Tips for upcoming freeze (Taylor, Happy: sale, how much, house)

[SickOfCalifornia]

Hi all. Back in California, we never had freezing temperatures - so I admit I'm woefully uninformed when it comes to prepping for weather in the 20s. How much should I worry about freezing pipes (Taylor Morrison home in Steiner Ranch)? What prevention techniques should I be thinking about? Is the attic the main area to worry about? Any advice for a cold-weather dummy is appreciated.

[HappyTexan]

Think PPP
Pets..bring indoors overnight
Plants..cover with a beach towel or blanket or bring indoors
Pipes:
Cover the outside spigots if you haven't already.
If there's none left in the stores then use some kitchen towels and wrap them and tie so they don't come unraveled.
For north facing rooms with water..leave the cabinet under the sink open..warmer air from house will circulate there.

We're lucky here in that it's usually just overnight that the temps dip low but not like "up north low".

I've never done anything about the attic..it's always about "the water pipes"

[SickOfCalifornia]

Is covering outdoor spigots done as an alternative to letting them drip, or in addition to letting them drip?

[centralaustinite]

alternative

[HappyTexan]

Originally Posted by SickOfCalifornia

Is covering outdoor spigots done as an alternative to letting them drip, or in addition to letting them drip?

If you cover, you don't drip

The big box stores sell covers although I don't know if they have any left.
Usually sometime after Thanksgiving I just put the covers on my 3 outside spigots (habit I formed..get the xmas stuff out of the garage and cover the spigots). When I need to use them I just remove the cover and attach the hose and then cover them back up again when I'm done.

HD had plenty of them right after Thanksgiving..some nice hard plastic covered styrofoam ones and some cheapo styrofoam only ones for like $.99 each.

[CptnRn]

Originally Posted by HappyTexan

Think PPP
Pets..bring indoors overnight
Plants..cover with a beach towel or blanket or bring indoors
Pipes:
Cover the outside spigots if you haven't already.
If there's none left in the stores then use some kitchen towels and wrap them and tie so they don't come unraveled.
For north facing rooms with water..leave the cabinet under the sink open..warmer air from house will circulate there.

We're lucky here in that it's usually just overnight that the temps dip low but not like "up north low".

I've never done anything about the attic..it's always about "the water pipes"

That just about covers it all.

I have a hose bib in an unheated garage wall that has froze up on occasion, so I will sometimes run a small electric space heater near that location to help keep those pipes from freezing.

Same is true if you have a lot of water pipes in a bathroom that are on an exterior wall. We had one of our bathroom sink waterlines freeze up once, fortunately it did not break. I keep the cabinet doors open now and I have put a electric space heater near there if we get an extended freeze.

We have uninsulated water pipes in the attic but the heat lost from the house tends to do a good job keeping that area above freezing. You can always run the temperature in the house a little higher then normal, the heat lost from the interior will help keep the temperatures in the exterior walls warmer.

I'm not convinced that those little styrofoam hose bib covers do much good. They have less then 1/2 of insulation. So I always wrap my hosebibs with at least 1 bath towel and tie a plastic bag over it. That gives it several inches of insulation.

[HappyTexan]

Originally Posted by CptnRn

I'm not convinced that those little styrofoam hose bib covers do much good. They have less then 1/2 of insulation. So I always wrap my hosebibs with at least 1 bath towel and tie a plastic bag over it. That gives it several inches of insulation.

Yeah..I stuff a washcloth inside the one on the north side of my house.

[CptnRn]

Ha ha ha,

Lowes on Brodie Lane still has a few nice oil filled electric radiator space heaters on sale for around $46 each. They are very safe. I just bought another after seeing how well it heated the unheated sunroom where I keep my parrots.

[Moonlady]

Originally Posted by CptnRn

That just about covers it all.

I have a hose bib in an unheated garage wall that has froze up on occasion, so I will sometimes run a small electric space heater near that location to help keep those pipes from freezing.

Same is true if you have a lot of water pipes in a bathroom that are on an exterior wall. We had one of our bathroom sink waterlines freeze up once, fortunately it did not break. I keep the cabinet doors open now and I have put a electric space heater near there if we get an extended freeze.

We have uninsulated water pipes in the attic but the heat lost from the house tends to do a good job keeping that area above freezing. You can always run the temperature in the house a little higher then normal, the heat lost from the interior will help keep the temperatures in the exterior walls warmer.

I'm not convinced that those little styrofoam hose bib covers do much good. They have less then 1/2 of insulation. So I always wrap my hosebibs with at least 1 bath towel and tie a plastic bag over it. That gives it several inches of insulation.

Thanks for the tip on opening the cabinets. I had forgotten about that. We have several bathroom pipes that are in the outside walls.

We usually drip our spigots outside and let one of the bathroom faucets drip as well and we've been lucky. We live on pier and beam so the pipes, even though wrapped with insulation are exposed. It's probably time to replace that insulation come to think of it.

[CptnRn]

Originally Posted by Moonlady

Thanks for the tip on opening the cabinets. I had forgotten about that. We have several bathroom pipes that are in the outside walls.

We usually drip our spigots outside and let one of the bathroom faucets drip as well and we've been lucky. We live on pier and beam so the pipes, even though wrapped with insulation are exposed. It's probably time to replace that insulation come to think of it.

The insulation should not need replacing unless it gets wet. You might want to consider installing a "freeze tape" on them, it is an electric heating tape or wire, that can be found with a thermostate built in so it turns it self on when temperatures drop into the freezing range and keeps the pipes warm. It is strapped along the pipe below the insulation, so it keeps them above freezing when temperatures drop around them.

Letting faucets drip in freeze prone areas of the house, WILL help prevent the from freezing up. The average temperature of water in the water main several feet below ground is around 68 degrees, far above freezing. So a slow flow thru the pipes will help keep them from freezing as well.