Question about freezing pipes (Lubbock, Muleshoe: apartment complex, rent, house)

[tammay]

Hi All,
I live in an apartment complex not far from campus and I just got a notice from the apartment manager that I need to take a bunch of steps because the predicted freezing weather might freeze the pipes.

I have to keep the heat on at 65 degrees 24/7, as well as keep a steady drip in the hot and cold faucets for both the bathroom and the kitchen 24/7. I also have to keep the cabinets to the faucets (kitchen and bathroom) open 24/7.

I have lived in several apartment buildings in Lubbock for 5 years and have also known people who have lived in other apartment buildings in the city, many of them in the same area or close to where I am. I have never been asked to do such things nor have I ever heard that anyone else has had to do them.

Is this a little excessive or does the apartment manager have just cause to ask us to basically waste water and heat (which, if course, we have to pay for in bills at the end of the month)? The weather reports are saying that the cold will be around 23-24, which I didn't think was freezing weather (but it might be for the pipes).

Any feedback? I am doing what she is asking (mainly because her threats were pretty obnoxious in the note and she's not usually like that) but I'm wondering if that's excessive.

Tam

[High_Plains_Retired]

Hi Tam,

That seems excessive for the temps we expect to have this weekend and certainly for pipes inside a heated apartment. Normally-designed water pipes around the South Plains normally start to freeze and burst when the temps get into the teens and remain that way for several days. If the pipes are all inside and shielded from any wind this weekend, you should expect no problems. In extreme and lasting cold weather, inside pipes on north-facing walls will always freeze first. My kitchen sink is on my north wall and during the rare times when it gets down to the teens for more than a day, I let the faucet drip and leave my cabinet doors under the sink open. And too 65 degrees is significantly warmer than what my single wood pellet stove keeps my old farm house.

In this 20 degree weather, the key is to keep any wind off exposed water pipes.

As a former South Plains landlord, it's likely your landlord has suffered costly plumbing repairs from broken water pipes in the past. As an apartment complex, your landlord's letter is probably aimed at all her apartments when in fact, she has only a few that are bad about freezing. Your landlord is just taking protective precautions that, may or may not be, overly protective. Based on what you have said, I'm guessing overly protective. Exposed water pipes will certainly freeze during periods of extended temps in the 20s. However, they normally don't start bursting until the teens.

[tammay]

Thanks, HighPlainsRetired. I really appreciate your perspective. I called my apartment manager and she explained the situation and that it was just a precaution. She mentioned keeping the heat on (but I didn't have to keep it above 62) and the sink cabinets open but that I could wait until evening to open the faucets just to a very small drip. That makes me feel a lot better, as my main concern was that I was wasting a lot of water (and we know how the South Plains cannot afford to waste water!)

Tam

[High_Plains_Retired]

It looks like Tuesday night the low is supposed to be around 18 degrees! I suppose I had better make sure my heat tape is working at my well house. I have some small pipes out there that I sometimes to have to watch closely..

Winter is here I guess. Good luck!

[losttechnician]

Sounds like the landlord is well aware of poor insulation around water pipes in your apartment. From experience, I know some older homes have poor or non-existent insulation in outside walls in the kitchen areas. I had a home in Muleshoe that I learned the first year about frozen water in the kitchen. It burst and caused me several headaches repairing, so from then on I kept the cabinet doors open and the heat up when it got below freezing for more than a couple of days. That home was built in the 50's and was very poorly insulated.

[High_Plains_Retired]

Ah yes. Muleshoe and frozen water pipes. Not so sweet memories. Our former rent house there was probably built in the 1930s. It took me one cold winter to learn that the broken stucco on the north-facing lower wall and shielding the kitchen water pipes needed to be repaired.

It was still snowing this morning over here northeast of Lubbock. I'm not good at estimating snowfall but I'm guessing we received about 2", possibly 3" last night.

[shoe01]

Originally Posted by High_Plains_Retired

Ah yes. Muleshoe and frozen water pipes. Not so sweet memories. Our former rent house there was probably built in the 1930s. It took me one cold winter to learn that the broken stucco on the north-facing lower wall and shielding the kitchen water pipes needed to be repaired.

It was still snowing this morning over here northeast of Lubbock. I'm not good at estimating snowfall but I'm guessing we received about 2", possibly 3" last night.

Apparently Muleshoe got nine inches last night...

[AfroAmericanofColor]

Originally Posted by tammay

Hi All,
I live in an apartment complex not far from campus and I just got a notice from the apartment manager that I need to take a bunch of steps because the predicted freezing weather might freeze the pipes.

I have to keep the heat on at 65 degrees 24/7, as well as keep a steady drip in the hot and cold faucets for both the bathroom and the kitchen 24/7. I also have to keep the cabinets to the faucets (kitchen and bathroom) open 24/7.

I have lived in several apartment buildings in Lubbock for 5 years and have also known people who have lived in other apartment buildings in the city, many of them in the same area or close to where I am. I have never been asked to do such things nor have I ever heard that anyone else has had to do them.

Is this a little excessive or does the apartment manager have just cause to ask us to basically waste water and heat (which, if course, we have to pay for in bills at the end of the month)? The weather reports are saying that the cold will be around 23-24, which I didn't think was freezing weather (but it might be for the pipes).

Any feedback? I am doing what she is asking (mainly because her threats were pretty obnoxious in the note and she's not usually like that) but I'm wondering if that's excessive.

Tam

First, understand that cold has no effect on the steel pipe, but that water expands when it freezes inside the pipe causing them to burst. When the pipe is underground, there shouldn't be any problem. It is the exposed pipes outside that are the problem. Running water also won't freeze which is the reason for dripping the water at the faucet. The problem in the past with everyone in the city dripping their water is that it tended to lower the city's water pressure quite a bit.
You know, this would be a good question for people living up in Nebraska or Minnesota who get below zero quite a bit. It makes no sense to drip the hot water as it would help keep all the pipes within the house from freezing. If wrapping the pipes outside will keep the water from freezing within them, then being that the apartment is wrapped around the pipes it should keep them from freezing.
They also have heated wraps to put around pipes.
The dripping of the hot water makes no sense. That would actually make the situation worse.