turning down the heat?

In article ,
MGW wrote:

On Fri, 16 Jan 2004 22:22:52 -0700, DevilsPGD
wrote:

In message MGW
did ramble:

I'm in Boston (Roslindale), and they said to turn your heat UP as a
protective measure.

Protective of what?

Water pipes. It reached 11 below 0 F last night around here. My
SIL's kitchen water pipes all froze - just hope they don't burst.

Wow. We were -22F several nights for the last few weeks, I haven't
heard of anyone having issues around here.

If you live someplace where that's common, your houses are more likely
to be built in a way that the pipes are adequately insulated so they
won't freeze. When you live someplace where it seldom goes much below
0F, and then seldom for more than a day, the builders don't know
and/or care as much about doing that.

Yeah, what they said. My house has a second bathroom tacked on the
first floor (added by the previous owner who became an invalid and had
to live entirely on the first floor). When they built it, they almost
totally closed off the crawl space beneath it from the rest of the
basement, with the result that shower drain freezes when it goes under
10 F, and sometimes the toilet and sink (cold) inflow freeze as well. I
keep a space heater in the basement pointed at the drain where it comes
into the main basement from the added bathroom, and that helps a lot.
(I have learned to really appreciate being able to get a hot shower in
the morning!) I know a woman who has to hurry up and do her laundry
when the forecast is for real cold because her laundry room pipes freeze.

Keeping the heat up is also recommended because it is easier to maintain
a warm house than reheat a cooled off house. So they say to not drop
the heat down too much during the cool periods, so your furnace won't
have to struggle to get it warm again.

Priscilla