help me out Northern Loungies! we're getting a hard freeze tomorrow

[NMDemDist2]

and I know I need to do something with the 6-7 faucets outside

will hand type towels and heavy tape do the trick?

I'm from California and Phoenix, what do I know of cold??? :scared:

HELP!!

[Tyler Durden]

1. Neatsy little styrofoam covers.

They work good. Get em at any good hardware store.

[NMDemDist2]

4. we don't want to spend the $$$ we already have to get a hot water

heater cover

[Gormy Cuss]

10. The styrofoam ones are cheap and reusable.

If you can get them it's worth it for the convenience (easy on/off.) Good insulated faucet covers can be had for well under $10.
Wrapping in newspaper should help in a pinch but be generous with the newspaper and tape -- no exposed metal, period.

If any of the pipes DO freeze, do not try to thaw them out quickly.

Have you checked for shutoff valves? There may be a shutoff valve inside the wall from the hose bib if your house is less than 30 years old or so. This valve would be just for the outside line. If the line is on a wall outside the kitchen or bath the valve may be under the sink (not the valves on the water supply lines, a separate valve on the exterior wall.)

[NMDemDist2]

15. i'll check em out when I'm in getting the hot water heater blanket

thanks!

:hi:

[Hugin]

2. That should do the trick...

Maybe larger towels.

Leave lots of airspace. The trapped air is the insulation.

[NMDemDist2]

3. good tip, we have lots of newspaper and plastic bags too

that might do it too

the trapped air comment helped a bunch, THANKS!

[Tyler Durden]

5. Tried that before.....Consider yourself warned.

Nothing on earth worse than reparing a cracked cold water pipe in winter. I speak from experience.

Buy the damned things. You use them over and over. REALLY; The outside wrap gig bought me a really bad case of pneumonia fixing the outside part of the pipe in the snow.

[Connonym]

6. Can't you just turn off the water to the faucets?

I live in WI and *occasionally* it gets cold here. I just turn off the water feeding the faucet. I've never had a pipe break but maybe that's just because I'm lucky?

[Lydia Leftcoast]

7. That would be my advice

Pipes don't "freeze" if there's no water in them. The metal just gets cold. :-)

[XNASA]

9. I agree. Shut the water (main valve) off inside.

Open all the faucets outside and leave them open.

We have a valve that controls only our outside faucets, so we don't need to shut off our main.

I wouldn't worry too much if only the faucets are outside and no actual pipes. However, if you have pipes outside that feed the faucets, you should shut off your water supply and leave the outside faucets open.

[Kali]

14. yes - the key is make sure they are empty and the valves are OPEN

even a little water in the valve can crack it - just like how a tiny bit of ice can break a huge boulder off of a mountain!

[PVnRT]

19. Yes, you do have to actually drain them

Otherwise, they still freeze.

[NMDemDist2]

12. i think we can other than the ones at the house (mobile home)

so we'll do that and turn the spigots on

[Kali]

17. Also in real cold climates, things are built for the area better.

[crim son]

8. In Maine, we turn the outside water off at its source inside.

Saves us a lot of grief.

[bleedingheart]

21. I do that here in PA too...turn the water off

[Omphaloskepsis]

22. I have never seen a house with that option.

I live in the Pacific Northwest.

[Kali]

11. Let them drip, cover with old blankets

How cold and for how long? I am in SE AZ at 3500 - 4000 feet - all I do is cover them with old Mexican blankets, but even my tomatos did not freeze last night so it depends exactly on your location...

For more permanent solutions you can buy those foam pipe sleeves at the hardware store and styrofoam faucet covers as well.

[NMDemDist2]

13. the wind chill will be in the teens- low to 22 they're saying in town so

i'm thinking a few degrees lower than that out here

[Kali]

16. There are also fancy electrical heating wraps you can buy, but you should be fine

with newspaper and old rags etc. - warning though, if you have livestock (I think you might have horses or burros? - can't remember) they sometimes will chew on stuff like that, though I assume already isolated form faucets as they are also notorious for breaking them, frozen or not!

Do watch for damage inside - if your MH is older there were problems with the plastics used in them at one point (again my memory is bad here) and an inside leak may go unnoticed long enough to do real damage. I expect if you are living in it and heating it all will be fine. And if something does crack outside switch to pvc if it isn't - makes repairs a piece of cake compared to metal.

[NMDemDist2]

18. no livestock (except the dogs) yet and we have a really nice

"loafing shed" if I did that isn't near the water

I'm thinking the two that run under the house are the only ones we need to worry about. we'll turn off the other ones and crack the spigots out away from the house

and since there's only two at the house, the styrofoam covers should be affordable

thanks!

[Kali]

20. How did it go?

Supposed to get to 20 here tonight. I'm gathering old sheets to cover the tomatos, they made it past Thanksgiving so I have a new goal of x-mas, heh heh. C'mon global warming!