We let the cold water tap drip. The only pipe that has ever frozen in my house is in the laundry room - but since we added a deck that runs along that outside wall it hasn’t frozen since.
It’s funny because normally if I’m concerned about pipes freezing, I let the cold water pipe drip. Our water is currently partially frozen. However, only my hot water pipe seems to be frozen. The cold water in the kitchen and bathroom are fine, but the hot water taps run at half pressure and only cold water will come out. So I’m wondering if cold water dripping would have even done anything.
The snow from this last storm was fluffy, but the forecast for Sunday is calling for a wetter, heavier mix. I expect to see more roof collapses. We’ve already had a dozen or so in the area. The other thing we’re going to see a ton of is ceiling collapses due to ice dams. Driving around my town you can see bad ice dams everywhere, but it’s been too cold for the snow to melt and water to back up behind them. I heard an interview with a local roofer before this last storm who was saying that he’s booked for two weeks straight and has turned off his answering machine.
Many old houses here have pipes that run up just inside the outside walls, usually for toilets. Same old houses usually leak some heat, so sometimes they’re ok. Sometimes. We once lived on the first floor of an original colonial and the toilets froze overnight. That bathroom had no heat and no basement under it.
Bigger issue right now is icicles. The sun is melting roof snow. We had gutter work done and know it’s not a structural problem. (Or wasn’t.) I’m sure the gutters are frozen.
Power doesn’t usually go out on my street, cables are underground. Our furnace (steam) heats the basement well enough. If only it pumped enough to reach the end of the line: the master bedroom. We have supplemental heat there and in some other rooms.
When I got up this morning at 8, the outside temperature was -6. Our thermostats are set for 65 and the temperature in the house was 55. I’m calling my boiler service company who will come out and say nothing is wrong with it.
I think you have to drip both hot and cold water pipes. My pipes got frozen last night. The first time since we moved here about 20 years ago.
I leave the cabinet doors under the sink open any night the temperature drops below 10 degrees. But the motor on the new dishwasher froze and it’s not covered under warranty. That will be a spring project.
How does a motor freeze?
Which faucet do you let drip, the lowest one in the house or the one that freezes?
Well, at least you probably won’t have to deal with drought restrictions this summer.
If you have a pipe that is prone to freezing and it is already insulated, I would either leave the tap open, or if you don’t need access to the faucet, to turn it off before that valve.
We’ve only had our pipes freeze once in 30 + years of living here, and that was an un insulated pipe in the attic that we didn’t even know was still connected.
It’s been in the mid to upper 50’s here, but it will be sad if it stays this way, cause I’ve known June weather harsher than this.
DocT…here too. Normally we set our temps back at night…but for the last two nights we have held the temp at 68. Still…in the morning both days…house has been 62. Guess we must have some decent passive solar gain.
Even now…its 66 in here.
I finally got a space heater put and put it next to me. No need to be freezing!
Hoping this little snow for Tuesday is just that…little.
I always thought the snow around the foundation insulates a bit.
We live in a 1925 2 story colonial. The January round of below zero weather had our hot water side of the kitchen faucet not working. We had left the cupboard doors open for a couple of days, but still froze. At first I cleared out under the sink and put a small heater in the pipe area hoping to unfreeze the hot side. Didn’t seem to really help. My H got the idea to put a small heater near that pipe area - but in the basement - and that did the trick of unfreezing them.
It was -6 yesterday morning and -4 this morning. One day this week the AM temp is -9. We are at March in 2 weeks and SHOULD be starting to see some 40 degree days on occasion. Right now, that seems impossible.
I have left my bathroom sinks running on a thin stream of cold water. My pipes began to freeze last winter because my husband was downstairs with the gas fireplace on and the heat stayed off…went to wash they breakfast dishes and the water just stopped. Luckily , we caught it in time.
We are supposed to get snow tonight here…my new heater is NOT keeping up with the demand at all. My husband said the plumber installed one that is too small…GRRRR ! I have the thermostat set for 74 and it was 58 degrees this morning…not happy at all
But I am very happy that I indulged in a pricey parka this year 
I feel like I am justified in my decision, even if we don’t usually have such cold winters here in NJ
Our pipes are fortunately clear now. The hot water enters our house under my kitchen sink, and I’ve got a space heater next to it and had put a giant pot of steaming water under the pipe. The combination seems to have made it work.
Did anyone else see Jim Cantore rhapsodizing over thundersnow?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdRWGMyeSYY#t=20
Some local genius used a blowtorch on frozen pipes. It didn’t go well…
http://www.wgal.com/news/fire-breaks-out-after-resident-uses-blowtorch-to-thaw-frozen-pipes/30606920 X_X
D1 came home last night after a weekend in Syracuse to a condo that was 56°, even though she’d left the thermostat at 60°. Woke up this morning to finally discover the furnace was broken, and the HVAC places she called weren’t taking new customers. So she used her social networking resources and found a HVAC in South Boston who could have someone come out today around 3-5; but then a worker who wasn’t supposed to come in, came in, and she got her call at noon. Diagnosis - faulty ignition switch on the pilot… easy fix. In the meantime, because the condo had gotten so cold, the cold water pipe in her bathroom froze, so she can’t use it, or flush her toilet. Thankfully, there’s another bathroom that is all interior walls. So last I heard, she had opened the lower bathroom cabinet and placed a space heater in the bathroom to warm it up. Luckily it’s the only cold water pipe on exterior walls; kitchen is working fine.
Picture of her second-story condo shows snow up about four feet against her sliding glass door on her deck. She’s saying the one-way restrictions on South Boston roads is now in effect until April 1st now, which is when they hope most of the snow will be melted… but not before then.
She has a countdown app on her phone for when we all leave on vacation for SoCal on the 28th; I suspect she’s watching it a lot now.
I saw Cantore and wondered if he was wasted
Well, I didn’t see it when it happened live, but I think they’ve replayed it several times 
(even my smileys are against me today - why isn’t he blinking?)
Just got back from my mother’s condo- frozen hot water pipes,
She has cold water ( which she dribbled last night )
A hot water installer said she has to hire a “concealed leak detecter”. Does anyone have experience with this?
He showed me pics of another hovnanian home, also on a slab, they had to tear through the slab, and fix the underground pipe??? Huh? Cost $2200 ( for repair itself)
My mom is freaked.
Anyone have experience with hot water frozen, and slab construction?
Igloo,
There are two parts to my dishwasher motor. The repairman removed the frozen water from the drain with my help, and then tested the motor. He used a hairdryer to warm it up and got it to do two functions. He said it won’t do the third function as the frozen water might have cracked the other motor part. I’m going to wait until March and turn it on. Even if it works normal, I still have to insulate it as the pipes are close to the outside of the house. It was a present so I hadn’t thought about this ahead of time.