At what temperature do pipes freeze and burst?
As I could count on one hand the amount of times Ive ever seen taps freeze up. I ask as my friend from the USA told me he went on holiday came home to find a burst pipe under his house. The few times Ive seen the tap on the water tank freeze up its thawed out within 2 or 3 hours after the sun came up it doesn't get that cold around here.
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11stevo73
ANSWERS: 2
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Water freezes at 32 F. But pipes don't usually freeze and burst unless its been that cold for 6-8 hours. Unprotected pipes, that is and stationary water. Plumbing codes for how deep to bury the pipes is different by state (and temperature). If you let the water drip it can prevent freezing. So can insulating the pipe. And yes, it does happen.
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It's quite common where I live in the U.S. (I work as a plumber.) It drops below freezing and un-insulated water pipes freeze. Typically the temp has to reach the mid-20s or lower to cause a "rush" of burst pipes (i.e. when we have more burst pipes to fix than we can handle). Note that in my locale many houses have "raised flooring". That is: there is a crawl-space under the house, and typically all of the pipes (un-insulated) run under the house to the various fixtures. *** IF it gets cold enough (teens or lower), we also at times find piping in insulated outer walls freezes, and rarely bursts. These are usually newer houses, and so the piping is less likely to burst.
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