Frozen pipes before brew day..

[JBOGAN]

This winter has taken its toll on me and my water supply twice so far.Woke up to frozen pipes and all i can think about is the water i will need to clean my equipment and run through the chiller tomorrow.Guess i am leaving this one up to the beer gods and the space heater.Morning brewing + football= amazing.

 

[JRems]

Why are your pipes freezing? Can't you add some electric heat tape to the pipes or insulate them? If the pipes that are freezing are going to a faucet, leave it on a crack so there is a fast drip. It won't freeze easily when it's running.

 

[JBOGAN]

went to find a 30' length of heat cable all lowes and home depot stores around me are out of stock.Went home to find my water running again..Guess who is heating strike water and watching football.:rockin:

 

[dbkdev]

Greats dude. Good luck!

 

[Cider123]

We are going into yet another spell of negative numbers. That's when my beer taps start to freeze in the garage. And that makes me angry

Then it's me vs. the beer taps

 

[Spartan1979]

If I had frozen pipes, I'd be more worried about them bursting and leaking when they melt than brewing.

 

[Melana]

I run hoses outside when brewing and they have been known to freeze up on me but never the pipes inside my house (damnit i just cursed myself here).

 

[dkwolf]

Why are your pipes freezing? Can't you add some electric heat tape to the pipes or insulate them? If the pipes that are freezing are going to a faucet, leave it on a crack so there is a fast drip. It won't freeze easily when it's running.

X10.

If your pipes have frozen twice already, I'd be figuring out WHERE it's freezing, and getting heat tape and insulation installed YESTERDAY. If it would burst in the middle of the night (or during the day when you're gone), you're going to be in for a world of hurt. If everyone local is sold out, go to Amazon for a tape. Or, if the pipe is freezing inside a closet or something, a 100 watt light bulb might provide enough heat to prevent freezing.

Final option, like has been said, if you can't do anything else, leave the faucets cracked open just a bit (fast drip/small stream). Flowing water does not freeze as easily - you're moving supply water, which hopefully is around 40 degrees. (If you ever see a fire crew out working in sub-freezing temps, you'll notice they never completely shut the nozzle down, they'll leave a slight trickle to prevent the hose and valve from freezing up)

 

[hnycrk]

Came home form work the Tuesday before last to water pouring out of my garage wall and foundation of my house. Pipe froze in the master bath on an outside facing wall. When it thawed out it burst. Had to pull all carpet and pad in closet and master bedroom, as well as rip out my vanity and cut a big ass hole in the wall to fix the pipe. Consider yourself lucky if it didn't bust. I live in Georgia and we rarely experience the temperature which led to my pipe busting. Finally just got new carpet this past weekend. It's been a nightmare and definitely a learning experience. I will finally have some time to brew this weekend...hopefully.