Posted on 11/27/2025 9:16:33 AM PST by LouAvul
Temps are going to be below freezing for about four days at my farm house/hunting cabin. The house is unheated.
The temps will be getting up to 37°F, 46°F, and 52°F on those days. I have two options.
A) Turn the water off from outside. I'd open up the faucets to relieve any existing pressure and turn the water heater down to low.
B) Option 2. Leave the water on from outside. Turn the water on inside the house at a trickle. (3 faucets) Leave the water heater as is.
Is one method better than the other?
thnx
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How cold is it going to get at night? Are the outside water pipes fully exposed or are they shielded either by the cabin or by being buried underground? And remember that if is is cold enough for long enough a drain pipe can freeze too if water is trickling through it. And remember that any drain traps are full of water. Do you use this cabin this time of year or is it just sitting.
The best way to winterize is either blow all the water lines out with air and dump RV antifreeze in the drain traps.
Or to use a pump to fill all the waterlines with RV anti Freeze.
But the layout of your system is very important in determining what it can survive. And which parts of it can survive relative to how cold it is going to get overall.
The ground and the cabin will hold some heat for a period of time.
Here is what I got.
If the place is insulated, it takes hours to move indoor temps a few degrees. Expecially if there is not much delta. Meaning if it is 45 degrees inside and outside temps go to 27, it will take probably more than the night-time hours to move that 18 degrees, when the sun arrives again to reverse things.
If this is a cabin, your water supply pipes may not be down deep, and this matters. 1-2 feet does not provide much insulation. 5 feet is better.
As for the keeping a trickle of water flowing, people usually do not understand this. It is not the moving water than stops freezing. It is the fact that the water flow is bringing water in from (however many feet) underground where it is warmer. So it is not water motion that protects, it is the fact that it is warmer water. Do this on a hot water faucet to protect the water heater tank.
Close off the water heater, turn off the water at the meter, drain everything by turning on faucets and hose bibbs and then close them all again, and make sure that a vacuum didn’t start sucking the water out of the water heater and then open it’s valves again and set on low, get the water out of the toilet so that it doesn’t crack.
You can loosen the union at the street meter to drain the last amount of water, when you turn the water back on try to blow the air out of the lines with the hose bibbs and with the faucets that are easiest to repair (use the bathtub faucet and then the sink faucet, toilet last) since they might get debris in them which would make them drip or the toilet run, pay attention to the faucet aerators clogging.
Think about your canned foods and toiletries, and other liquids in containers that can freeze.
Most important is the toilet; water from the above ground cistern off and flow pipe drained, toilet flushed while off and automotive anti-freeze added to bowl and residual water in the toilet tank.
No water heater.
You tube has lots of videos that you can watch
In my opinion, because the unheated faces only 4-5 nights of “only” 25 to 30 deg freezing, and because daytime temps will be well above freezing, I recommend leaving every faucet dripping steadily for the period. Hot AND Cold, so the water heater has flow too.
If less than 25 deg F continously for 3 days or more? Absolutely. Cut off water outside the house, drain the pipes inside, drain the water heater.
IMO—OPTION B
37°F is not a factor. You don’t need to do anything. Measure the temperature of the water coming out of a faucet. This is what matters. 40°F. isn’t a problem but if it starts towards 32° is time to take action.
Ambient outside air temp needs to get below freezing, and stay there for a while. The poster who suggests turning on a faucet to a trickle does nothing is incorrect. It absolutely works and in a hard freeze will save your plumbing.
Find the most distant faucet (usually in a bathroom) in the system and crack it open so a thin stream of water, about the size of a pencil lead trickles. Open cabinets under the kitchen sink and places like that so warmer air can circulate. This is one reason why setting the thermostat super low is not a good idea, it should never be set lower than the 50s in subzero weather, outside pipes will reach much colder than that.
You can also strategically position a Coleman lantern in crawlspace or places where pipes tend to freeze up first.
DISCLAIMER: YOU ARE NOT CLEAR ABOUT THE TIME PERIOD INVOLVED.
SORRY-—I MISSED THE 4 DAYS. FOR THAT SHORT A TIME-—TRICKLE OF WATER_— HOT WATER HEATER ON-—TRICKLE-—TRICKLE
Yep, move to Florida, but only if you are not a liberal commie democrat.
Switch to Linux.
Most water supplies are underground so that water at that temp. feeds the pipes. It works. For hose bibs:
https://www.freezemiser.com/products/the-freeze-miser
the pipes have plenty of air in them for any pocket of freezing water to expand and not break the pipes.
———
Unfortunately that’s not how water expands when it freezes, you can have all the air space in the world, and it will still break just about anything. It expands “out” about as much as it expands “up”, ice doesn’t care a whit. Lots of engine blocks get trashed this way.
At my beach house, in winter, if the temps drop below freezing at night only, I do nothing but keep the heat on and set at 50 degrees. If temps are below freezing, both day and night for several days, I turn water off outside, drain the pipes, open up all faucets, put anti freeze in all traps, toilet bowls and tanks, and still leave heat on at 50 degrees. Good luck.
A poster above suggested RV antifreeze. It protects drains including toilet bowls. (Propylene glycol) it’s pink, cheap and works. You’ll need to shut off and drain lines if you go that route..
Simple solution to turn off the water at the pump and open ALL faucets to drain the water so there is nothing to burst the pipe. I’d tun the water heat off just so something doesn’t burn the cabin down while no on is in residence. We did this on our second home.
Open up the faucets to drip had same problem years ago in old rental it worked.
TX has too many people. Used to be you’d pass maybe 4 people on the drive to town but now it is constantly bumper to bumper. No one waves hi anymore. CA invasion caused homes to skyrocket in price.
I would go with option A
just get water out of exposed pipes, and leave them open to relieve pressure, and they will be fine no matter how cold it gets.
If you leave water running, there’s a temperature where even that will freeze. I wouldn’t risk it. Also, what about your water bill?
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