With the recent dangerously cold weather there was a brief debate on BE about freezing pipes.
I had just assumed it wasn't an issue and that the necessary plumbing installations took account of it.

Also I have never seen any warnings in the media about it and we get multiple warnings/advice every year about anything and everything. Standing water helping mozzies to breed so do something about it; flash flood warnings when high amounts of rainfall are expected; with each pending "hurricane" event put stuff away or tie it down and prepare for a power outage; for impending ice storms/freezing rain we get warned of potential power losses; for potential power losses from whatever the event we get advised to have a 'kit' to survive three days (water, medications, flashlights); we're advised not to go out if not necessary for extreme cold, blowing snow, blizzards; during covid we've had updates for how things changed.

And when we do get dangerous wind chill warnings it's always about the potential for frostbite and warming centres being set up. In 18 winters here I've never seen a single mention of frozen pipes.

I have read about the supply pipes being below the frost line so I assume that's where they won't get frozen (and does wind chill affect that anyway?) and for the house pipework it's all inside. Unless there is a power outage the house isn't going to get cold enough. It's not like the UK with pipes in a cold attic.

But my mother in law remembers some advice from her time in Montreal about keeping a tap running slowly and I have found a few similar suggestions but they appear to be location specific like one particular street where the supply was not below the frost line.

And now I have just seen a newspaper report of various burst pipe events. Not many, just a dozen or so over the Atlantic region and most seem to involve schools and apartment buildings which may have unheated areas contributing.

A townhouse got mentioned. Maybe this is just people not heating an empty home. Maybe our house of four leads to more than usual flushing, tap running etc and it's the equivalent of running a tap for the duration of cold weather.

Should I start to worry?

In the mid 90s when I was newly arrived (in Montreal from UK)and finding my feet some new found friends here advised me to leave a tap or two running slowly to avoid freezing pipes. I'm not sure I ever did and frozen pipes have not been a problem for me. I do quite a bit of DIY and was quickly told to never put plumbing in external walls. I now live in a 21st century built home but if I leave home for any length of time I always turn off the water supply at the point of entry in the basement (as well as tripping the breakers for any unnecessary electrical circuits whilst I'm away). However, one friend of mine who owned an older hoome in Montreal went south for winter and came back to a burst pipe that resulted in the main floor of their home being wrecked and major repair expense. One can't be too careful!

Bristol ........ my daughter lives in a house in Dartmouth that was built around 1934, and they discovered that they had a problem with the intake water pipe to their dishwasher last Sunday after that extreme cold.

It seems that the pipe passes through a cavity in the wall that was not insulated, but my daughter realised that the base of the stainless steel kitchen sink was close to that cavity.

So she filled the sinks with extremely hot water, let it stand until it had cooled a little then let out the water and repeated the process.

The dishwasher then worked!

So it seems as if frozen pipes can be a problem especially with older houses.


I still have vivid memories of my Dad back in the day having to lean out of the bathroom window and pour boiling water from a kettle into the downspout. That was also an old house.

Nice to see you Scilly.

I have a memory of being told that in extreme cold weather always leave the tap dripping . Continues the flow of water or something. Mind you that is a rather old memory.

I also have memories of the kettle of hot water being poured into a downpipe by my Dad. Also a paraffin heater in the outside loo which meant said paraffin heater was not in the two room place we were living in. Was rather parky around the edges.

Was it unheated or little heating while away?

Presumably an outside wall.
Ours is an 'older' house by Canadian standards but no pipes or lines in walls, they are all up from the basement, through the floor and then boxed in by the basement steps to the upstairs bathroom.

And presumably from the UK, perhaps without central heating.
Yes, that would be a factor. First Sunday in the new year we went to our grandparents house for tea. They had only an outside toilet. And of course the door was just a door to close and not a snug door by any stretch.
There was never any question of anyone being in there too long.

I don't recall if my friends house was heated or not when their pipe burst. WhenI go away in winter I set the heating at 15C for as long as I'm away.

Canadian plumbing codes prohibit water pipes in external walls, meaning that the temperature inside a house has to drop to freezing before there is any danger of pipes bursting. And the supply pipe enters the house from underneath and below the frost line (defined depth below which it is calculated that it is impossible for the ground to freeze). So realistically, so long as a Canadian house is inhabited, the water pipes won't freeze.

I don't know how long the Canadian plumbing codes have required that water pipes not be in external walls, but common sense would suggest that even before prescriptive building codes, putting plumbing in an external wall in Canada would be a bad idea. ... I presume there is always a chance that the code was not followed, perhaps by an unknowing DIYer.

To save you asking how I know.

I was actually expecting you to know.

OK. Our property was built around 1976.

In our basement, we have pipes that run along the inside of the concrete basement shell that freeze each time the temperature gets below -30 for more than a day or two. It is a finished basement and this is in the "laundry room" part of it. The pipes go to a double sink thingy.

Eventually, I will get around to redoing the whole area and, when I do, I will remove the drywall to have a looksey at why they are freezing. There is insulation behind the drywall so I assume that someone put the pipes between the insulation and the concrete.

Each time they freeze (the hot freezes earlier than the cold) we simply put a builder's type halogen lamp close to the affected area and it usually clears. Our well only gives 1/4 gallon a minute. If it didn't, we would leave the taps dripping as has been suggested above but, if we do so, our cistern will likely drain. I understand that I could allow 1/8 gallon a minute to drip and we should be OK, but I haven't felt the need to do so to date.

In a finished basement, I would guess that you are a victim of a DIYer, or a handyman, who didn't know, or didn't care about plumbing codes.
Yeah, that would do it, and similar to what I saw Mike Holmes showing on his TV show, though what he was fixing was above grade (upstairs bathroom IIRC). Boxing the pipes in behind drywall would look tidier, and packing with insulation "sounds like" a good idea, but I assume the Canadians knew what they were doing with their plumbing codes.

It is possible that just removing the insulation would be enough to stop the pipes freezing, removing the drywall would be better, but if there is a possibility of moving everything around, moving the sink to an internal wall, and rerouting the pipes, that would be optimal.

Second best, though easier, but less attractive, would be to reroute the pipes outside of the drywall and insulated cavity. Another more complicated idea, which would probably work, is to remove all the drywall on that wall, then add more timber to all the studs, and move the pipes foward, away from the concrete wall, to allow 15cm, or more, insulation behind the pipes. Then reinstall drywall, and .

That was my plan. I am really looking forward to doing it

I think I'd move.

It depends where you live. If you’re on the plains then I can see why it would be a concern. I’m in Ottawa so I just opened up the garage and back garden taps and then turned off the stop cocks in the basement ceiling.

I learned that day that my Canadian landlord called them stop valves.

Well we had a frozen pipe situation Feb 4th -32c and wind chill down to -42c. Hot and cold water pipes frozen. They subsequently burst (we were unaware because they were for the upstairs bathroom and they are only used when the family are staying. So insurance claim is in. The cause was gap in insulation allowing a cold (very) draft to the pipes that were 8' from the wall!.
Yes we were running water in our laundry room (where they have frozen once before at -32). Anyway the moral of the story is yes, just run a tap on all floors :-) On the upside we were going to replace the bathroom this year and I think the Insurance can help...