Should I let my faucets drip tonight? (Cedar Park, Mart: Home Depot, live)

[woodinvilleguy]

Originally Posted by hiskitten

We've put on the covers & are letting the faucets drip tonight. One night won't break our bill, but if a pipe bursts we're screwed.

Just FYI, my neighbor came over this morning asking for help b/c a pipe burst in her house. My husband had to help her turn the water off at the street. AND, my folks walked in after shopping to find their kitchen and dining room ceilings on their floors and their house filled with water. They had been gone 2 hours and the water just flooded their house. The repair guy told them they were swamped right now and to expect it to be a month before they could put their house back together (a few days for the pipes, a few days for the adjuster and a few weeks replacing flooring, ceilings, painting, etc). Granted, these are both older homes, but we're not taking any chances!

Just wondering, how old is the house and is it a slab or pier construction?

[kiacook]

Frozen and burst pipes were a major problem last night and today! Burst pipes punish unprepared residents | KXAN.com

[jmitchell]

Originally Posted by Taterhead

How do you let them drip if they are covered? Ours are frozen this morning and won't turn on. Should we thaw them out and get them dripping? they were covered with styrofoam and wrapped with a towel too.

Debbie

I meant covering the pipe part below the faucet, but not covering the actual faucet opening. Sorry for any confusion. But I'm no more of an expert about this than the average person here, I've just been googling and reading about stuff and could be wrong in my interpretation of what I've read.

Hope there are no more burst pipes tonight - seems like the weather might be a little warmer.

[Taterhead]

Tips from my neighbor who lived in the cold weather in Kansas, doesn't sound like you should let them drip

The styro covers are okay but wrap them with a towel to lock out the cold air and any warm air from inside will keep the faucet from busting. Drip them open if you want and that helps but it can also lend itself when it gets below 10 degrees, to providing an open freezing conduit into your pipes which, you don't want.

You can take the Christmas lights you just took down, and wrap those around your faucets and plug them in under and around your faucet. This will provide some heat, enough to keep the faucets from totally locking up and busting. C9 lights work better, but the little white ones work too.

Drop lights. The cheap automotive drop lights you find at Auto Zone or Wal-Mart can be hung on your exterior faucet and screw in a 60 Watt bulb. The heat from the bulb and bulb cover will rise into the faucet and keep it from freezing/busting. This is the preferred method over the Xmas lights.

Marine Engine block heater with timer: You can find these at Marine shops, mostly up North though and you can order them online. These have thermometers and switch on and off. If you get one of these and hang it on your faucet with a larger covering, you can eliminate the problem totally.

Fool-Proof Method: I found the lines in my walls running to my exterior faucets and busted through the drywall and put ball valves on them so when it gets this cold, I shut off the valves and drain the lines. No worries.Jholtke

[xsloane]

I guess opening the cabinet door works if you have underground piping... We have attic piping and we let the water drip the last three nights everywhere in our house (hot and cold). We tought we were safe today, but this morning one of our bathrooms cold water (faucet) did not work, but we got it to work after a little while and we shut the water everywhere after that. Well, what do you know? Now, not even 2 hours later, both our bathrooms have frozen cold water pipers (faucets)... What to do? Just wait? Temps are still pretty low right now (29F) and I don't know if they will get to 50 like they say. Any good advice out there?

[hiskitten]

Originally Posted by woodinvilleguy

Just wondering, how old is the house and is it a slab or pier construction?

Our houses were built in '81 & my folks house was built in '78. Both slab foundations...

[CptnRn]

Originally Posted by pbnj07

I'm not saying that it's not possible and I'm sure there are stories of it happening here in Austin.

I've experienced the kind of extended cold it takes to freeze pipes and my point is simply that 1 or 2 nights of sub-30 degree weather is hardly something to worry about.

Austin news, sports, weather, Longhorns, business | Statesman.com

Capt. Marc Saenz with the Austin Fire Department said that between 6 a.m. and noon, there were 26 calls to fire officials about busted pipes due to the hard freeze. He urged citizens to determine where the water cut-off valve is for their homes as the water started to thaw this afternoon.

Hardly a laughing matter if you have a freeze broken water line.

[CptnRn]

Originally Posted by xsloane

I guess opening the cabinet door works if you have underground piping... We have attic piping and we let the water drip the last three nights everywhere in our house (hot and cold). We tought we were safe today, but this morning one of our bathrooms cold water (faucet) did not work, but we got it to work after a little while and we shut the water everywhere after that. Well, what do you know? Now, not even 2 hours later, both our bathrooms have frozen cold water pipers (faucets)... What to do? Just wait? Temps are still pretty low right now (29F) and I don't know if they will get to 50 like they say. Any good advice out there?

You can go buy some heat tape and install it on the water lines in your attic that lead to that area. Lowes on Brodie Lane still had quite a bit of the longer lenghts when I was there 2 days ago.

Alternatively you could put a small space heater aiming towards the undersink area, after removing all flammables, to warm up the pipes. Warming up any part of the pipes can eventually result in heat conducting to the frozen areas and melting them. If you don't have a heater, a trouble light with an incandescent bulb can work, it puts out a fair amount of heat. Again avoid starting a fire by keeping it away from flammable materials.

Letting the hot water run slowly in other faucets that do work can help warm up all of the water lines and could help thaw out the frozen spot.

[CptnRn]

Originally Posted by marylee54

In a pinch you can wrap outdoor pipes with newspaper and duct tape. The stores are sold out of those cover things.

I just use old bath towels tied on with a cord. If rain threatens I wrap them with a plastic garbage bag, or baggie, or saran wrap to keep the towel dry, wet towels don't insulate as well. I think this is superior to the sytrofoam things, they have only a half inch or so if insulation. A towel gives you 3-4 inches and seals better against the house wall.

[pbnj07]

OK, the idiot stands corrected....my apologies.

I think it was a case of severe denial because I wanted to believe the days of worrying about extreme cold were over. Live and learn. I was spared this time around.

By the way, where can I buy some of those foam covers for the next freeze?