re: Outside water faucet: To drip or not to drip?

if I lived in a raised house, I would let it drip...otherwise, I would just wrap...

also, in extreme cold, I typically open the bathroom cabinets so that the pipes in the wall don't freeze....

I put insulated covers on my north exposed hose bibs and usually just leave them on from now until March. The rest are pretty protected but if we get really hard prolonged freezes, which we do on occasion I cover the rest.

Only drip if we are looking at a day or so under freezing but a small drip isn't going to hurt so if you feel the need get tough with it.

I live in Dallas in an old pier n beam house and only drip faucets if it will be below 20. I even forget to do that sometimes. I had a pipe freeze a couple years ago when we had the Super Bowl Ice storm. It was the feed to a toilet on my western wall and there is a foundation opening/ vent right there. The wind was blowing almost directly on that pipe and it was below freezing for a few days. I did drip the sink faucet next to the toilet but that didn't do any good. It takes some pretty cold weather for a duration of time to freeze a pipe.

ETA: Oh...outside....depends on your faucet. I have one that discharges all the water above ground level when I turn it off so you're not supposed to drip that. Just wrap a towel around it if you don't have any insulation wrap handy.

Get an old newspaper, crinkle up the pages while wrapping around faucet and exposed pipe. Get a few wraps going and tape in place. Simple, easy and quick. No need to drip.

Never got below freezing in laffy

quote:

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Are your pipes exposed under a raised house? Yes, drip.

Otherwise, no, not tonight in Baton Rouge.

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Shitty advice as usual on this goddamn site.

Dripping your faucet is a half-assed measure and this is no half-assed freeze, sir. I'd suggest fully open faucet from sundown to sunup. Unless you're lucky enough to live near a fracking site, in which case your faucets should be kept aflame for the duration of winter. You're welcome.