Insulated pipes are most likely to freeze at 20 degrees or colder. Drip or cover faucets when it's 28 degrees or colder for three or more hours. Winterize your faucets with a cover in prolonged cold weather.
When temperatures dip to 28 degrees or below, and the outside faucets freeze, ice can form in the water supply pipes that lead to those exposed outdoor faucets. If your outdoor faucets aren't properly prepared for winter, water damage from frozen pipes may occur.
We cover outside faucets if temperatures are expected to drop below freezing at night and drip if the temperature remains below freezing throughout the day.
wrap the outside, but make sure you're dripping the inside - the drip keeps water moving from the ground in to your home pipes, keeping those sufficiently warm so you shouldn't have a burst on an exterior faucet that's wrapped when your interior is dripping.
Winterize your pipes and turn off your outdoor water before air temperatures consistently drop below zero. In most northern regions, this falls between mid-October and early November. Turn your spigot back on in the spring after the threat of freezing temps are behind you, usually from mid-April to early May.
Overall, it's best that you take heed and drip your faucets when temperatures dip below freezing.
Leaving your outdoor faucets exposed can result in water freezing in the pipes within your exterior walls. If you suspect your pipes are already frozen, the best course of action is to turn off the water supply and contact a plumber. You can check if your pipes are frozen by turning on your faucet.
Several protective measures should be taken outdoors prior to a freeze. Remove your hoses from outdoor faucets. Wrap the faucets in styrofoam hose covers, which can be purchased at any hardware store. If you do not have access to hose covers, a DIY covering will work just as well.
Typically, outdoor faucets should be opened when temperatures fall below 20 degrees Fahrenheit. Freezing water expands and can cause pipes to crack or burst. If you have a frost-free faucet, it provides extra protection, but you may still need to leave it open during extreme cold.
During Freezing Weather
If you are away for any length of time shutting off the water can reduce the chance of a broken pipe. Leave the home's heat on to at least 55°. Shut off water to the house and open all faucets to drain pipes; flush the toilets once to drain the tank but not the bowl.
Freeze Miser protectors helped us do much during the last big freeze and kept our water troughs going for the cows. This customer chose to rate the product and not provide text. The freeze misers worked as advertised, keeping my outside hose bibs from freezing during extended temperatures well below freezing.
You should consider winterizing and covering a faucet once temperatures begin to drop below 28ºF for three hours or more at a time.
Water will freeze at 0 degrees Celsius, which is 32 degrees Fahrenheit. Any time the temperature drops below these, liquid water will begin to turn into ice. Water behaves very differently than other liquids. When liquid water freezes, the molecules spread out, making ice less dense than liquid water.
Exterior pipes should be wrapped with insulation tubing, which can be found at your local hardware store. Do not wrap your pipes with bath towels or newspaper! These coverings hold moisture like a wet rag and defeat the purpose of covering your pipes in the first place.
You only need a few supplies to wrap your outside faucets. For every faucet you'll need an old shirt or towel from the rag pile, large ziplock bag or plastic shopping bag and wide tape such as duct tape or packing tape. I have used painters tape in a pinch or tied it with string. That's it.
Insulation- Preformed pipe insulation is a thick foam tube that fits tightly over pipes, helping keep the cold air from penetrating the pipe. We recommend using this combined with heat tape. Insulated Enclosure- If your spigot comes directly up from the ground then we recommend building an enclosure around it.
The Foam cover is your best bet when it comes to keeping faucets from freezing during the winter months. But, if you need something more durable, something to protect against knocks or any animals in the area, you can go with the Hard Plastic Faucet cover.
Pipes that freeze most frequently are: Pipes that are exposed to severe cold, like outdoor hose bibs, swimming pool supply lines, and water sprinkler lines.
STEPS TO PREVENTING PIPES FROM FREEZING
If you will be gone for an extended length of time, even setting your home's heat temperatures to 50-degrees will provide enough heat for internal pipes to keep them from freezing in your absence.
Set faucets to a small, steady drip rather than a stream to conserve water while preventing freezing. Drip the faucet farthest from your home's main water valve. “You don't have to drip them all—one or two is fine,” Sperlich told USA TODAY.