If you ever have a problem with your kitchen sink pipes freezing, I have a quick tip how a heating pad keeps pipes from freezing.
If I had a nickel for every weird quirk the 1820 has, than I would be rich. True, so true, old homes have it going on, with the odd and unexpected. There’s an odd almost-mishap that maybe I brought on myself?? I kinda did, and it has to do with our old refurbished farmhouse sink in the kitchen.
I’m a firm believer that if you want something done and in a certain place, it can happen. It might not happen in the timely manner you would like, or go exactly where you had it going in your mind, but the job can happen. With careful planning and ingenuity, if you really really want an upright old sink placed right in front of a window with very little insulation to support the possibility of freezing pipes in the winter, then rock on and install it. Heck, I did.
But first, let’s get down to the kitchen design facts. Simply put, kitchen sinks belong either in front of a window, or in a kitchen island. That’s the rule of thumb. If you’re washing dishes in a sink and staring at a wall, then I’m certain you feel like a disciplined child standing in a corner. Amiright?
Going back to when we installed our old sink, in our old house, we did install reflective insulation on back wall to help protect the pipes from freezing. As you know, there’s zero insulation in the walls of that area, and the reflective insulation is a thinner material, reflects sunlight and blocks the cold, yadda yadda.
Last winter during a cold snap, I came down one morning, went to put water in my coffee maker and no water came out. Nada. Temps got down to the single digits and although we kept the underneath cabinet doors open, the pipes were like, gee thanks. That’s not enough. So I came up with another solution.
How A Heating Pad Can Keep Pipes From Freezing
With the upright back of the sink, there truly isn’t enough room for insulation to pad the pipes. So my solution? Each night before bed, where the temp gets down to single digits, I plug in the heating pad, turn it to low, and rest it on the faucet. This way, it touches the back of the sink as well. The cord is placed up high and out of the sink.
Works. Like. A. Charm.
So yeah, we have a heating pad on our sink. But only at night, and with no water running! As we all know, water and electricity don’t mix.
This is a great tip for most pipes in small spaces, and I highly recommend it. The heating pad does all the work, all you have to do is plug it in, turn it on low, and walk away.
Might be a quirky, weird tip, but y’all, it so works.
Stay warm.
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