How To Avoid frozen pipes

[annr]

For the first time there is a warning to take precautions against freezing pipes due to extremely cold temperatures tonight : 3° feels like -27°.

Any suggestions? The washer, dryer, hot water heater are in the basement and we are able open a vent on the HVAC to warm the basement. It’s 50–55°down there now. Thx.

 

[Blues]

Open the faucet in the sink furthest from where the water enters your home and on another level if possible, and let it drip or run in pencil lead thin stream while temperatures are frigid. You can also leave open cabinet doors to allow warmth from your home to get to the walls along the internal pipes.

My basement, where the water heaters and HVAC are is about 56* or so now, and it's not frigid at the moment. Usually it only goes down to about 50* or so in real cold. Not a problem. But keeping that stream of water helps to keep pipes from freezing as they contract a bit.

 

[annr]

Both Hot and cold?
Both First and second floors?

 

[Blues]

Both Hot and cold?
Both First and second floors?

I only do cold, personally. And I open the faucet in one sink on the main floor's master bath, which is 60 or so feet from where it enters the other side of the home. Water comes in at basement level. I don't have a second story above ground.

 

[Sharp Steel]

Open the faucet in the sink furthest from where the water enters your home and on another level if possible, and let it drip or run in pencil lead thin stream while temperatures are frigid. You can also leave open cabinet doors to allow warmth from your home to get to the walls along the internal pipes.

The water company sends broadcasts out to do exactly what you mentioned. They even did that to the fire hydrant out on the street once.

 

[LMT66]

Like stated above, faucet furthest from sink. Also any faucet with pipes in an outside wall should run.
I run the thinnest pencil stream I can get. This is a good time to grab a bucket and dump a full gallon quickly in the sink to flush out the p-trap.
My pipes run through a crawl space and its never dips below about 45F so I just run cold water. I filled plastic coke bottles with water and rolled them in the crawl 3 directions and one under the hatch. After 9 years here, they are all still full so never got down to freezing down there.
If you have pipes running through an attic or other unheated area, run hot and cold.
If I lived in a ranch with bathrooms on both ends of the structure, I'd drip sinks on both ends.

 

[annr]

Like stated above, faucet furthest from sink. Also any faucet with pipes in an outside wall should run.
I run the thinnest pencil stream I can get. This is a good time to grab a bucket and dump a full gallon quickly in the sink to flush out the p-trap.
My pipes run through a crawl space and its never dips below about 45F so I just run cold water. I filled plastic coke bottles with water and rolled them in the crawl 3 directions and one under the hatch. After 9 years here, they are all still full so never got down to freezing down there.
If you have pipes running through an attic or other unheated area, run hot and cold.
If I lived in a ranch with bathrooms on both ends of the structure, I'd drip sinks on both ends.

Checked and there are no pipes in outer walls—except hose spigots? (Disconnected hoses.)

Heat duct is right below bath sink upstairs. All plumbing is in interior walls or comes directly up from interior of basement.

The odd thing to me is that Boston routinely has cold temps and this is the first such cautionary advice. Been in this home about 40 years without giving this a thought. Maybe AI is developing advice we don’t need or needed all along. Everyone’s house is different, so maybe this advice would be germane to some—Not sure about us. BUT I’m doing as you all suggest!