is it true the old wives tale that if your pipes are in danger of freezing you want to run cold and not hot?

Question

water because hot water somehow freezes faster???

Answer 1

All you'll accomplish by running the hot water is driving up your electric bill. All the pipes in danger of freezing haven't reached the hot water tank. So it makes no difference if you run hot or cold, the water that will be moving in those pipes always cold.

Answer 2

It isn't an old wives' tale but an actual fact. The molecules in hot water are expanded and will freeze faster. The cold running water can be just a small stream. As long as the water is moving, you won't have to worry about the pipes freezing.

Answer 3

That may be true that hot water freezes faster however hot water wastes not only water but energy as well. Cold water is cheaper. Science is somewhat different now than when I went to school. Back then pluto was a planet and there were only 4 elements on the periodic table, earth, air, fire, and water.
The following link explains why, much to the surprise of scientists, hot water freezes faster than cold.

Answer 4

Hot water costs $$$ to heat. Cold water (flowing slowly) will prevent freezing. You may have this mixed up with the fact that aluminum ice cube trays filled with warm water used to freeze faster in old style freezers with aluminum linings. The reason they did is the warm water caused the tray to melt through the frost layer and make good contact with the aluminum lining of the freezer. This led to very fast freezing.

Answer 5

Fix the problem so your pipes don't freeze,Insulation

Answer 6

Yes, this is true in France too. Salut.

Answer 7

http://www.tvwd.org/cold_weather.htm

Odd as it seems...run the cold.

Answer 8

I heard that one before.

Answer 9

luke warm is best, actually, i dont know why but it does work!!

Answer 10

errr.... yeah!!!