The houses here weren't built to be able to drain the plumbing. Also, the local news advised everyone to leave their faucets on to trickle to keep the pipes from freezing. But when power was lost the local water wells quit pumping so there is no water flowing in the pipes.
You can do it in any house. Just shut the water main off, and turn on the faucets lowest to the ground, usually first floor, basement, or outside spigot. The faucets will run until the pipes run out of water.
if you don't want to drain the water, just keep the water moving. It's the reason a river doesnt freeze. turn the outside spigot on just so that a very light stream or drip of water is coming out of it. Do that for any area that you are worried is going to freeze
Our main valve has a bib attached to it that can do the job.
The majority of the houses around here are built on concrete slabs. The pipes are put in and the concrete poured over them. Except for the 'manufactured homes' that are on blocks, they could drain their pipes. We have a travel trailer we store next to the house, we drained the pipes and poured anti-freeze in the p-traps months ago.
How can a plumber work on the pipes if you can not drain the house? You turn off the main feed, go to the lowest tap in the house and turn it on. Turn on all the taps actually to fully drain. Sure the water pipe feeding the house is under the ground and could still freeze if not deep enough I guess, but they put them below the frost line up here in the north.
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