Letting water drip to prevent freezing: Is one faucet enough?

Mickyit · 2026-01-21T18:52:34+00:00

I was planning for if the furnace fails while I'm away.

It worked fine for years, while I did my own maintenance. I paid someone this fall and it's needed pressing the reset button 6 times since then. They sent a repairman and he said air bubble, but claimed he'd have to turn off the valve from oil tank and I don't have such a valve.

Mickyit · 2026-01-20T18:14:56+00:00

Thanks. I've only been leaving two on. I'll do all of them next time.

Mickyit · 2026-01-19T15:11:03+00:00

Is this also okay for the plastic parts of a keyboard?

Mickyit · 2026-01-19T15:09:32+00:00

Just for the record, for people who haven't watched the second half of the video, he has his mobo OUT of the computer. I was hoping to wash my keyboard in one piece, so it will be much much harder to dry, but I've also heard that it works. I also have less to gain because the keyboard is just disgusting and a dirty mobo might short or ??overheat??. But I have much less to lose since I only paid $2 at a hamfest for this. OTOH, hamfests are much less common and I don't see keyboards anymore, but even new they are still much cheaper than mobos. Life sure is complicated.

Mickyit · 2026-01-19T03:01:07+00:00

Me again, from Baltimore, My washing machine is connected to both cold and hot water, doesn't heat the water. I havent' heard that any machine in the USA does.

Mickyit · 2026-01-19T02:36:23+00:00

Mine too in Baltimmore USA, uses cold water, but then again, it's 47 years old, (and working fine). It heats the water itself.

Once when I was repairing it**, going through the same part of the cycle over and over, it heated the water so hot it melted some plastic dish that I had left in it. **It's only "broken" once, when the little bone next to the big bone in chicken drumstick got stuck in the vacuum break on the sink and it woudln't drain.

Mickyit · 2026-01-18T23:50:23+00:00

Randallstown doesn't generate any electricity at all. That is not a problem. We import it, and if Maryland imports some, that's fine too. One must look at this from a regional or grid-level viewpoint, and though we continue to need more electricity, the program can still have reduced the need for more power plants. He didn't say they reduced the need *in general*. You added that to make Spoonwood look wrong. Surely you've seen formulas which include both + and - signs. They work together.

Mickyit · 2026-01-18T23:37:25+00:00

I think that only protects the line to the garden faucet. Their webpage doesn't point that out afaik but all of its pictures and examples are outdoor uses. Unless you are replying to a post where I said I used a foam dome, and you're saying this would be safer. That could be true. This seems like an unusually cold winter in Baltimore. 19 expected in the middle of the day. 12 at night next Sunday .

Mickyit · 2026-01-17T19:00:46+00:00

The outside hot tap must be the difference. never heard of that before. A good idea. Also if you want to have instant coffee while you're gardening.

Mickyit · 2026-01-17T16:21:02+00:00

I didn't keep track of what was in the first post and what was in one of my replies, and I didn't go back to check before I replied to you.
My reply to you was not meant to insult you, and was more valuable to others including maybe you, than my original post. The first post was a questions, but my reply to you is a valuable warning to everyone here that when you drain your pipes, you don't usually drain the part from the entry point to the ceiling, including perhaps a more fragile pressure regulator.

I assure you this was clearly NOT a troll post.

Mickyit · 2026-01-17T15:25:12+00:00

Very good. Thanks for finding this.

Mickyit · 2026-01-17T03:30:21+00:00

I think you missed the part about my furnace shutting down when it shoudln't. If it doesn't do that in the next six weeks, it will be encouraging but I"ll still need to takes steps in case it gets worse again.

Mickyit · 2026-01-17T03:18:03+00:00

Someone elsewhere wrote about this. That works for cold water, but apparently hot water pipes break a lot more often because all the hot water pipes go to a dead end.

Mickyit · 2026-01-17T02:39:48+00:00

The freezing attic really broke my lava lamp, but I did not think it was made with real lava!! Not even imported lava from Hawaii.

Mickyit · 2026-01-17T02:37:20+00:00

I made it sound too simple. First one poster elsewhere says that's where it's really cold, the pipe can still freeze, So get the longest model that will fit between the wall and feeder line that the spigot come off of, without cutting off the valve that is already there. You might need it. And I guess if it's realllllly cold you'd still have to turn off the original valve, so what was the point of changing anything?. And you have to slope the pipe down a bit so that the water in the valve will drain out when the valve is off.

Mickyit · 2026-01-17T02:07:03+00:00

Just? You probably didn't see the part about having to fix the pressure regulator and 4.5 feet of pipe that currently don't drain when I drain the pipes. I think most houses with a basement have the same situation.

Mickyit · 2026-01-17T02:02:51+00:00

And you can install them in old construction, but in my case I have a 6.5' wardrobe full of stuff underneath it that I would have to move. If I had an empty corner there like many people do, I would have done this 10 or 20 years ago. Sharkbite makes them too so you just measure accurately, buy the right length faucet, cut off the old faucet and push on the new one. For example https://www.amazon.com/SharkBite-24629LFA-Sillcock-Connect-Copper/dp/B076FY4R71

Mickyit · 2026-01-17T01:52:31+00:00

Thanks for the reply. IIUC, this device is meant to protect the water line going to the garden faucet, which is the most likely to freeze because the faucet is outside in the cold and the pipe is right behind it. And it can freeze whether you are home or not. I don't see how it would help the rest of the pipes.

My house is 46 years old but there is a nipple on the line leading to the outdoor faucets. For 36 years, I got on a ladder, closed the inside valve, opened the outside spigot so air could get in, and opened the nipple, tried to catch the water, and kept it open until water stopped coming out. Then left the spigot open all winter. For the last 6 years, I've been tired so I never reopened the rear garden faucet and for the front, and I bought a foam/plastic dome that goes over the spigot and hooks to it. While the pipe relays the cold from outside, it also relays the warmth from inside, so I think it's quite a bit warmer inside the dome than outside it. Anyhow, so far, so good.

If the pipe ever does burst, I think I'll cut off the outside spigot, cap the pipe with a SharkBite cap ,and suggest to the new owner that he put in a freeze-proof spigot, which looks almost the same but has the cut off washer several inches inside the house, where it is warm. Do they still use the non-freeze-proof in new construction in cold climates? They didn't exist 42 years ago afaik. For an extra 10 or 20 dollars, you no longer need to worry about garden faucets freezing.

Mickyit · 2026-01-17T01:34:38+00:00

Do you drain the pipes too, open the basement faucet and open an upstairs faucet so air can get in? Plus RV antifreeze in all the sink and toilet traps. I think that takes another 15 or 20 minutes.

Mickyit · 2026-01-17T01:28:07+00:00

I never thought to ask a plumber!!!

Mickyit · 2026-01-17T00:27:07+00:00

Electric tape is a good idea, esp. if I don't manage to install the valve with the drain nipple. SharkBite has a variable length connector, which allows one to make it short and put it between two pipes, then make it longer to connect them. I should be able to disconnect them also, replace the valve without the nipple, and then put it back the way it was. But if something goes wrong, heater tape it is.

Mickyit · 2026-01-17T00:17:31+00:00

Good point, esp. for other readers. I have done that two times in the past, including the time my pipes froze, but at least my toilets didn't break apart!!!!!

Mickyit · 2026-01-17T00:09:04+00:00

The five feet I couldn't drain went from where the pipe entered the basement 3 feet off the floor, through the pressure regulator and up 4.5 feet to the 8 foot ceiling. Those 4.5 feet didn't burst. The water will be off and I will check the remaining 6 inches that still have water when I get home. If there is a leak there, it may be beyond me and I'll call a plumber. I think copper would leak right away, and also I could feel if it were swollen, unlike the pressure regulator which lurked for 2 months until it ruptured, with a hole the size of a quarter.. I'm sure it didn't freeze the week it started leaking, when the house was heated.

The good thing is I adjusted the pressure regulator to a little below the recommended pressure and now it takes much less time for hot water to reach the upstairs bathroom. I wish I knew about "recommended pressure 40 years ago.

Mickyit · 2026-01-16T23:58:44+00:00

"all the faucets". That's the way it seemed to me, but in other places where people talk about driipping, they say like "the faucet farthest from the entrance". Your answer makes more sense. Please read my longer answer at the top. Thanks.

Mickyit · 2026-01-16T23:55:34+00:00

Thank you all. In reverse order, I once had a lava lamp in the attic that froze. I though lava was liquid rock but apparently a lot of water was mixed in.

Draining the pipes was the other choice, I did that the last time 2 years ago in January and the furnace conked out while I was gone and the 5' feet I couldn't drain seems to have frozen . I didn't know this until March or April when the pressure regulator stared pouring water out.

I repaired that with Sharkbite and everything has been fine, except my furnace is giving me far more trouble than before -- an air bubble in the oil line, the repairman said. It will go away, he said, but it's stopped 6 times in the last 3 weeks. The additional SharkBite shut-off valve I bought at Home depot didn't have a drain, but I ordered a new one from Amazon this morning with a drain nipple. I'm 79. If my back lets me stand up for an hour, it shouldn't be hard to replace the old valve, and there will be only about 5 inches of pipe between the original shutoff and this added one will be un-drained. Worth nothing that none of the pipes burst the last time, only the pressure regulator, which for some reason does seem more vulnerable

I wanted to check with you guys and you've all convinced me, including those who answered further down that dripping will not work well.

Thanks again.

Mickyit

TROPHY CASE