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preventing freezing pipes
Posted on 12/19/22 at 7:21 am
Posted on 12/19/22 at 7:21 am
We will be out of town for the incoming freeze, and I plan on turning off main water supply to home and draining the system.
Have a tankless water heater in the attic. Should I turn off the tankless heater while the water is drained? Anything else to consider? Thanks in advance.
Have a tankless water heater in the attic. Should I turn off the tankless heater while the water is drained? Anything else to consider? Thanks in advance.
10
Posted on 12/19/22 at 9:02 am to lsumed
Same question, except I have regular gas tank water heaters. Should I turn them off?
Posted on 12/19/22 at 9:09 am to lsumed
You should turn off water heaters if they are empty.
One electric ones, refill water before powering back on. Otherwise, the cold water will contact the hot elements and they will typically crack and fail.
One electric ones, refill water before powering back on. Otherwise, the cold water will contact the hot elements and they will typically crack and fail.
Posted on 12/19/22 at 9:57 am to lsumed
I would stand to think that if your water heater is in the attic and set your thermostat to 65 then the heat from the house will ensure the attic will not get anywhere close to freezing temps when it comes to worrying about the water heater freezing over. Turn off water main, drain every interior/exterior faucets/spigots.
Posted on 12/19/22 at 10:15 am to LSUDeuce2
What if I have pex lines? I should only have to worry about exterior faucets correct?
Posted on 12/19/22 at 10:35 am to lsumed
I was going to start a post, I have the insulated bags to put over the outside hose valves, what else do i need to do around the house to prevent pipes from bursting? do i lest all of my faucets inside drip? (bath tub, shower, sink, etc?)
Posted on 12/19/22 at 11:07 am to lsumed
This post in a H&G Board thread by Gumpland Tiger, who owns a water restoration company, from a couple years back was very thorough in the steps one should take to minimize/prevent freezing pipes. I bookmarked b/c it was so detailed. LINK
Another thing in one can do in addition to dripping faucets, is to let your dishwasher run during the night, say 2-4 am, to keep water moving through pipes for a couple hours - most dishwashers have a time delay of , 2, 4 , 8, … hours.
Another thing in one can do in addition to dripping faucets, is to let your dishwasher run during the night, say 2-4 am, to keep water moving through pipes for a couple hours - most dishwashers have a time delay of , 2, 4 , 8, … hours.
This post was edited on 12/19/22 at 11:09 am
Posted on 12/19/22 at 11:50 am to CrawDude
Very helpful. Thanks for re-posting this
Posted on 12/19/22 at 12:58 pm to lsumed
I have #2 tankless on my house, each on the exterior. My understanding is the "tank" has its own element of protection for very low temps. With the service line I have an enclosure on the water lines but I'm wondering if I should open them and stuff with a little batting to protect them.
Posted on 12/19/22 at 1:24 pm to CrawDude
And you can empty the frig ice bucket, so its making ice, water is flowing to the frig and thru the house lines all nite.......
Posted on 12/19/22 at 2:45 pm to Drop4Loss
quote:
And you can empty the frig ice bucket, so its making ice, water is flowing to the frig and thru the house lines all nite.......
Good one.
Here is one more that I personally never heard suggested until a few minutes ago, and it came from my BIL who is a licensed master plumber, and it is applicable to those with water heaters and/or water lines in the attic. He recommended to maintain the house at normal temperature and then chock open the attic door stairs slightly to allow some heat from the conditioned area below to enter the attic.
Posted on 12/20/22 at 9:48 am to TigerGman
I have a gas water heater, and I’m going out of town. Should I cut the main water off and drain the pipes? If so do I need to do anything for the hot water heater?
Thanks
Thanks
Posted on 12/20/22 at 10:17 am to Texastiger43
quote:
I have a gas water heater, and I’m going out of town. Should I cut the main water off and drain the pipes? If so do I need to do anything for the hot water heater? Thanks
Ditto for me - i will be out of town and I have gas water heaters.
What I do, cut off the main water line to house, open/drain indoor and outdoor water faucets and spigots. I don’t do anything with the gas water heater - it is a 40 gallon mass of water in a heavily insulated enclosed tank and the gas burner is going to turn on and off periodically to keep the water in the tank “hot” based on its thermostat setting.
My BIL, a licensed plumber, and I changed my 2 gas water heaters this past April. He turned off the gas to the water heater 1 day before we changed them out to allow the water in the heater to sufficiently cool so that we could safely drain the tanks. He told me he requests his customers to turn off their water heater the day before he does a change out for them so he can safely drain the tanks quickly and do the change out more quickly, and he’ll charge the customer less for the change out b/c of the reduced time to do the job. This is just a long way of telling you takes a long time for 30 to 50 gallons of water to cool down in a heavily insulated tank.
This post was edited on 12/20/22 at 10:19 am
Posted on 12/20/22 at 11:58 am to CrawDude
Is it OK to turn off the water at the main line and run the water out right before bed and turn it back on in the morning when we are ready to use?
I rather be without water in the middle of night than running around with busted pipes around holidays
I rather be without water in the middle of night than running around with busted pipes around holidays
Posted on 12/20/22 at 12:47 pm to CrawDude
quote:
He recommended to maintain the house at normal temperature and then chock open the attic door stairs slightly to allow some heat from the conditioned area below to enter the attic.
I'm no plumber nor A/C guy, but I would think having an opening to unconditioned space would only allow the return to pull that unconditioned cold air into the conditioned space and only result in having your heater have to work harder rather than any heat flowing "against the tide" into the unconditioned attic
This post was edited on 12/20/22 at 1:26 pm
Posted on 12/20/22 at 1:40 pm to lsumed
quote:
preventing freezing pipes
I need some input on this as well.
Bought my house in April, it’s raised on a concrete pad. Used to have subfloor insulation but pulled it all out over the summer. Iplan to insulate the water main and hose bibbs and going to cover the crawl space access. Is there anything else I should be worried about?
Might be screwed if I need to insulate anything else under the house as everywhere in New Orleans is sold out of supplies it seems.
This post was edited on 12/20/22 at 1:41 pm
Posted on 12/20/22 at 2:10 pm to ItzMe1972
quote:
Otherwise, the cold water will contact the hot elements and they will typically crack and fail.
Dry firing an electric water heater will cause the elements to fail outright.
Posted on 12/20/22 at 2:29 pm to glorymanutdtiger
quote:
Is it OK to turn off the water at the main line and run the water out right before bed and turn it back on in the morning when we are ready to use? I rather be without water in the middle of night than running around with busted pipes around holidays
Sure
Posted on 12/20/22 at 2:46 pm to jlsufan
quote:
I'm no plumber nor A/C guy, but I would think having an opening to unconditioned space would only allow the return to pull that unconditioned cold air into the conditioned space and only result in having your heater have to work harder rather than any heat flowing "against the tide" into the unconditioned attic
Certainly merit in what you stated, and I suppose that in part it depends somewhat on where the attic stairs are located relative to the HVAC return(s) - of course warm air rises (but cold air sinks), and according to the 2nd law of thermodynamics heat chases cold - in other words, heat will move from a warm place to a cold place - so heat should move from the warm conditioned area below to the colder attic above.
No doubt your heater/furnace will work harder and run longer for the period you leave a crack in the attic but again the goal is to minimize the odds of a frozen, burst pipe in the attic. Personally, I’ve never left a crack in in the attic stairs. Honestly, I think turning off the main water line, and draining the pipes are adequate, at least in southern LA.
Posted on 12/20/22 at 2:58 pm to jordan21210
quote:
Bought my house in April, it’s raised on a concrete pad. Used to have subfloor insulation but pulled it all out over the summer. Iplan to insulate the water main and hose bibbs and going to cover the crawl space access. Is there anything else I should be worried about? Might be screwed if I need to insulate anything else under the house as everywhere in New Orleans is sold out of supplies it seems.
In your case with no insulation in the crawl space, I’d probably just turn off your main water line at night and drain the pipes by opening the indoor faucets and outdoor spigots. Then turn the water back on during the day. You can always fill up a bathtub at night to use as a water source to flush toilets as needed. Alternately, I think you would need a pretty strong flow of “drip water” during the night to prevent the pipes from freezing.
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