Indoor water supply pipes can be vulnerable to freezing at your four-season cottage—even if you keep the heat on low. Consider these four solutions.
Leave a tap running slowly
While this band-aid approach is simple and easy, don’t rely on it as a permanent fix. And don’t underestimate the amount of flow required to keep a pipe from freezing. It usually takes more than just an occasional drip. A constant flow about as thick as cooked spaghetti is what you want.
Insulate and ventilate
If a vulnerable area of pipe is accessible, add insulation, especially when pipes run along exterior walls. Always insulate only between the pipe and the outside cold; never place insulation so it blocks indoor heat from reaching the pipes. Boosting the movement of heated room air onto these pipes—with, for example, a room fan blowing air—is also helpful if you’re heating with a single centralized source, such as a woodstove or a pellet stove.
Cottage Q&A: Will a woodstove heat our cottage?
Reposition problem pipes
If one area of pipe is giving you regular grief, consider re-routing it through a reliably warm area, ideally one that’s open and easily accessible. When you’re re-routing, you may as well replace the pipe with PEX. Unlike many other pipes, PEX resists cracking, even if it freezes multiple times.
Cottage Q&A: PEX pipe vs. copper
Warm the water
Canadian manufacturer Heat-Line has come out with the only internal pipe freeze protection cable that can be installed inside small water-supply pipes, even as small as 1/2″ in diameter. Cut the trouble-prone pipe in a location that doesn’t freeze, feed the heating cable into the pipe, then tighten up the fittings that come with the system to seal the pipe. This system is self-regulating and won’t overheat, even if the pipe is empty.
This article was originally published in the Winter 2024 issue of Cottage Life.
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