Yep, we have heat tape on the edge in the zig-zag pattern. And unfortunatly, there is no attic - valuted ceilings. So there really isn’t anything to vent.
We have had over 14 feet of of snow so far this year, with the snowiest months still ahead. It’s really kinda hard to see just what the heck is going on.
It would have nothing to do with pipes on the surface either. Wind chill is a factor that only applies to living tissue.
A very good answer overall, although from my experience in utility design, the Minnesota standard is 7-1/2 feet of cover to the top of the water main.
The other part of the OP that hasn’t been covered is the sewer lines. These are not a problem as they are usually deep as well and placed below the normal frost line. In much of the United States, such as outside of towns, villages and cities, people have septic systems. (I know a lot about England having lived there for four years, but don’t know about many aspects of the infrastructure. A mate of mine in the UK knew about septic systems, but I’m not sure how common the knowledge is. It is a sewage treatment system for one house.)
Septic systems can’t be placed too deep because the bacteria and microbes that eat the waste need to get oxygen. Normal cold in our area does not cause a problem. The breakdown of the waste actually produces a bit of heat. However, in extended cold periods, especially if there is a lack of insulating snow cover (as mentioned by t-bonham) frozen septic lines is a problem.
His mention of the welder coming out to thaw a line brings up another point. Water mains can freeze and each year there are a few around the region that do in a typical year. In our area the construction standard is to use ductile iron pipe and have copper wire connectors between the individual pipes (a copper wire that bypasses the rubber gaskets). As part of the installation, before acceptance by the City, the contractor does a conductivity test. This involves an electrical generator (typically a welder’s generator) and that is hooked up between two hydrants. Current (350 amps) is run between the hydrants for 5 minutes. If it can’t be done the Contractor has to dig up the line to fix the problem before acceptance. Tsi way, if the water line does freeze, the current can be applied to thaw it out.
It is a bit of a bother, but it is one of the things we need to do to adapt to living in chillier areas.
That’s not strictly true. The way windchill is calculated, in terms of an equivalent temperature, probably assumes that the body being cooled is a ~50-80 kg bag of water at about 37 C. However, any body will be cooled faster by moving air than by still air, so you can’t say that windchill doesn’t apply to non-living tissue.
Here is the government definition. And again. Do with it what you wish. Wind has zero effect on the freezing of pipes; I deal with this for a living in some of the most extreme locations you can imagine. On Monday, we had winds of 120 mph at one of our locations, with temperatures of zero and below. Roofs came off, siding disappeared, a dome disintegrated. But the pipes didn’t freeze.
In Chicago, some utilities are actuallly routed under the river, through subway tunnels and old coal and cargo tunnels.
Also in Chicago, when the weather gets very cold we do sometimes have water main breaks, usually older mains (Chicago has some that are 100+ years old - they’ve been trying to replace them, but sometimes no one realizes a pipe is that old until it’s discovered after a break) and ground heaving is as much a factor as freezing.
Other problems include railroad switches freezing - a big problem when you consider that not only is Chicago a major, major rail hub for North America but also tens of thousands of people ride commuter trains to and from work in the area. I’ve seen workers with propane torches thawing out the switches at times - a crude but effective method.
Power lines are more affected by wind and ice accumulation than just cold - when storms are forecast utility repair crews are put on alert, just in case they are needed.
Municipalities typically open shelters so those affected by cold-induced emergencies have someplace safely warm to go to while repairs are made.
Beyond that - as already mentioned, water pipes are typically buried deep enough to avoid freezing or otherwise protected by people familar with the climate while putting in the systems. It’s not perfect, problems do occur, but they are exceptions and not rules.
It’s sort of like asking how humans deal with the cold - those of us who live in climates with potentially severe winter weather usually have the wardrobes required to endure such weather. I’ve been comfortably toasty on days 20 below zero (F) and stood comfortably at bus stops for a half an hour or hour because I have the gear for it - ankle-length down coat, insulating underwear, wool sweaters, wool socks, heavy boots, gloves, hat, scarf… It’s no coincidence that people buy parkas suitable for climbing mountains and wear them daily during Chicago winters. It’s also the reason folks will put blankets and jumper cables and other emergency equipment in their car or truck during the winter - it’s a wise precaution in case you’re on the road when a bad storm hits, or it’s cold enough you have trouble starting your vehicle.
People who live long-term in an area make adaptations to the local conditions. Other examples include “earthquate kits” in California and people in Florida who stash plywood boards pre-fitted to their windows for easy deployment during hurricaine season. Not everyone does this, but a definite portion of the population does so, and local governments also have emergency plans in place to deal with the problems that typically arise in an area.
I realized from the OP that there are other “infrastructures” that haven’t been covered.
Overhead wires (electricity, telephone, cable TV, etc.): Not much problem from extreme cold; in fact the cold reduces resistance and makes the electrical wires more efficient. Once in a while, the shrinking from the cold will actually pull connections apart, but this only happens if the installers made a mistake in calculating the amount of slack needed in the wires. That’s pretty rare.
There are obvious problems with ice storms, which knock down trees onto wires, or just add enough weight to wires to pull them down. This isn’t really a problem of the extreme cold, in fact, these are more a problem when the weather is warmer.
There are occasional problems when an entry point (electrical meter, phone junction box, etc.) on the side of a house is damaged by a falling icicle. But again, this isn’t caused by the cold; usually it’s the melting when spring comes.
Gas lines: these are almost all buried, and the gas in them doesn’t freeze, even at these temps. Occasionally contamination (usually water) gets into the gas lines, and can freeze, since they may not be buried as deep. But that’s unusual.
Streets: well, the temp changes & water thawing/freezing end up causing potholes in streets. But that’s basically just repair work to be done; it doesn’t prevent the street from being used.
There is ‘frost heave’, which can damage a street enough to make it impassible. But in a normal city grid, there are other streets that can be used with a slight detour, so this has a minor effect on the city infrastructure as a whole. Also, this happens mostly during Fall & Spring, when ground is freezing & thawing.
There is the obvious problem of snow removal & dealing with ice, but we have a lot of experience with snowplows & snowblowers, and with using sand & salt on roadways.
District Heat/Cooling systems: many cities have district heating (and cooling) systems in the downtown areas. These generally use underground tunnels to provide heating to various buildings. In the winter, this is heated air or water being circulated to these buildings, so it doesn’t have problems with freezing.
Railroad tracks: they can have problems with freezing switches, as Broomstick mentioned. And extreme cold will occasionally shrink rails enough to leave a gap, thus making the ride rougher. But it’s pretty rare that this is enough to make the track impassible.
**Tunnels:**Here in Minnesota, we recently had problems with ice inside tunnels! Under the Airport & Minnehaha Creek, water seeped into the light rail tunnel. This was not expected to be a problem, they had included drains for this, and it was enough underground that it would stay liquid. However, near the entrance to the tunnels, the incoming trains pulled in enough cold air that this water froze, and made the tracks slippery, which caused traction problems for the railcars. I believe they fixed this by installing heaters to keep the water liquid until it drained away. There have been similar problems in some freeway tunnels.
Sidewalks: Snow & ice removal is more of a problem on sidewalks, where there are always some people who won’t bother to clean their sidewalks. If it gets bad enough, the city will send workers out to do that, and add the cost to their property tax bill.
I think this covers most of the city infrastructure.
I read through to make sure that somebody mentioned septic systems - thanks, Mycroft H. Because we don’t seem to be getting snow here in Minnesota anymore, the septic systems are in danger this week. The recommendation is to make sure you run hot water regularly. Hot baths are no real hardship this time of year!
In my travels in Canada’s Northwest Territories, I came across utilador systems. The pipes for water and sewage are above-ground. I assume this is to avoid perma-frost damaging them.
Living in Yellowknife, the piping and electrical were done in the same manner as I’ve seen throughout the US.