How many people will let their pipes drip tonight?

[jaime_mac]

I live in a six plex. Was letting my pipes drip but we still had a pipe burst in the apartment next door. Don't know if anyone else was letting theirs drip even though my landlord came over the other night and checked everyones apartment to make sure faucets were on. Now I'm without water and I'm kind of pissed because I did the right thing!

[lh_newbie]

Originally Posted by mitotex

Funny thing is that I've lived in Michigan for close to 40 years and never had a pipe freeze there - and never had to drip any of them.

That's because builders have more skills and actually focus on proper insulation due to the weather.

[PanTerra]

Hmm. That poll is set up a little odd. Are you polling us to see what question we are asking others?

[lemonegg]

Does anyone drip their outside faucets? I drip all inside faucets that are against external walls but I wrap the outside faucets. I'm thinking leaving the water on outside will cause more problems unless unless the water is streaming, not dripping. Anyway the faucet against my unheated garage froze but I was able to thaw it by pouring hot water on it.

[loves2read]

That's because builders have more skills and actually focus on proper insulation due to the weather
That is a generalization without proof--and frankly I imagine there are people in Michigan right now dealing with frozen pipes--
check out some plumbing forums and run search for frozen pipes--
they are all over
you are usually more conscious about spreading half-truths like that


OUR area rarely has temps as low for as long as this cold spell
the building specs for our area are designed totally different from most of Michigan because of our location and normal weather conditions

it is certainly possible to have pipes that freeze due to negligence on part of builder but homeowners also often ignore improvements/repairs that need to be done to their homes in order to avoid problems like freezing pipes

Texas homes RARELY have or require basements and because our soil is often clay and so porous basements would very expensive to construct for little positive gain--a bad offset--and having to overinsulate or redesign plumbing to avoid conditions like this--which might not happed for another 20 yrs--is really overkill
it is lot easier to just drip some pipes than tear out sheetrock and replace/repaint to insulated pipes

[lh_newbie]

Loves2read - the only proof I can offer is that I lived in Michigan for 27 years. While folks do have some issues with frozen pipes, it is far less often. And walls are built the same here as they are in Michigan: stick built with fiberglass batts, used to be R-11 but now can be R-13 or R-15 with the dense fiberglass on the market today. The only other difference? Michigan requires a vapor barrier due to the cold weather and condensation, which also helps minimize drafts within the walls. And when insulating, there is greater care to ensuring the entire wall is fully packed because the builders have a vested interest in not having to warranty frozen pipes. Texas doesn't have cold weather like this very often and a warranty doesn't have to cover high utility bills because of a poor job insulating walls.

If we ever build a home, I'm definitely building with ICF (about R-45 walls) and will have spray foam under the roof rafters so the attic is conditioned to ensure zero air leakage. It costs a bit more, but is way more energy efficient, sound proofed and durable.

Brian

[loves2read]

the shower heads (all 3 of them) in our master bath shower had restricted flow Wed morning--
we know the previous owners had issue with freezing pipes because some of the plumbing runs through the attic area there and we ourselves also had to have the mixing cartridge in the shower valve replaced after we just moved in--
so we did not know what was the likely problem--
could not get plumber out to check either cause until Monday
let the water drip from all three heads since then--no other problems with any other water source

husband said that there is full pressure now--so guess it was frozen pipe and hopefully since there is full pressure there is no leak in the lines in attic--

he said he is not going up there and move the insulation around looking
will have to get someone out to check it and add some insulation--or just let them run in future if temps get so low...that Tuesday night it went down to like 7 degrees which is pretty cold for us