Submitted by throwawayaccountweak t3_ztx0x6 in pittsburgh
As stated in title, my house is poorly insulated. It’s about 44° in my downstairs and 70° upstairs. After tonight I should be good. Obviously I’m not turning the boiler off but I’m worried about making it through the night. Borderline paranoid.
Absolutely do this. My house got to 36° a few years ago when my furnace suddenly broke, which led to a frozen pipe and an unexpected bathroom renovation.
Are your floors such different temps because of venting? If so and that’s purposeful for heat savings, it may be worth letting warm air flow on the first floor for the next few days.
House is very poorly insulated. Once it gets into the teens tomorrow I probably won’t have this issue. I had the boiler serviced before thanksgiving but it’s repeatedly short cycling.
To be very clear: it's not about moving water, it's about pressure. Copper pipes can take a massive amount of pressure, but ice is beyond massive, it's an insane amount of pressure. By opening your faucets, you are allowing that pressure to relieve itself in both directions: pushing back against flow from the city pipes, and into the house. If water were to freeze in your walls, it could trap unfrozen water between the faucet and the ice, meaning pressure can build up FAST and STRONG. Opening your faucets prevents that buildup of pressure, and thus prevents your pipes from bursting.
I have 4 faucets: basement, powder room, kitchen, and 2nd floor sinks. I let all of them drip since about 8:00 last night and only my 2nd floor one isn’t working.
If the faucets are in vanities or kitchen sink cabinets, leave the doors to the cabinets open all the way. It lets more heat from the room get to the pipes. With the doors closed all the cold coming off the wall is trapped inside the cabinet.
You can get those little electric heaters for like 15-20 bucks. You just need to be safe with them. Keep it far away from things that could catch fire and don't use extension cords. Also just buy the cheapest one they have because electric heat is 100% efficient. A $300 electric heater that is 500 watts will put out the exact same amount of heat that a $20 electric heater that is the same 500 watts does.
Where is your thermostat located? That temp difference seems absolutely bonkers to me. If it is in a room where the warm are is being "trapped" in, it is possible that is why your house isn't heating correctly.
If you have extra towels, put them at the bottom of any door leading outside to cut down on any drafts. Make sure all yout windows are shut all the way from both the top and the bottom ( our windows suck and are drafty AF)
Open any cabinets underneath sinks, prop your bathroom door open, do anything you can to make sure warm air geta to the pipes.
There’s pretty much no insulation in the house. I’ve had winter nights where the downstairs was 50° and everything was fine. But this is just plain absurd lol
Unless you lose power you’ll be fine . Our house was built in 1918 and was built to last but not to be very warm . The furnace will keep the pipes from freezing and us and the cats are all snuggled under blankets chilling . Gas bill will be ridiculous this month for sure
It’s 36-37° in my first floor right now. I’m freaking out
There must be air infiltration down there. Any outside doors ought to be blanketed or something.
It's a boiler. I'm wondering if all the rads are hot. If you have radiators that aren't hot how about trying to bleed air out of them?
I can’t ever remember how to do that for the life of me
Are the downstairs radiators hot?
YouTube
Why is it so low?
House is poorly insulated. Currently on hold with 24 hour HVAC to get a peace of mind
My house is as well. One room gets really really cold but a whole floor being 30degree difference is wild. Did you just move in?
Nah been here about 4 years just never got around to insulation. Landlord was going to sell to me but I’m probably going to pass now. You don’t think my house will freeze overnight do you?
I mean I have ice on the inside of my windows due to the vast temp/humidity disparity. Freezing seems a likely occurrence but your taking the right steps calling hvac but it seems to be more then hvac.
When it gets really cold, I'll open the cabinet doors under the kitchen sink to make sure that some warmer air can circulate in. Some people recommend letting a small stream of water run to prevent the line from freezing.
I once lived in an apartment and had a roommate that would put a space heater under the sink... I worried that was a fire hazard though.
If you're ultra worried, shut off the water to your place and let the water drain out through the lowest spigot...
Downstairs like your first living floor or your basement?
First living floor. Basement is where the boiler is located
I hope you are staying upstairs?!
How did you fare, make it through the night ok?
Yeah. Downstairs is still in the 30s, but my room with the door shut is in the 70s. I dripped all my faucets since 8:00 last night but somehow my upstairs sink isn’t working but my kitchen and powder room are. Weather should be better tonight right?
Yeah I think things should be (very gradually) better from here on out on the temperature front. I was given the advice of putting a space heater in the basement basically where the water line comes in the house. I’ve been hanging out in the basement with my heater all day yesterday and today. Woooooo Christmas 🍻
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When the weather is like this I am so glad we have hot water heat. When we first moved here we did have the pipes in our basement bathroom freeze, thank God they didn't burst. Since then we have added 2 radiators in the basement and they make it so comfortable when the temp drops this low.
Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean the pipes won’t burst
your_mail_man t1_j1g0vhg wrote
You can let your faucets trickle because moving water is much less likely to freeze.