I shut off the water at the meter. I left the heat on in the kitchen. I insulated the pipes. Why did they freeze? Good question and here's why.... it's cold!
What some folks seem to forget is that insulation does not create heat. It will help to contain heat or slow it's transfer, but it can't make it any warmer. In the winter an unheated basement is cold. In this environment without heat, water will always freeze. It's just a matter of time.
I inspected a home the other day that had electric heat. The current owners were out of town so they decided to save a few bucks and turn the heat off except in the kitchen. They assumed that the water pipes were only present in the kitchen and the bath directly above it, so why heat the rest of the home? That didn't work out so well for them. When I arrived it was cold in the home and really cold in the basement (36 degrees). The electric heat in the kitchen was on low while the heat in every other room was off. There were no doors between the kitchen and the rest of the first floor, so the temperature was consistent throughout the home, consistently cold. The single electric baseboard unit in the kitchen was trying to heat the entire home; not a very efficient way to keep the place warm. I believe the owners could have saved some money by setting the heat in the entire house on low. Unfortunately, the pipes in the basement still froze. There was no source of heat down there.
If you must shut down your heat, you should have the home winterized. Even if it's short term. This can be done by any licensed and qualified plumbing contractor. There is a cost involved, but it's minimal compared to the cost of repairing frozen pipes.
Lessons learned the hard way are very rarely forgotten but boy, can they be expensive. I hope this helps someone avoid a costly mistake.
If you have any questions please feel free to call me.
Talk to you soon.
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