How cold does it have to get before I start to worry about the water pipes freezing?

Question

Interesting, 4 days is along time. I live in North Carolina and the house has a crawl space. I am not terribly concerned but its going to be around 20 the next few nights. The apartments I last lived in urged residents to leave cabinets open and the water dripping. BTW: I grew up in Minnesota and up there it wasnt much of a problem because all the homes had basements and the homes were always prepared for the weather.

Answer 1

remember we learned this along time ago, if theyre thick enough and you lay them deep you wont have to worry about that.

Answer 2

Add to John T's answer, If the pipes are in a crawl space with insulation took 3 days straight of below freezing (NJ). In a house with no heat and three or four days of cold weather before the freeze, 2 days. The 4th day the pipes split.
Good luck !

Answer 3

I DONT KNOW HOW MUCH PIPE INSULATION U HAVE OR THE LOCATION OF THE PIPES (NORTH,SOUTH ETC) AND WHAT EXPOSURE THE HAVE TO THE OUTSIDE. USUALLY NITE TIME OR A L - 8 HOUR PERIOD OF FREEZING OUTSIDE AIR COULD BE A PROBLEM. I HAVE FOUND THAT IF U SHUT THE MAIN WATER OFF OR AT THE METER AND OPEN A OUTSIDE HOSE BIB TO RELEIVE THE PRESSURE I CAN SLEEP TIGHT. REVERSE THE ACTION IN THE MORNING AND OPEN FAUCETS TO RELEIVE THE AIR

Answer 4

if you pipes are not directly exposed to the cold you will be fine I live in NC my self and if they say keep it dripping they have had problems before with the pipes freezing and the apartment are probably kinda up there in age and need the pipes updated...................Good luck they need to put some insulation around the pipes in order to prevent them from freezing

Answer 5

I would say what people call freezing aka 32 degrees.
Hope that doesn't happen though it really sucks when it does.