That's a line from an article in a local paper about how to protect your house in cold weather. Is it Wrong? I thought if water was moving through a pipe it wouldn't get the chance to freeze.
Not going to run permanently. And replacing near frozen water with less cold water would need to be done regularly as heat continues to be lost from the cold pipe. I'd suspect this was more a delaying issue.
It also occurs to me that in very cold places rivers can freeze over as the ice builds slowly so it's possible it's less effective than I first thought.