re: What outside temperature makes you consider running water all night?

20

I own a water restoration company, so here are my suggestions based on the claim volume we see during cold weather.

If it’s below freezing and above 20:

Everyone should cover the outside faucets. Drain your hoses too.

Outside of that, it depends on your house and where you live. Up north, most of the plumbing is in interior walls. Honestly, I don’t know what you guys should do, I have little experience in colder climates. In the south, they put plumbing anywhere and everywhere! So, this professional opinion is for the southern states:

Less than 24 hours in the 20’s:
Cover the outside hose faucets.

If your plumbing is in the slab, you should be fine outside of that. Leave the kitchen and a bathroom dripping.

If you have any pipes in a crawlspace or attic, let it drip in two locations on opposite sides of house on multiple floors. That’ll keep the whole system moving. 90 percent of kitchens are plumbed in an exterior wall, definitely leave that one dripping.

If it’s in the low 20’s or below for more than 24 hours, everyone should leave the kitchen and one faucet in every bathroom dripping and I definitely suggest the following:

Just covering outside hose faucets won’t always protect you when it’s cold for long durations. You need to cut the shutoff valve off to all the outside faucets. There is a shutoff located inside the house. Most of the time it’s on a garage wall, inside kitchen cabinet, there may be a little access panel, etc. Just look around inside your house near the location of the outside faucet. Sometimes they hide them in bathroom vanities.

***One more step, this is where most people make a mistake. I’d say over half the frozen pipe claims we clean up wouldn’t have happened if people took this step:

Once you shut off the supply valve inside the house, go outside and open the hose connection/valve outside to drain the water out of the line and then close the outside valve back up. Even though you’ve drained the line, still cover it because it will protect the valve.

Here’s why:
If you don’t drain the little bit of water in that pipe from the inside shutoff to the outside hose valve, the line is still fully pressurized. The water in the line can freeze, expand and damage the pipe. It won’t flood your house overnight because the water supply valve is off on the inside, but I have seen many houses flood when it warms back up and people cut the shutoff back on without realizing the pipe was damaged. You won’t realize it until you cut the inside valve back on because there is generally less than a gallon or two of water between the inside shutoff and the outside hose connection. Once you cut the inside valve on, you will definitely scream oh shite if it was damaged because water will go everywhere.

If it’s in the 20s or below and you have pipes in the attic or crawlspace, make sure you leave the faucets those lines feed dripping (upstairs bathrooms are fed through the attic a lot!). If it’s windy, these attic/crawlspace lines are very vulnerable because it pushes the freezing air through those areas. If you have vinyl siding, leave every bathroom dripping. It provides basically no protection. Hot and cold lines can freeze, leave both dripping.

**YES, the hot lines can freeze, the water cools down in them when nobody is running hot water through them.

All of this information above is based claim volume and the nature of the leaks I see, which indicates the amount of damage in the Bham area:
If it’s in the 20’s one night, we may have 1-3 frozen pipe calls the next day. 95 percent are the pipes that bust are feeding the outside hose connections. Normally the people did zero freeze prevention.

If it’s below freezing overnight, all day, and the following night, we will get 5-10 calls the following day. Most of the calls will still be lines feeding outside hose connections. It can also be the lines in the wall feeding the kitchen especially if it’s windy and just vinyl siding on the house. If it’s really windy, we may have an attic pipe or crawlspace pipe that burst.

If is in the teens or below for 3 straight nights and below freezing during the day... It can literally be any of your pipes, even in the slab!

If it’s gonna be single digits or in the teens for a few days, I actually cut the water off to my house and open some valves to depressurize all my lines. I cut them back on for everyone during the day, but leave something dripping. It may be excessive, but it takes 5 minutes and I have no worries.

The last 3 times we were below freezing for 3 nights/2 days straight, we had
72 calls in 36 hours
84 calls in 36 hours
55 the last time in 24 hours.

Side notes:
Until the ball of ice around the busted pipe thaws, some people don’t realize they have a problem, keep an eye on everything. It can take a day or two to thaw and start leaking.

If you live in a trailer, just cut the water off it’s below freezing. Those lines (a lot of CPVC supply lines) always bust and a lot of insurance policies for mobile homes don’t cover water damage.

Cut the water off to your sprinkler system. Cut it on for just a second to relieve the pressure. If not, you may have an issue in the spring when you cut it back on.

If you go to cut on a faucet and nothing comes out, the pipe is frozen somewhere. Cut on all faucets in your house and see if you can get it free before it expands and busts a pipe. If you can’t, I’d shut the water off to the house and open all the sink faucets. The empty pipes give the ice somewhere to expand. Just leave it and slowly turn the water back on to the house when it warms up and quickly investigate for leaks everywhere.

We also see a lot of busted water heaters during this time. The extremely cold groundwater causes water heaters to bust easier. I don’t know why, but every plumber will tell you that. Keep an eye on them.

Random fact, it is usually Jan 6th-20th when this happens in Birmingham. It was Jan 7/8/9 2 yrs in a row. The last time it was Jan 18/19/20.

I know this was long, but if it helps one person keep their house from flooding, it was worth writing this little piece for you guys.

In NJ never do it

Sounds like a problem

i always pray for snow the day the advent begins.

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consider running water all night?

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Maybe instead of considering running water all night, you should consider properly insulating your pipes & structures....

Comrades in Siberia are laughing at you guys.

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Never. I live in Minnesota, not some wussy state.

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I was gonna say, if I followed these suggestions in Wisconsin I'd have my water running for 4 months straight.

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Below freezing

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31 degrees ain't freezing pipes hombre, especially not this early in the winter season when the ground isn't close to 32.

I generally just trust that one of my kids or my wife left at least 1 faucet dripping like usual.