What would you do.....?

[ispinwool]

Hypothetical situation: A wood burner is on the 'main floor' and keeps the house toasty...the power goes out during
a snow storm so the furnace can't kick-on to help--how do you keep your basement from becoming a freezer?
Our water pipes originate in the basement and I'm wondering if they'd freeze...(I kinda doubt it but thought I'd ask...)
Our basement walls are 18"-20" thick barnstone, if that makes a difference.

 

[Dan Freeman]

If I feel our cellar is getting too cold (field stone foundation with no insulation), I simply keep the door to the cellar open. I can literally feel with my hand the cold air coming up the stairs against the floor and the warm air going down the stairs at the top of the door.

 

[Gearhead660]

I have been heating with stove in living area and no heat for the basement, other than what may come off the water heater. Basement stays about 50-55 degrees. Similar foundation, old farm house. Would take a while for the basement to get below freezing if at all.

 

[tlc1976]

I’ve never had pipes freeze in my unheated basement. Concrete floor and block walls. It might have gotten down to 40f when it was -20f outside. It’s nice for a change.

My old house with a sealed crawl space would sometimes freeze when only using the wood stove and not the furnace below. During super cold stretches I’d have a heater on the pipes (thankfully the plumbing was all concentrated in one area). And leave water trickling. I tried heating it up by leaving the trap door in the house open with the woodstove cranked. Left it for at least 4 hours and I could only raise it 1 degree. Proof for me that heat won’t move down. I put the outside sensor from a digital thermometer right in the plumbing area.

 

[clancey]

Just suggestions here to think about not that these ideas would not work--maybe insulation around the pipes, or would that plastic piping would be better to have installed maybe would not freeze or break just thinking out loud here...lol .When you leave the house on vacations maybe putting antifreeze or something in the house pipes but remember to drain it out (poison)..Bottom line is leave the basement door open or insulate it more..maybe a heating blanket wrap around things so that you don't worry about the freezing of the pipes. Get a automatic generator of some kind that turns on automatically if the power goes off also put a electric heater down there on the real cold days just to keep it somewhat warm--one of those oil filled ones and expect a higher electric bill..tried my best to think of what I might do...clancey

 

[yooperdave]

If I feel our cellar is getting too cold (field stone foundation with no insulation), I simply keep the door to the cellar open. I can literally feel with my hand the cold air coming up the stairs against the floor and the warm air going down the stairs at the top of the door.

What? Sounds like you may have discovered something new regarding the laws of nature!

 

[gzecc]

In an emergency situation leave the faucets on just dribbling. Flowing water will freeze at a much lower temperature than 32.

 

[semipro]

I don't think you have much to worry about.
Your basement temp is unlikely ever to get below freezing unless large amounts of cold air leak in.
The ground around and below your basement foundation is moderating the temps and probably keeping them above 50 F regardless of the weather outside. The large amount of thermal mass in your masonry and basement floor is also preventing fast/drastic temp changes.

 

[Rusty18]

Never had heat in the basement at my parents house. Block walls and a poured floor.
I also have the outside sensor for temperature unit in my crawl space where I live now, more so for humidity than temp but it’s piece of mind I guess.

 

[Rusty18]

Edit
Full basement only about 2 row of block above grade.

 

[Corey]

Pretty much what others have said... very unlikely pipes would freeze in a basement. The bottom of the basement would extend well below the frost line in your area. So it may sound strange, but if the floor is resting on ground that only ever gets to 40 or 50° during the winter, that 'heat' will still be radiating / convecting into the basement to help keep it warm. I'm further south than you, but don't actively heat my walk-out basement. It will get chilly down there, no doubt, but about the lowest I've seen is ~56°F in a room on the walk-out side, and warmer than that on the earth-bermed side.

One key thing to look at, though would be any openings which let outside air in. I did have a cheap-o single pane basement window blow out of its casing one year. Of course, the way it partially fell in, created a chute to direct the cold outside air right at a set of water pipes and they froze in relatively short order.

 

[peakbagger]

Corey has it right on, its infiltration that usually does in pipes, the basement is usually above freezing but pipes frequently are run along sills and that is area prone to infiltration.

 

[shortys7777]

I doubt you have much to worry where you live. I heat my entire house on wood most of the winter and my basement is still 55.We've had below freezing temps for a week straight and more coming after today. It was at 54 yesterday morning when I checked. I think you would be sub zero temps for days or weeks to get the entire basement at freezing.

 

[Solarguy3500]

Is your rim joist insulated or not?

As @Corey and @peakbagger mentioned cold air infiltration is the thing that will be most likely to cause pipes to freeze. If your rim joist is well insulated with either spray foam or rigid foam board sealed around the edges with spray foam, and you don't have any other major areas of air infiltration, you should be ok.

I just had the rim joist insulated in my basement before this winter and it made a huge difference. Unfortunately, I have a unique situation with my pipes that creates a possibility for pipes freezing regardless of the insulated rim joist. At some point prior to me owning the house, one of the previous owners had a new well drilled about 10' outside the basement wall on the walkout side so it was above grade. They then proceeded to build a concrete bunker around the wellhead and poured the concrete up to the exterior basement wall and core drilled a hole in the 11" thick basement wall and ran the water pipe from the well through the hole. They also drilled another hole above it which is good, because I have to put a small space heater in the upper hole and run it when the outside temp gets below around 10° to keep the pipes in that bunker from freezing. This summer I'm planning on insulating the interior concrete walls of that bunker with rigid foam board and air seal the whole thing with canned foam and hopefully that will take care of it.

 

[woodgeek]

Second what others have said. If you have a pipe on the outer wall near a draft, it will freeze even if the basement is reasonable warm. If you had any pipes near the rim joist, foam insulation is cheap insurance.