Water pipe question (Celeste: houses, water heater, cabinets)

[AMJ27]

This might be a dumb question, but why is there such a risk for pipes freezing here? I've lived most of my life in the midwest where it is as cold as it is today for months on end and we are never warned or concerned about pipes freezing. Do they use different types of pipes in the south than they do in the north?

[RooCeleste]

Yes, there is a definite risk of pipes freezing here. Either drip or wrap your outside pipes (but DON'T do both or you'll have a huge mess!), open cabinets under inside faucets, and drip them.

[ROY DUBOSE]

we have low water pressure in the hot water line of our addition that's on an outside mounted tankless water heater -- sorta strange as the cold line is operating fine -- we've opened the tub hot water to pull water through the line in hopes of thawing the restriction -- hope it works!

[jobert]

Originally Posted by RooCeleste

Yes, there is a definite risk of pipes freezing here. Either drip or wrap your outside pipes (but DON'T do both or you'll have a huge mess!), open cabinets under inside faucets, and drip them.

I thawed my exterior faucets with hot water and turned them on to drip overnight. When I came out this morning, the exterior faucets were frozen again, but now they had icicles hanging off of them.

It all seemed rather pointless.

[woodinvilleguy]

Originally Posted by AMJ27

This might be a dumb question, but why is there such a risk for pipes freezing here? I've lived most of my life in the midwest where it is as cold as it is today for months on end and we are never warned or concerned about pipes freezing. Do they use different types of pipes in the south than they do in the north?

When we lived in Seattle, pipes froze and burst a lot. not a good think to happen. We had to use the covers there too and they would still freeze up.

Our pipes are not as insulated as they are in the midwest for one. And houses here are built for the heat not the cold, no basements, less wall insulation.

[Trainwreck20]

Many water pipes in Texas are run through the walls for longer stretches, as opposed to colder climates where the design has the pipes in the foundation for all but the last little stretch. The biggest culprit is often a faucet next to the garage, since it is 'insulated' only by an exterior wall with a cold garage on the 'warm' side.

If you drip your faucet, that will keep a slow, steady flow of warmer water to prevent freezing. If your faucet has re-frozen before morning, you probably did not drip enough and are at some risk for water-pipe rupture, which you will not know about until the frozen line thaws again. Although it may seem pointless, try dealing with a ruptured water pipe - especially if you have left for work before it becomes evident .

[RooCeleste]

Originally Posted by jobert

I thawed my exterior faucets with hot water and turned them on to drip overnight. When I came out this morning, the exterior faucets were frozen again, but now they had icicles hanging off of them.

It all seemed rather pointless.

My family has always wrapped outside pipes with cloth and plastic, long before the days of the thick insulated covers that my husband and I now use. We've never dripped outside faucets but that was one of the recommendations the Statesman gave yesterday. I'll stick to my covers which (crossing fingers...) have worked well for us.

[lemonegg]

It got to be the way the houses are built in Texas. Take the outside faucets for example. When I lived in NJ, the house had a shutoff valves to the faucets inside the house. Before winter I would turn those 2 values off, then turn on outside faucets to drain them. Pipes can't burst if theres no water in 'em. I lived in 2 houses in Texas and neither of them had that type of setup. So I keep both external faucets wrapped and hope.

Also from what I seen house in Texas has more pipes running against the external walls in the bathrooms than in the northeast.

[rickc007]

Originally Posted by RooCeleste

Yes, there is a definite risk of pipes freezing here. Either drip or wrap your outside pipes (but DON'T do both or you'll have a huge mess!), open cabinets under inside faucets, and drip them.

This ^

I went to drip my outside ones at about 10PM last night.

One I couldn't turn, handle was frozen. The other opened, but nothing came out.

Luckily a few pots of hot water opened both of them.
Been dripping nice all night.

Learned last year when even my inside pipes froze.
Had no hot water in the shower.

Do NOT a bursted pipe, I drip quite a few of the inside ones as well

[woodinvilleguy]

Anyone know if Pex plumbing deal better with freezing? I would imagine it would work better than rigid plumbing but that is just a guess.