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Hot water pipes freeze faster than do cold water pipes.
You should always have two faucets trickling in freezing weather: one hot and one cold.
I always run the hot water faucet in the kitchen (and open the cabinet doors there too). I also have one of the cold water faucets in the bathrooms running.
Hot water pipes freeze faster than do cold water pipes. - Why is that.... just curious?
Because hot water usually freezes faster than cold water. It has to do with the Mpemba effect. I'm not going to go into the long, detailed explanation here. If you're really interested, you can google it.
We rent, so we cant change the layout of the pipes. We are not able to reach the pipes because they are inside a wall which faces outside. So I guess just running the water will help.
Check your basement/foundation walls for any holes or cracks that allow wind/cold air to blow on your pipes. In really cold weather like this, you should be sure that the vents for your crawl space are closed to keep the wind out.
Lots of times pipes freeze between a heated basement and an unheated crawl space if the seals between the two spaces aren't tight.
Not only will it keep the wind out but the heat from the ground will help thaw the pipes out too. If your pipes are frozen, the first thing to do is turn your faucets on. This will relieve pressure on your water lines. I'm speaking from experience on both of these methods.
But, the main thing is, after your water is running again, get all the pipes under the house checked out. There could just be a small water leak, but if not caught early, the normal water pressure will spread that break even more.
By the way, right now we rent from a private person. If pipes froze in an apartment complex, would maintenance help?
Unless a tenant hasn't kept the heat on or left something open that should be closed, pipes that are able to freeze is a matter of not having them adequately protected.
It would be the responsibility of the property owner in either case.
This is not to say that a tenant should not do what they can to help prevent it, especially in cases like this last cold spell when freezing may never have been a problem before.
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It got down to 13 last night and even though I left my indoor faucets running, the kitchen and master bath froze up. I have got the heat up pretty high and have a space heater aimed into the under-sink kitchen cabinet. It is almost 2PM and nothing is moving yet. In the master bath only hot water will run.
Phooey! And I am coming down with the flu or something. Snivel, pis$, and moan.
Oh lord, this thread is giving me bad memories of winter last year. We got to -30F at times, and our kitchen sink supplies froze. The pipes were behind cabinetry, so I left a hair dryer on for HOURS in the cabinet that was immediately above the pipes in question and it eventually thawed. We have since had a plumber re-route the supplies to a more interior location without any issues this year.
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