So I'm in an area in the south that's going to get some unprecedented cold weather the next week.
I'm in an apartment and they told everybody to unhook their washers and have both the cold and hot lines on a drip 24/7.

I was always under the impression that letting faucets etc kept the plumbing in the house moving overall. Is this wrong?

Do I really need to unhook the water lines on the washing machine and have them dripping to prevent freezing? The lowest it's going to get over the next week is the low 20s. But I'm assuming the pipes aren't insulated down here.

The indoor temp is 72 and we will keep the door to the laundry room open as well as all of our faucets/showers on a drip.

Thanks!

I've been in DFW for the current ice event. One thing to be sure to do if you lose power is to drip the cold water lines. AND DON'T FORGET to run your HOT WATER periodically as well. My outside wall kitchen hot water stopped yesterday so I started running them as well. After a while the faucet opened up. Gas water heater so as long a I had water moving through I was okay. Then I started running the hot faucets about every 2-3 hours and kept them open. My question OP is where do they want you to get rid of the dripwater? Buckets and pour it down the drain? I did not unhook my washer and dryer and so far all seems okay. They are in the garage but share a wall with the nearest bedroom. Ive been checking them though.


Better safe than sorry imho opinion. Let the faucets drip. It's a lot cheaper paying the water bill than replacing a ton of plumbing.

If you rent, I'd do as they ask.  If you don't, maybe the come back at you later if there is an "event".  And I'd ask them where do I put the water as it drips.  Likely haven't
thought it through.

West Houston reporting here, on day 3 of our Winter-pocalypse.  I woke up Monday morning realizing I had left all the faucets dripping, except I had done nothing for the washing machine.  I checked, and sure enough, the cold side was froze up.  I disconnected the line from the washer, put it in a bucket (with a clamp to keep it from popping out when pressure came back), opened the valve, and applied a hair dryer to valve.  That didn't work, so I went up in the attic, and applied the hair dryer directly to the copper pipe where it elbowed down into the wall.  After about 10 minutes, water started flowing.  I then turned it onto until it was dripping, then I removed the washer drain line, and stuck the cold water hose down in there.  Now it could drip to it's heart's content.

Come Tuesday morning, the hot side had froze up.  Same thing repeated, except this time I had to let it dribble in a bucket, because I couldn't fit both lines down the drain hole.  By late afternoon temps were high enough I could hook both lines back up to the machine.

Thanks. They said to let the lines drip into the drain hole.

We have a sprinkler system, and honestly at this point I am more concerned about that. Not sure what precautions they are taking there.

Sorry to hear that. Hope things get back to normal for you guys soon!

I went ahead and disconnected them and ran them into the drain outlet that is next to the hot/cold water valves.

The other thing is they want both hot and cold to be on a drip 24/7.

Is it ok to leave the hot on 24/7 like that?

We disconnect the water from sprinkler systems here, and blow the whole system out with compressed air. It's not that hard.

Delete

Is it safe to leave hot water dripping all the time? Will it use all my hot water up?

Yes it can over time if you are running the water out faster than it can heat the incoming water. That happened to me so I closed the hot faucets and started turning them on and off about every 2 hours until the heater caught up and was giving me hot water again. Alls well here now.

But it’s safe to leave the hot on all night? The hose is hot after letting it drip for a few hours. Just don’t want to create problems by doing this

Only if it is more than a drip.

This. If you pay for water or heat they should reimburse you.