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Dripping water in faucets is easy of course. But, I have a commode that is up against an outside wall. One year, the supply line that runs in that outside wall froze, but thankfully didn't break.

Now, whenever those freezing conditions hit, I tie of a piece of string onto the flush lever above the chain inside the tank that's long enough to run around 5 inches or so down the hole under the flapper. Whenever you flush, the string will stay in the hole, and then create just enough of a crack in the seal of the flapper that it leaks water so the fill valve activates every 10 seconds or so. Haven't had a frozen line there since I started doing this many freezes ago.

If string is too thick and makes it run constantly, you can unravel it or remove strands until you get the flow you want.

If you're one of those 'if it's yellow let it mellow; when it's brown flush it down' types, please disregard post.

Dripping water in faucets is easy of course. But, I have a commode that is up against an outside wall. One year, the supply line that runs in that outside wall froze, but thankfully didn't break. Now, whenever those freezing conditions hit, I tie of a piece of string onto the flush lever above the chain inside the tank that's long enough to run around 5 inches or so down the hole under the flapper. Whenever you flush, the string will stay in the hole, and then create just enough of a crack in the seal of the flapper that it leaks water so the fill valve activates every 10 seconds or so. Haven't had a frozen line there since I started doing this many freezes ago. If string is too thick and makes it run constantly, you can unravel it or remove strands until you get the flow you want. If you're one of those 'if it's yellow let it mellow; when it's brown flush it down' types, please disregard post.

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A house that's properly insulated doesn't need heat tape. He should insulate the pipe. Or, as an alternative, he should cut air holes so that warm air from the interior can flow up around the pipe at all times.

An old trick many don't know: If you drop an incandescent light bulb down on a cord so that it lies next to the pipe where it gets frozen, that will usually be enough heat to keep it from freezing, and the risk of fire is relatively small.

When I used this trick, I put the bulb inside an elbow of hot-air galvanized ductwork to keep it from directly contacting any paper or wood surfaces. On cold nights you just plug the bulb in. But you need to have an access hole, of course.