Best way to insulate pipes

[laurandavid09]

So we are actually getting freezing weather here in Houston, TX, who would of thought. So I went to home depot and they guy there say get some insulation and wrap the pipes to keep them warm them put a tarp on top of it to keep it dry. Seems like a pretty good way to do things.

So how do yall keep your pipes from freezing. Hopefully that keeps them warm enough as I did not want to run the pump since it gets hot and something catch on fire.

[zea3]

How far are you from Conroe? They are projected to have a hard freeze overnight. Personally I would run the pump during freezing hours, but you can try this: Insulate anything that comes out of the ground and cover the filter and pump with a couple of blankets. You may want to run the pump for a couple of hours to generate some warmth, turn it off and then cover it with blankets.

[laurandavid09]

How far are you from Conroe? They are projected to have a hard freeze overnight. Personally I would run the pump during freezing hours, but you can try this: Insulate anything that comes out of the ground and cover the filter and pump with a couple of blankets. You may want to run the pump for a couple of hours to generate some warmth, turn it off and then cover it with blankets.

About 20 miles or so. Conroe and further north always gets really cold.

[duraleigh]

What's the forecast?

30?

20?

10?

[mas985]

It looks from this that you will have sub freezing temperatures for close to 24 hours. If it was 8 hours or less, I would say don't worry too much but you are getting into the range where water might start to freeze in the pipes. You could just leave the pump running during this time to avoid any problems.

[laurandavid09]

It looks from this that you will have sub freezing temperatures for close to 24 hours. If it was 8 hours or less, I would say don't worry too much but you are getting into the range where water might start to freeze in the pipes. You could just leave the pump running during this time to avoid any problems.

Well what has me worried is since I have insulation covering the pipe and then a tarp thrown over all of my stuff that is the pump gets hot enough and touches some of the insulation, that it could possibly catch fire, which I defintely do not want.

[duraleigh]

Remove the tarp

fibreglass insulation is not flammable. If it's not fibreglass, remove it

Run the pump it's your best source of protection

[laurandavid09]

Remove the tarp

fibreglass insulation is not flammable. If it's not fibreglass, remove it

Run the pump it's your best source of protection

So you are saying to leave the pipes exposed to the weather? Could I just move the tarp off the pump and run it?

[waste]

Just keep the blanket or tarp out of contact with the pump The pipes and filter should do most of it, but you may need to prop a 2 X4 under it to keep it from touching the hot motor.

In Richmond Va. we would wrap insulation on the exposed pipes even after blowing out the lines and adding antifreeze. If you wanted to, you could put a 60 watt drop light under the 'tent' to add a little more heat.

You and Dave have posted whilst I was typing, but i still think the tent is a good idea

[laurandavid09]

I think the insulation I got was fiberglass, so I will check when I get home.

[Beez]

Don't know if I'm just lucky, but last winter I just let the freeze guard control the pump. I didn't wrap any pipes nor cover the equipment and nothing froze. I can't imagine you would need anything more than the pump running down in Houston. Just sayin'...it gets a might bit colder up here in Dallas.

[HarryH3]

On my pool, the freeze protection kicks on and runs the pump until the air is above about 36 degrees again. Pumping that 60 degree water from the pool through the system will keep the pipes from freezing. It's currently 28 here and the pump is doing its thing.

[john81171]

hello all i agree just turn the pump on and let it do its job. I have the feature also that when temp drops below 36 deg my pump will turn on and will run till it warms up.