To shut of water at the house or to leave the faucets dripping--advice needed (Houston: credit, costs)

[Ghost Town]

Are your pipes frozen? Here is what you need to do right now
If water is not coming out of the faucet right now, there is a good chance your pipes may be frozen. But that doesn’t necessarily mean your pipes are busted, cracked, or broken. There are a few steps you can take right now to help prevent damage over the next few days.

If you haven’t already, shut off the water to your home immediately.

Do not attempt to thaw pipes without turning off the main shut-off valve. This way, if you do have a pipe burst, the damage would be limited since there will not be water to feed the leak.

If you can, fill up the bathtub with water before you shut it off.

(You may not have water flowing to do this.) Even if the water to your home is shut off you can still flush the toilet if you have water to add to the tank at the top.

Turn on the bathtub faucet or mainline into the house.

This way, when the pipes do start to thaw, there is an opening for water to drain through without building up pressure in the pipes. The pressure in the pipes could cause breaks.

“If your pipes are underground, it’s less likely the pipe is broken. It could be a pipe that is frozen in the attic, for example, pipes that go to the water heater,” said Jordan.

Should you try to thaw out pipes on your own?

There are conflicting reports if trying to thaw out your pipes is a good idea. You may hear about people using blow dryers or heating pads to thaw out frozen pipes. Jordan says to prevent damage to the pipes they are NOT recommending people try to thaw out their own pipes.

Your pipes are more likely to come out of this unbroken or cracked if you let them thaw out on their own when the weather warms up.
https://www.click2houston.com/news/l...-do-right-now/

[oceangaia]

There's really no way to know for sure which one will cause more damage, thawing your pipes or leaving them alone. If they are partially frozen and the temps are going to remain low, leaving them alone might result in them becoming more frozen and breaking.


Another advantage of leaving the faucets dripping (which is not a guarantee against pipes freezing) is that you'll know as soon as the pipes are blocked.


My daughter in law texted me last night that her roof collapsed and water was leaking and how does she get it to stop. I said shut the water off and she asked how to do that. Well, I don't know. Not that familiar with her house. Not like there is some universal standard like a stove is always in the kitchen. All I could tell her is look for a valve in the garage or utility room, if no luck look by the street for a cover to a meter box and try to turn off a valve in there. Otherwise, find a similar house design on the street, knock on the door, and maybe they know where it is. The lesson to this story is, everyone should find your shutoff valves and make sure they are accessible and operable when weather is good, so that you aren't frantically trying to do it when it is dark and sleeting and water is gushing through your house.

[mkwensky]

Any word on when water pressure will start to build up throughout the city? Any chance of that happening before Saturday?

[BOORGONG]

Originally Posted by Ghost Town

Are your pipes frozen? Here is what you need to do right now
If water is not coming out of the faucet right now, there is a good chance your pipes may be frozen. But that doesn’t necessarily mean your pipes are busted, cracked, or broken. There are a few steps you can take right now to help prevent damage over the next few days.

If you haven’t already, shut off the water to your home immediately.

Do not attempt to thaw pipes without turning off the main shut-off valve. This way, if you do have a pipe burst, the damage would be limited since there will not be water to feed the leak.

If you can, fill up the bathtub with water before you shut it off.

(You may not have water flowing to do this.) Even if the water to your home is shut off you can still flush the toilet if you have water to add to the tank at the top.

Turn on the bathtub faucet or mainline into the house.

This way, when the pipes do start to thaw, there is an opening for water to drain through without building up pressure in the pipes. The pressure in the pipes could cause breaks.

“If your pipes are underground, it’s less likely the pipe is broken. It could be a pipe that is frozen in the attic, for example, pipes that go to the water heater,” said Jordan.

Should you try to thaw out pipes on your own?

There are conflicting reports if trying to thaw out your pipes is a good idea. You may hear about people using blow dryers or heating pads to thaw out frozen pipes. Jordan says to prevent damage to the pipes they are NOT recommending people try to thaw out their own pipes.

Your pipes are more likely to come out of this unbroken or cracked if you let them thaw out on their own when the weather warms up.
https://www.click2houston.com/news/l...-do-right-now/

If your pipes are exposed under your house, the fact that they could freeze the whole length is a difficult problem to solve. You could run a heating wire the whole length and warm the pipes.

If only a small length is frozen, it usually occurs at an elbow or Tee joint. A hair drier does the trick but it can take a while. I've done it a number of times.

[oceangaia]

Originally Posted by mkwensky

Any word on when water pressure will start to build up throughout the city? Any chance of that happening before Saturday?

Some areas have normal pressure, some have low pressure, some have no pressure. I fear the true extent of the water problems will not be revealed until it warms up and we see just how many broken mains we have. It could take months to repair all the damage.

[Driver 47]

I've had pipes freeze, let the faucets drip. I don't worry until it gets below -5 below zero. Fast drip down as far as -20.

[WRM20]

Originally Posted by mkwensky

Any word on when water pressure will start to build up throughout the city? Any chance of that happening before Saturday?

City of Houston said we should see more pressure on Thursday, with more on Friday. At that point, I can turn my water heater back on.

[oceangaia]

Originally Posted by WRM20

City of Houston said we should see more pressure on Thursday, with more on Friday. At that point, I can turn my water heater back on.

I wonder if that is because they know people will stop dripping faucets or Centerpoint will start delivering electricity to their pumps?

[WRM20]

Originally Posted by oceangaia

I wonder if that is because they know people will stop dripping faucets or Centerpoint will start delivering electricity to their pumps?

They've been working 24/7 to get the backup generators for the pumps thawed out, according to the spokesperson. When the generators are up, the pumps can run.

[fnh]

Originally Posted by Ghost Town

City water?
How many users here are actually attached to the city water?
Maybe MUD water?

About ten years or so ago, our MUD in northwest Houston (near but not inside Jersey Village) connected into the City of Houston's water system to mitigate the subsidence of Jersey Village caused by pumping groundwater out of the aquifer below.

Our MUD now has the capacity to switch back and forth between aquifer and city water, so our neighborhood water was restored fairly quickly.