My mom & I were thinking about the recent snowstorm & people without electricity & have a question for you.?

Question

We were wondering how to keep the plumbing pipes from freezing if you have no heat. We figured we could keep faucets dripping. But then wondered about the toilet. Would that pipe still freeze & possibly burst? Or woud you need to adjust the float & have it continuously run? Mind you this would be if there was no way to heat your home because of no electricity & you dont have a generator. Opinions or ideas?

We were concerned about the toilet because if you were gone away for a while, it might be harder to keep it running. Although one person who answered said that when they were away for a while that by keeping other lines running, the pipes for the toilet seem to be fine & not freeze. Anyone agree with them or had any different outcome?

Everyone realizes I said we were wondering about this because of other people without electricity. We're not without it right now, but were thinking about it ahead of time, so if it does happen our pipes dont burst. I know our hot water heater is insulated. I think some of our pipes are insulated, but will have to check further. Also I bought some pipe insulation, so we'll have to get that put on the pipes, but if you're without electricity I dont think insulation by itself would do the trick.

Answer 1

Just let the faucets drip. That is enough, you don't need to worry about the toilets too. We used to do this when we would go away over the Christmas holidays (up to see family in Canada) not knowing how hard the freeze(s) would be while we were gone. Our home was in the sierra nevada mountains, near Lake Tahoe.

Hope that helps!

Jen

Answer 2

you don't indicate whether or not you have insulation on the pipes or not but I assume you do. In either case, it certainly would be advisable to keep the faucet dripping because water is a whole lot cheaper than plumbing bills. Regarding the toilet, it's possible it might freeze, but if you have the water running otherwise, somewhere else in your house, I don't believe you would have a problem . Ideally, all those precautions' that the other posters have listed all are good, but that is presuming that you haven't already frozen up. I believe what you're referring to is how to prevent a problem with the limited resources you have available.
one thing you might do if you wonder about the toilet, is to temporarily insert something under the flapper which will allow water to run and that definitely would stop it from freezing. It might sound extreme, but extreme conditions call for extreme measures, and if your pipes are in danger of freezing, I would say that falls in the category of extreme, wouldn't you?

Answer 3

Most of the time, unless you are without power for several days, you should only have to worry about pipes in outside walls. Rarely have I seen a toilet positioned on an outside wall. There are many products that are made to prevent pipes from freezing unfutunately all of them that I know of require a power source. If I lived in an area that this happened often I would get a whole house backup generator.

Answer 4

All of your pipes are connected back to one pipe somewhere between the meter and the house so as long as you let a facuet drip in will keep the water moving in all the pipes so you should be ok but the other idea is if you are going to be gone for a extended period of time why not cut the meter off and drain the pipes that would be your safest bet.

Answer 5

Insulation itself will do the trick. You are protecting the pipes under the house and at the entrance of the house. The pipes in the house generally won't freeze unless we are talking extreme cold.

Answer 6

you could turn off your main water line from outside(i think its a blue top valve that sticks out of the ground in your yard. open a tap at the lowest point pocible, usualy the drain valve from your water heater(connect a hose to it to remove the water) then open the tap at the highest pocible point and let it drain. then, use an air pump to pump the water out of the lines from every tap, and make sure it is ALL out, pour RV anti freeze into the toilet to keep the inside from freezing and leave every tap wide open.

if you want to keep your toilet dripping, take the top off and hook the little chain so it is continuously running, then use something to hold the little ball up so it is running slow enough to satisfy you.

Answer 7

Make sure your pipes are wrapped thickly with insulation. Flushing the toilet(s) periodically will help keep them flowing. Your house should be insulated sufficiently around your foundation to help protect your pipes as well.

Answer 8

if you have your pipes insulated like you should have they will not freeze and if you live in a cold area you should have an alternate source in case the power does go off. i have had to deal with this several times in the past.

Answer 9

When it gets really cold i leave everything dripping and turn off the hot water heater. If it's a really hard freeze i will set my alarm clock to wake me at intervals and i will flush my commodes and turn on the washing machine for a little while. So far so good.

Answer 10

I have heard that some people pour anti-freeze into their toliet if they plan on leaving the house during cold spells. That will keep only the water in the toliet bowl from freezing and cracking your toliet.