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Started By
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re: Better to have water dripping or turn off main and drain.
Posted on 12/19/22 at 10:46 am to NATidefan
Posted on 12/19/22 at 10:46 am to NATidefan
quote:
If you are ONLY worried about those freezing, then yeah. But I'd be worried about the rest of them freezing under the house as well. At 24 degrees (which is the low for houston) you aren't going to have pipes freeze thst are dripping. But they could definitely freeze with just water sitting in them.
I’m further north, going to be 48+ hours under freezing with lows pushing 10 degrees.
Those are the only two I’m worried about freezing. The rest of them were fine last time, which was a worse freeze. The crawl space was staying above 40 degrees—my heating ducts run in it and give off heat. I temped the water out of the taps and it maintained above 40. I didn’t drip any of the house lines that didn’t have exterior wall supplies either. Even in morning time after those pipes sat all night without movement in the water, they were above 40.
This post was edited on 12/19/22 at 10:49 am
1
Posted on 12/19/22 at 10:47 am to BluegrassBelle
quote:
Pour propylene glycol into every sink and tub trap.
Completely forgot about this part, but this can really help too. Much lower freeze point.
Posted on 12/19/22 at 10:48 am to GREENHEAD22
This thread is full of morons. Turn off the main and drain everything. Pipes will only burst when under pressure. The remaining water in pipes may freeze, but will not burst the pipes.
Posted on 12/19/22 at 10:50 am to Jsand43
quote:
This thread is full of morons.
Yes, it's only going to dip into the 20s for a few hours. Your pipes aren't going to burst.
Posted on 12/19/22 at 10:50 am to The Third Leg
You know your house better than me, do what you think is best.
Posted on 12/19/22 at 10:53 am to Displaced
quote:
Yes, it's only going to dip into the 20s for a few hours. Your pipes aren't going to burst.
FWIW in LC it's supposed to get down to 18-9 Thursday night and then Friday's highs are projected right at freezing, and then another 20-degree night. Then up to 39 then back down to 22.
People who don't do anything are going to have a bad Christmas.
Posted on 12/19/22 at 10:55 am to SlowFlowPro
quote:
don't do anything are going to have a bad Christmas.
They'll be fine and dandy
Lord, it'll be a hard candy Christmas
This post was edited on 12/19/22 at 10:57 am
Posted on 12/19/22 at 11:17 am to Displaced
quote:
Yes, it's only going to dip into the 20s for a few hours. Your pipes aren't going to burst.
2 nights in a row is what worries me/
Posted on 12/19/22 at 11:22 am to SlowFlowPro
quote:
I see a ton of potential issues with dripping, though. I dripped through the ice/snow storm a few years ago without many issues, but I was there
Dripping protection also assumes there is no issue with water supply. Low pressure in the city mains is common if everybody drips and runs water across the city.
Posted on 12/19/22 at 11:49 am to GREENHEAD22
Drip. Trying to outthink it, I turned the water off at my hunting cabin, once, and water still in the pipes froze. I had to replace almost all of the plumbing!
Posted on 12/19/22 at 11:52 am to 2geaux
quote:
I turned the water off at my hunting cabin, once, and water still in the pipes froze. I had to replace almost all of the plumbing!
People keep arguing in here that it can't happen. And they're wrong.
Posted on 12/19/22 at 11:52 am to SlowFlowPro
quote:
Pipes burst b/c of pressure issues with ice and not the ice itself, right?
Water expands when it freezes. One of the few liquids to do this. It is the ice expanding that bursts the pipes. If there is a pocket of water completely filling that sectioning pipe, it may burst.
Posted on 12/19/22 at 11:53 am to Oates Mustache
People are really getting hung up on "fully flushing the system" when talking about shutting off the main and leaving the faucets open.
As long as the faucets are open, you can still have water in random lows along your plumbing system and not have any issues with bursting a pipe. The open faucets mean you have an open system that will allow the water to harmlessly expand along the piping if it was ever to freeze. Pipes burst because the water is caught in a closed system with no direction to expand.
As long as the faucets are open, you can still have water in random lows along your plumbing system and not have any issues with bursting a pipe. The open faucets mean you have an open system that will allow the water to harmlessly expand along the piping if it was ever to freeze. Pipes burst because the water is caught in a closed system with no direction to expand.
Posted on 12/19/22 at 11:58 am to GREENHEAD22
(no message)
This post was edited on 2/9/23 at 5:47 pm
Posted on 12/19/22 at 11:59 am to SlowFlowPro
quote:
FWIW in LC it's supposed to get down to 18-9 Thursday night and then Friday's highs are projected right at freezing, and then another 20-degree night. Then up to 39 then back down to 22.
I wonder if the water plant proactively switches to diesel generator power this time to maintain water pressure due to all the dripping faucets.
I heard last time that the power company cut power to them to conserve electricity with no heads up and the water company could barely keep up after the 8 hour 8-ball they were behind.
This post was edited on 12/19/22 at 12:02 pm
Posted on 12/19/22 at 12:00 pm to Topo Chico
And to use a really simple example: We use plastic trays to freeze ice cubes because the ice exerts little pressure on the tray as as the ice is expanding upwards in its path of least resistance.
Posted on 12/19/22 at 12:03 pm to ChEgrad
quote:
pipes. If there is a pocket of water completely filling that sectioning pipe, it may burst.
But if the faucets are open, there is a path for the ice to flow
Now I get that if you have like 3 random curves leading to spots that all freeze, that you can have a blockage. But no system is perfect.
The potential damage is exponentially higher with dripping though
Posted on 12/19/22 at 12:05 pm to Oilfieldbiology
quote:
I heard last time that the power company cut power to them to conserve electricity with no heads up and the water company could barely keep up after the 8 hour 8-ball they were behind
Twas a shite show
Posted on 12/19/22 at 12:11 pm to SlowFlowPro
I keep forgetting tips. Another simple one that helps is closing blinds, curtains, etc. It provides a small form of insulation as well. Every little bit helps.
Posted on 12/19/22 at 12:18 pm to Oilfieldbiology
quote:
turn off main, open all faucets, and allow to drain. Opening the faucets allows any water that may freeze room to expand
When we would leave our cottage in northern Wisconsin in the winter, we'd open the faucets, turn off the main, drain the natural pressure, but then my dad would also blow through the pipes to get the rest of it. Never had a problem.
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