What do you do to prevent water pipes from freezing when temperatures drop real low for your area?

[joel]

My wife leave the faucet dripping & I put a gallon jug under it to catch the water.

 

[Cabin Fever]

We don't do anything special. We live in northern Minnesota. We experience below zero temperatures for many weeks in a row. For 90% of our 5 months of winter,, the temps are below freezing.

 

[Cabin Fever]

With that said, I was trying to help our Texan relatives with their cold snap last week. Found the idea shown below. Thought it was a good idea for an outdoor faucet.

 

[joel]

There is a device that will turn a 60watt bulb on, you plug the device n 120 out let & plug light into it, got it at Lowes for the farm pump.

 

[Peanut]

It's amazing how much heat is generated by even a small light bulb. In winter we used to hang two 100w light bulbs in series across a 220vac line in our pump house. Kept the pump ice free, no issues.

Leaving a faucet dripping is a good move also.

 

[hashbrown]

All we have to do is turn the light on in the well house. I probably wouldn’t have to do that but I always do when it gets below zero.

 

[Bacpacker]

Our plumbing comes in probably 3' underground into the basement. We only have 2 faucets that are on an outside wall in the house and leave cabinet doors open. Plus our Walls are 2x6 with the plumbing closest to the drywall. Never had a problem into below zero temps. Our outdoor faucets we keep covered with the foam cover like shown above.

 

[Neb]

Our plumbing comes in probably 3' underground into the basement. We only have 2 faucets that are on an outside wall in the house and leave cabinet doors open. Plus our Walls are 2x6 with the plumbing closest to the drywall. Never had a problem into below zero temps. Our outdoor faucets we keep covered with the foam cover like shown above.

Similarly here. One outside hose bib that I isolate and drain before a deep freeze. All other water lines are inside.

My son has a side by side modular home with no basement. An electrical outlet powers heater tape around is input line.

Ben

 

[Weedygarden]

There is something called heat tape that you can wrap around your pipes and plug in.

I have never used it but I see that there are many options available on Amazon. I know that you can buy it at hardware stores.

https://www.amazon.com/Wsenpyc-Prot...=1705891821&sprefix=heat+tape,aps,170&sr=8-15

 

[Magpie]

My problem is the pipes to the house are not very deep so I can't do a lot about it, we don't freeze too often though. I think during the winter of 2010 was the longest, about a week.
I can't prevent, just prepare.
My husband collects any styrofoam during the year and packs it around the water pump that is in a room in our garage, and sometimes has put the red lamp on in there.
In general, water is not an issue here (as my weather posts show!) I have plenty of rainwater in barrels, I just make sure I have containers filled inside, and if I think it will be very bad for any time, I fill the bath also and use it for the toilet etc.

 

[HippoTwilight]

My house was built in the last 20 years, and with some common sense design features. So I don't need to do anything special for extra cold weather.

Exterior wall faucets/drains go thru the floor instead of exterior wall.
Main supply comes through the slab in the center of the house.
Hose bibs are on a dedicated line with shutoff valve.

 

[Mountain trapper]

When we lived in Alaska, one winter the supply line from the well to the house froze up. It was buried over 8 feet deep. This winter the water hydrant at the chicken coop froze. I'll have to dig it up this summer and replace it. Other than that, we've never had our water freeze. Except for that winter when we lived in an RV trailer.

 

[Alaskajohn]

When we lived in Alaska, one winter the supply line from the well to the house froze up. It was buried over 8 feet deep. This winter the water hydrant at the chicken coop froze. I'll have to dig it up this summer and replace it. Other than that, we've never had our water freeze. Except for that winter when we lived in an RV trailer.

We have this issue and our line is also 8 feet deep. I have a shut off valve on the line prior to the pressure tank. We shut off the well pump, shut the valve and use a compressor and hook it up to a blow out valve to blow out the line to prevent it from freezing. Got down to -20 last night so we blew it out as a precaution. We have a heat tape that I fished down the water line, but I prefer that it not freeze. The well only produces about 170 gallons a day, so we don’t do the drip thing.

 

[randyt]

There is a device that will turn a 60watt bulb on, you plug the device n 120 out let & plug light into it, got it at Lowes for the farm pump.

It's called a winter watchman. It plugs into an outlet. It turns a light on if temp drops. A lot of folks use them in a cabin. The put a lamp.in a window and if a neighbor sees the light on, it indicates the heat went out but can be used to turn a heat lamp on as well