Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
outside window. The exterior walls of your home will cool down first, and in extreme cold
snaps, even with the heat on inside your home, some people have recurring freezing issues with
plumbing that runs through exterior walls (this is common in my area when temperatures fall
well below 0˚F).
If you have some source of heat in the house, the simplest and easiest mode of defense is to
open the cabinet doors under sinks along exterior walls to allow warmer interior air to circulate
under the sink. You can also crack all of your faucets to keep a trickle of water flowing through
your pipes and fixtures, though this will not protect your toilets or other appliances such as
your dish and clothes washers.
Caution:
During extremely cold weather, if your drain pipes flow through unheated freez-
ing areas, such as a garage's external walls, and you are trying to keep your plumbing from
freezing by cracking a faucet, you risk clogging your drain pipe with ice. A trickle of cold wa-
ter flowing through a drain pipe in an area that is well below freezing will slowly close off this
pipe due to successive layers of ice building up along the inside of the pipe's walls. An occa-
sional flush with hot water from a shower or bath, or an extended flush with a high volume of
cold water, will clear the ice from the inner walls of your drain pipes.
If the power is out, and you have a source of backup heat, such as a woodstove or kerosene
space heater (which must be ventilated to avoid carbon monoxide poisoning), you should check
to see whether or not the areas of your home that are far removed from the source of heat are
subject to freezing temperatures. If so, then you may need to keep a faucet cracked and flowing
in those faucets furthest from the source of heat.
Valuable tip:
Where I live in the High Sierras, below-zero nighttime winter temperatures
are common, and -40˚F (-40˚C) temperatures are not that unusual. In our climate, most homes
are equipped with a “stop and drain” type of main water shut-off valve. These valves are de-
signed to drain the water out of the homes' plumbing lines whenever this valve is turned to the
“off” position, which simplifies the process of draining and winterizing your plumbing.
However, many older homes, or homes in other parts of the country, will not have this type of
automatically draining valve. If the ability to freeze-protect your plumbing is a valid concern,
and your home does not have a “stop and drain” type of water shut-off valve, then you should
contact a plumber to see about having one installed.
Draining Your Plumbing:
