Does the water in the water tower freeze in cold winter?

Answer 1

In short, no.  The long answer however is yes, to an extent.  In the northern climates where teperatures can hit sub zero levels in the winter, there is certainly a small amount of freezing in the tank.  Ice tends to build up on the steel on the inside of the tank.  The build up however tends to act as a sort of insulation though to protect the rest of the water in the tank.  If the water flow were ever stopped and the water sat in the tank long enough it would of course freeze but the regular daily flow into and out of the tank keeps the tempurature up enough to keep everything moving.  If there are smaller fill pipes in a dry riser however the utility company does have to be careful to insulate or heat that pipe to keep it from freezing at low peak times to.  If you have any more questions you can visit my blog and leave a post at freemoneyjakass.blogspot.com or send me an email while you are there.