dripping water faucets for freeze in Texas?

[robbase]

Well we are due for a "hard freeze". I just moved to Texas, the news and websites say to drip your inside water faucet as houses in the south have less insulation / may not have their pipes located in the house. My question- just drip one faucet or all of them? I have insulation cup thingees over the hose faucets outside.

[Martivir]

All of them. I'm up north but I've never had to let mine drip. However my great grandmother did because her pipes were in her crawl space and I have a basement.

[Deleted]

I agree, all of them .

[wodehouse]

I had my shower freeze in an apartment in suburban area Chicago around 1992 during an especially cold spell. After that I pulled the shower curtain away from that end of the tub in order to let warmer air circulate. Also left the cabinet door open under the bathroom and kitchen sinks. And did the drip thing.

Did that in Birmingham, Alabama a few times too. I saw one neighbor in Alabama who had a pipe break during a cold spell while they were away. There was a field of of ice 8" thick outside their kitchen.

We mighta done this a few times when we were in Houston.

[cronewitch]

We do all of them at work because we work on a dock we are colder than other places. The pipes run under the dock so no insulation and we don't run the furnace on weekends, nights or holidays since we need a licensed boilermaker on duty. We had one pipe break in a drydock even after the freeze protection crew thought they protected everything.

[soon2bmomof3]

Or if it's not a safety hazard, keep your cabinets open. The air inside your house should be warm enough to keep the pipes from freezing.

[Deleted]

Do all of them if you are worried and don't know which ones are prone to freeze.

[phil5185]

My question- just drip one faucet or all of them? I have insulation cup thingees over the hose faucets outside.

It depends on whether your house is on a slab on has a crawl space. If you have a slab, the idea is to keep water flowing in the service pipe (the above ground part where a couple feet of pipe is exposed). So anything that creates flow will work - ie, several small drip faucets, or a single small stream faucet.
If the house has a crawl space, several pipes under the floor are exposed - so it is a good plan to keep the water moving everywhere, several faucets.
What are cup thingees?

[soon2bmomof3]

I'm guessing the cup thingees are the black foam tubes that look like swimming tubes with a slit cut lengthwise so you can fit them over the pipes?

[cronewitch]

The cup thingies are foam caps for outside faucets They had a small hole with a wire hook to hook the faucets and a rubberband keeps them snug.

[tiredturkey]

We're on a slab and just let one drip/small stream and that does the job. Our pipes are in the attic and you really don't want those babies to freeze. My neighbor ignored the warnings Tuesday and didn't do anything about her pipes; now she tells me she has no water pressure in one bathroom lavatory. She asked me if I thought she had a frozen pipe and I replied she would be the very first one to know the answer when we thaw out this weekend and please let me know where the water starts dripping out of the ceiling and collapsing the sheetrock.

The little foam cup jobs wouldn't fit my outdoor faucets but I found some great Thinsulate lined pouches that slip over the faucet and tie on. Sure beats the old wrap a towel around and fasten with clothespins method.

[blackcard]

All of them. And don't forget to run hot water also. One last thing some overlook, run the washing machine and dishwasher also about 2 or 3 times a day. We forgot the washer and the pipe in the laundry room froze and broke last freeze.

[atlast30]

I definitely leave my water running when temps here dropped below freezing.

[totiredtotango]

We are in the Dallas area and kept our water dripping for days now. the pipes from the main sewer are not buried that deep so it is easy for them to freeze and that is an expensive mess. Also keep your cabinet doors open that helps a lot. I had heard this was most important for inside faucets on a north wall.

Occasionally I run each faucet at full force for a min. or so. I can hardly wait to see the water and gas bill next month.

Funny note....my mom just called and wanted to be sure we have a furnace. Her friends had asked since we are so deep south and she just couldn't remember ....

[schildi]

Feb 3, 2011 10:19:09 GMT -5 phil5185 said:

What are cup thingees?

Phil, I think this is it:
www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1v/R-100314242/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053