Burst Pipe in unused vacation home (Lowes, drain, stove, sinks)
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All homes in areas that have freeze conditions and are not occupied need freeze alarms. You would have been notified of the drop in temperature at the house immediately.
We had installed a simple one that operated on a 9V battery. We attached a battery pack with eight D cells batteries to provide additional power needed during an extended power outage. It called our cell phones using the home landline which rarely loses power even during major storms and other power outages, including downed trees and power lines.
All homes in areas that have freeze conditions and are not occupied need freeze alarms. You would have been notified of the drop in temperature at the house immediately.
We had installed a simple one that operated on a 9V battery. We attached a battery pack with eight D cells batteries to provide additional power needed during an extended power outage. It called our cell phones using the home landline which rarely loses power even during major storms and other power outages, including downed trees and power lines.
Freeze alarms/auto notification have their uses, but if no one can reach the house to deal with whatever the problem is, they won't prevent damage. I've been involved with several types of auto notification alarms over the years but the real problem ended up being responding to the house when they did go off. Once I was the person a neighbor's low temp/freeze alarm notified. They were out of state. The idea was that I could get to the house in a timely manner. Well, there was at least 6' of hardpacked snow and storm damaged trees blocking their half mile driveway. The phone-based auto alarm continued to call and warn me about the temperature for 2 months...every 15 minutes 24/7. There was no way to cancel the alarm remotely, only at the transmitter in the house. Obviously it was a less sophisticated arrangement. Never never again.
Last edited by Parnassia; 01-10-2022 at 01:49 PM..
You get to cook , entertain guests and sit on the toilet all at once
I dont intend to entertain in a studio,there are plenty pf public places to meet-bars,cafes,malls.
But a loft would be nice,but we dont have lofts in TX
One caution.. a heat pump (mini split) will lose efficiency when it gets very cold. You can google and find the temperatures where they work well but I think its mainly above freezing temps. If it got cold enough to freeze pipes in the house, that might also be in the range where the heat pump may not work as well as you would like. Pex is good..
Scares me to think of my infloor heating breaking a pipe as it sounds hard to fix. But.. I think these generally have under 10 gallons of fluid in the system possibly limiting damage, could be wrong.
That's old info. They are installing mini splits up here in VT and NH these days.
That's old info. They are installing mini splits up here in VT and NH these days.
Nice! I was a little worried after reading some comments but you have calmed my fears! Glad to know our contractor is not leading us down the wrong path. He said he has other clients in the poconos heated solely using mini splits and they are working out very well. We will also have smart thermostats so we can turn up the heat with our phones before driving up to start getting the house to a comfortable temperature before our arrival.
Interesting. I wonder how much is the fancy one that's shuts off water for you costs...
So with PEX, what are the chances our pipes will still burst? We also plan on keeping the house heated at 40 degrees minimum once our mini splits are installed.
Interesting. I wonder how much is the fancy one that's shuts off water for you costs...
So with PEX, what are the chances our pipes will still burst? We also plan on keeping the house heated at 40 degrees minimum once our mini splits are installed.
Be careful...depending on where the plumbing runs in the structure (walls and crawls), keeping the rooms' interior at 40 may not be warm enough.
Last edited by Parnassia; 01-11-2022 at 03:23 PM..
Offering simple commiserations. Last March, I woke at 5am, put my feet out of bed to go to the bathroom and stepped into 6" of water. The water line running to the toilet tank broke. I never knew how much pressure those lines exerted until I reached down to turn the valve off and was almost blasted to the far wall.
We had a restoration company come in. Thank Bob we are built on concrete. Still, they tore out all the flooring, put what furniture we salvaged onto blocks, tore out all the baseboard and set up at least three heated dehumidifiers in each room. I'm not sure why the heat was necessary, but it raised the temperature inside our condo to 110 degrees. Thankfully, we have an RV we could use as a bug out camp during the four days the place was was being dehumidified and baked. Each day, a reading was taken to make sure the walls were drying. After that, it was several months of waiting for us as well. We didn't want to stay in the RV and put plastic on the concrete floor. IT WAS HELL.
Such an event shouldn't be considered a do-it-yerself task unless you get guidance from professionals. Thanks be that you aren't having to live with the damage. Even when you are assured that the insurance will cover it and professionals will fix it, the psychology of the event can be traumatic.
Be careful...depending on where the plumbing runs in the structure (walls and crawls), keeping the rooms' interior at 40 may not be warm enough.
I agree totally. I had a MIL apartment at one end of a historic home. I left for several days to visit my folks but left the heat on at 55. There were no power outages but the wind blew pretty hard against the kitchen wall. The pipes froze up (unbeknownst to me) and after bursting, my landlady and I spent a fun evening mopping up the kitchen floor. Fun times.
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