Considering the broken pipe issues when it gets this cold, why not make insulated pipe or heat strips built in for cold weather areas. Considering the cost of water running and extra heat to keep pipes from freezing it just seems easy and cheap. It can't be that difficult. No, my pipes did not freeze.
Code in modern homes usually keeps frozen pipes from happening, pending you don't leave a hose connected, and even then, the freeze proof faucets usually avoid the issue.
Frozen pipes tend to happen more on uninsulated homes, or ones with inadequate insulation, or in the case of power outages.
Too bad future generations aren't here to see all the great things we are spending their $$ on!!
JMC wrote: Considering the broken pipe issues when it gets this cold, why not make insulated pipe or heat strips built in for cold weather areas. It can't be that difficult. No, my pipes did not freeze.
Alot of times the pipes freeze because of changes to the structure. If a heater duct has a leak and it's taped up, it could cause the temps in the crawlspace to dive. Additional insulation could block heat from pipes. Heck, insulating the hot water pipes could drop the temps of the cold water pipe right next to it enough to freeze.
Or, like my experience in the great flood of '90, If you stack a bunch of towels that you got for your wedding on a shelf in the rented condo's closet, it could block the heat from the closet to the water main for the entire apartment building, causing a freeze and subsequent flood of massive proportions.
"Whatever you are, be a good one." ~ Abraham Lincoln
There is a reason to bury outside pipes 6 feet deep. Copper pipes split while some PVC expands without breaking. But copper pipes can be thawed with a small electrical current while PVC needs excavation and/or steam/air to thaw. Leaving a garage door open is a big culprit as interior walls between the home and garage are not typically well insulated. Also a lot of folks have the service line entering the home through the garage where depth of bury may not be 6 feet deep. Dryer and furnace Vents allow huge amounts of cold air into your utility room.
If it is REAL cold and you let your water run, you may then run the risk of your sewer line freezing. If you do this it is a good idea to occasionally run very hot water down your drain to loosen any ice. This really only works if you are on a city sewer system. Prolly will just freeze up your leach field if you are on septic.
Heat strips work great if you can get access to the trouble spots, and then they only work if you remember to turn them on.
Just fired up the well pump to 60 psi and all is "well", no leaks. Checking the crawl space with a flashlight with all the spider webs was fun! I guess leaving the heat up a bit last few weeks worked, sorry for the extra CO2 Al Gore.
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Republicans are red, democrats are blue, neither of them, gives a flip about you.
I guess leaving the heat up a bit last few weeks worked, sorry for the extra CO2 Al Gore. 
