is the one that pisses me off because for $15 my Texas home could have been like my Alaska home except the builder is a cheap POS. Freeze proof faucets have long valve stems and the sealing mechanism is in the insulated wall, and they only cost $5 more each. Even better, many homes in the north have a ball valve in conditioned space upstream of faucet so you can just close the valve and drain the faucet for winter.

EDIT: I left out one of the biggest differences

HVAC Register location - In the south, we're set up for air conditioning so the registers are located on ceilings or high on walls and the cold air returns are also high on walls or ceilings. In the North, they're set up for heating so the registers are located in the floor and the cold air returns are floor level on the walls.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: tatortodd,

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Ego is the anesthesia that deadens the pain of stupidity

DISCLAIMER: These are the author's own personal views and do not represent the views of the author's employer.

In my two story townhouse, my landlord replaced the electric baseboard with a gas fired, high efficiency hot water baseboard system. He cut his energy costs drastically, the system is far more efficient, and it serves as the source for hot water at the sinks and bathrooms. The actual unit is about size of a large microwave and is mounted to the exterior wall of the crawlspace with PVC exhaust and air intakes running out through the wall. This setup also keeps the crawlspace fairly warm too. It works so well that I can open the upstairs bedroom window for fresh air most winter days. Two nights ago, it was 5 above and every room in the townhome was between 72 and 70.

quote:

Originally posted by stiab:

quote:

Originally posted by motor59:

The heat produced by the bulb was sufficient to keep the pipe from freezing up. and relatively cheap to operate.

The problem is you can no longer buy normal light bulbs that produce significant heat. And heating bulbs are too hot to put under your house. My dental hygienist lost her entire house and all contents because she kept chickens under the back deck and used a heating bulb in a brooder lamp, like the one you show.

My house is over 100 years old and I use the system you describe, but am running out of old stype bulbs that produce heat. I used to buy them at estate auctions when I could find them, but not anymore.

Hit a pet store-

https://www.pangeareptile.com/...DHGsqRzRkIwVcGjdhG__

When our house was all but destroyed by a flood in 2022, we took the opportunity to add some things that were sorely lacking on our 1975-built construction.
The house was ‘cut’ horizontally at the 4’ mark to replace all the drywall. So, we insulated around each and every leaky window and door frame.
128 bags of cellulose insulation were blown into the attic to at least R38 depth.
The house is much more comfy now than before the flood. It now holds indoor temps that are 50° above outdoor ambient temps.

quote:

Originally posted by stiab:


The problem is you can no longer buy normal light bulbs that produce significant heat. And heating bulbs are too hot to put under your house.

Look for a 75 or 100 watt "Reptile light"

if you can use a little less heat the get an oven "appliance light" which are normally 40 watts.

both are still incandescent.

I do not currently live in the North but grew up there and spent my military time in Utah so I know the issues.

Our house in the Midwest had a basement so we never had freezing issues. You can build a new house where it is like a Yeti cooler - where it is air tight. Even the attic has HVAC. This guy has videos about it Risenger

In the rare event that South Texas has an extended freeze, these have worked for my faucets
Freeze Miser

Leaving water faucets running, small stream as dripping didn’t do much good, would still freeze up. Clear plastic over windows together with gray strip caulk around the window openings. Heat tape on water pipes when we lived in the Southwest.

FWIW freezing pipes seemed to be the norm when living in houses on crawl spaces, slab and basement construction freezing it wasn’t as common.