Let's talk about freezing pipes and hose bibb protection down here in the south...

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Or do we do it because that's what our dad did and our neighbors do so we better do it too?

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I do it now because I know if I don't and something happens to burst I'll be hearing "I told you so" from my wife for the rest of my life. I never worried about it until I got married and never had problems. I've lived in some old homes, too.

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Really kicking myself for not thinking about frost proof hose bibbs when i built.

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Will have to look into this when I redo my back porch.

I have always done it because I was told I should always do it. Don't know enough to question it and feel like an idiot for asking.

I use the foam insulation wrap around my pipes year-round to cover the space between the brick and the handle. I then use a foam cover over the actual bib. I put it on the first time it drops below 40 and keep it on until March/April (outside of the brief moment when I occasionally need to use them) when I start using my sprinklers/irrigation system

I bought those insulated nylon bag style covers this year and they work ok I guess. They are counter intuitive in my view, because the whole point of the styrofoam covers is that it traps the heat from the house within it to help keep the faucet warm enough. The bag just velcros around the pipe.

I have all pex pipe so freezing pipes isn't a big deal for me, but I rather be safe than sorry with my hose faucets. Doesn't hurt to put them on and can only help.

Foam pipe insulation on the bib. If it's really cold, sub 20, I will wrap it in a towel and put a bucket on top of it....mune comes up from the ground. I don't worry about pipes unless it's sub 20 and under 32 for 2 days or more. I have a old pier & beam house and already have foam pipe insulation on pipes under the house. Never had an issue with those even when it was - 3 a few years ago, although we did drip faucets.

Because it’s an added cost for something that’s probably not needed.

If it gets to -4, YOU NEED IT. We don’t really dip past 32 but for a few hours each year. Which is why I’m asking if we really need it or we’re just being overly captions.

I have 4 hose bibs/spigots on a brick house. I wrap 3 that I won’t use with shop towels then wrap in duct tape. They look like a gray fist. It seems to work even when the temps got to 12 and 15 last year.

On the one I use in the winter and is located in the driveway, I just use one of those styrofoam cups with the rubber strap that holds it on tight. Fingers crossed.

Every hot and cold faucet inside and outside the house dripping the entire time it's below freezing, and check on them all every hour or two at night to check them.

If it's below freezing long enough they can grow an ice cycle up into themselves that can plug them up.

From the first freeze warning in the winter I take a grocery bag, wrap it around the spigot, then wrap a rag or two around the spigot (wash cloth/kitchen towel size, not bath towel), another grocery bag on top of the rag, and then a few wraps of electrical tape for every outside spigot. This has always been enough even when we have gone 2-3 days without getting above freezing. It blocks the wind, and helps keep some of the heat from the house. (All of my bibs are in insulated walls) and we have the heat on in the house. These stay on until I either need one or until the spring. I still had 2 covered when I went to wrap them this year.

We'll start dripping hot and cold when it gets below 30 for more than a couple hours.

I have an outdoor bathroom that has a long run of pex through an uninsulated attic across the carport. I cut in valves to be able to block and drain that entire system, takes 2 minutes, and keeps me from having to babysit another area. I'll put a space heater in the bathroom to keep the toilet and traps from freezing.

Each house is going to be a little different, We built our house, so I'm very aware of how the plumbing is ran, and it's also all PEX. The PEX can expand, but that doesn't mean a copper fitting won't split when it does. My biggest concern is always my tankless water heater which is in the attic, I try to make sure there is some flow going through it but not so much that the gas is running.

For hard freezes or long freezes, I'll do all of the above plus things like setting the dishwasher to delay start in the middle of the night, and we'll do some more loads of laundry during the freezing temps.

I live in a house that is near 100 years old and I did change out the galvanized pipes to copper when I first bought in back in 92. It is a 2 story built on a slab so most of my pipes are running through the ceiling area of the 1st floor and are protected from freezing.

There's 2 places where the pipes are exposed and they are all wrapped in the proper foam insulation. To be safe if it gets cold enough that there may be an issue I'll let the very last, longest run of pipe seep slowly as long as it's below freezing just to keep it slightly flowing.

This run terminates at the very back of my house 3 ft. off the ground. It is also the one I use to drain my water lines if I have a plumbing issue and need to do some pipe repairs since it is the farthest and lowest outlet.

I just put an oven mitt over mine and wrap it with duct tape