[masraum]

Originally Posted by Porsche-O-Phile

It usually takes a couple of days of sub-freezing temps to cold-soak piping to the point where it can really be an risk (larger diameter pipes are less susceptible). If you’re getting five days of marginal temps (cycling between being above and below freezing for a few hours at a time) I wouldn’t worry too much. Hose bibs should be shut off - those fail first. You can put plug-in heat trace on the more vulnerable piping if you think it’s going to be sub-freezing for continuous, uninterrupted periods. An old trick is to use incandescent light bulbs really close to piping / pumps where they can put out just enough heat to get the pipes warm.

Or put a bullet heater in the shed - they’re relatively cheap and can keep it just warm enough without burning through too much kerosene / diesel. I did something similar in a pool house I had (old, uninsulated) at my old house in the northeast years ago. Never had an issue and it just required a full-up every week or so (more if bitterly cold). It had a t-stat on it so I could keep it about 35° in there.

Best of luck.

Thanks

We are looking at ~36 hours of temps between 5º and 25º which seems like that may be enough to freeze the pipes in the crawl-space.

The pump house is very small, like a dog house, and has one of these for heat. I don't think there's room for anything bigger.

The walls have a gap down at the bottom, so I'll probably stuff something under the edges to help keep the heat in. I'm not too worried about that area. I'm more worried about the space under the house. I may get a similar light for under the house. Even if it just helps keep things in the area of the light a few degrees warmer, it seems like it should help.