# Florida Hard Freeze

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/florida-hard-freeze/958646>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 30, 2022, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/florida-hard-freeze/958646 "2022-01-30T00:02:15Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\
**Post date:** [January 31, 2022, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/florida-hard-freeze/958646/21 "2022-01-31T00:34:28Z")

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The National Weather Service (U.S.) definition:

“Hard freeze occurs **when the temperature reaches 28°-or-lower for at least a few hours**. It usually means that many types of plants and most seasonal vegetation will be destroyed.”

Of course, hardy perennials and half-hardy annuals will typically handle that cold well. Badly protected water pipes, maybe not.

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**Author:** ![MindsEye\_Watering](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindseye_watering/32/3619_2.png) [@MindsEye\_Watering](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MindsEye_Watering)\
**Post date:** [January 31, 2022, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/florida-hard-freeze/958646/22 "2022-01-31T00:52:37Z")

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Instead of starting a new thread, I’ll ask this question here:

If water freezes in a pipe, and the water pressure/ice has no where to go (as in caught between two closed valves), the pipe is likely to burst.  
What if the water pressure/ice DOES have somewhere to go - say to an expansion tank or well pressure tank. Would pipes still burst?

That is - In a well system, if I leave an outside spigot open to a hose with the hose end closed (with a sprayer), the hose will certainly freeze and if cold enough, the pipe supplying the hose would freeze, too.  
But would the ice split the pipe?

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**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\
**Post date:** [January 31, 2022, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/florida-hard-freeze/958646/23 "2022-01-31T01:03:59Z")

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> [@Jackmannii](#):
>
> “Hard freeze occurs **when the temperature reaches 28°-or-lower for at least a few hours** …"

That’s pretty close to my personal definition of a ‘hard freeze’; though my personal definition is more than ‘at least a few hours’. My ‘personal definition’ depends on how likely I think it is that a pipe will freeze.

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**Author:** ![Folly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folly/32/3219_2.png) [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)\
**Post date:** [January 31, 2022, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/florida-hard-freeze/958646/24 "2022-01-31T01:22:39Z")

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> [@Johnny\_L.A](#):
>
> My ‘personal definition’ depends on how likely I think it is that a pipe will freeze.

Yeah, there is definitely a difference between “well, there go the tomato plants” and “I’d better start worrying about my water pipes.”

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**Author:** ![jaycat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat/32/3015_2.png) [@jaycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaycat)\
**Post date:** [January 31, 2022, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/florida-hard-freeze/958646/25 "2022-01-31T01:38:06Z")

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I live in central Massachusetts. It’s been butt-ass cold for days (like teens). We never leave faucets running, and we have a well and septic.

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**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\
**Post date:** [January 31, 2022, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/florida-hard-freeze/958646/26 "2022-01-31T03:56:25Z")

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> [@Jackmannii](#):
>
> Of course, hardy perennials and half-hardy annuals will typically handle that cold well. Badly protected water pipes, maybe not.

I would think that water pipes would be at much _less_ risk than a fragile plant. I get temps like 27 degrees for a few hours overnight every winter, and that’s barely enough to put a skim of ice on the surface of a pet’s water dish. That just is not cold enough for long enough.

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