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

[oceangaia]

Originally Posted by Arepa

So, arent many northern states under 32F for several months? Do they leave their faucets dripping every night during the winter?
I lived in CO for 2 years and never did this. Getting 30F nights was very common.

Not necessary at all until you get below mid-20's or less. Northern states have better insulated plumbing and it doesn't become necessary until lower temps, like single digits, but when it does get that low their advice is to drip.

[kitty61]

Not enough details. Selling? Reason to shut off the water? What type of dwelling? Mobile home, bungalow? I know a ton about mobile homes re this.

Your city comes to shut off the main valve for free if it's city water.
City water dept will know what you should do - coming from the experts.

[WRM20]

Originally Posted by oceangaia

No, they aren't and on top of that, your insurance company might not cover your damages if you didn't follow this nearly universal advice to prevent damage. City of Houston is just throwing it's citizens under the bus to cover it's own vested interests and their advice flies in the face of nearly everyone else. Let's see, who knows more about freezing? Chicago, Minneapolis, Cleveland, Boston, or Houston?


Google "let faucets drip in freeze" and you'll find every result but one - the one from KHOU saying City of Houston says not to let it drip - advising to leave faucets dripping. If "low pressure" is such a problem from faucets dripping, then how come no other city in the nation seems to have this problem?

Houston doesn't generally use water towers to create water pressure, it uses pumps. The pumps aren't designed for every dwelling to have an open faucet at the same time.

We followed a suggestion to set our washing machine on delay start and let it run a short cycle. That worked - it ran at 2.30 am, and no issues with our pipes. Since our water heater is on the back wall of the house, we ran hot water as well.

[gwarnecke]

Is anyone concerned about buried water shutoffs freezing? I covered/insulated ours to be safe (and left a faucet dripping at each end of the house).

[gwarnecke]

Originally Posted by gwarnecke

Is anyone concerned about buried water shutoffs freezing? I covered/insulated ours to be safe (and left a faucet dripping at each end of the house).

A couple of neighbors have just reported that they've lost water...wondering if this is what caused it.

[my54ford]

Let it drip to fill your tubs. If they do shut off the water at least you can have water to flush toilets'...

[EDS_]

Originally Posted by jerbear30

I know the city is suggesting to shut off water "at front of house." The city maintains that if we all leave water dripping through the night, we'll lose pressure and then everyone will be in trouble. Thus I want to shut off the water but alas, most plumbers seem to be advising the opposite--to keep faucets dripping.

Currently I am going with the plumbers--I have the water dripping from several faucets in my house. Here's my reasoning: I don't have the tool for shutting off water at the street so that's not an option, and the valve that shuts off water to my house is a 90 degree "ball" valve, which according to at least one plumber means that water will be trapped in the valve and if it really freezes, will bust the whole valve. Also, I heard from another person that if you shut the water off while you are home, the insurance won't cover any water damages. That would be a horrendous bill.

I am writing this to seek advice. If the city is right, I'd hate to be a part of the problem but if the plumbers are right, I could be in big trouble if I shut off the water at the house. What are you doing and why?

1. If your quarter turn ball valve is covered with a snug fitting plastic lid and more than about 7-10" deep or more it's not going to freeze.

2. After all this blows over buy a proper water key......make sure you can both removed the metal (99% chance it's metal) cover - it'll likely be keyed with a little 1/4 moon looking opening plus the key for your valve.

2.1. After all this passes make sure you are able to turn the ball valve by hand. If it has been fixed open for years it may be stuck.

In your situation I'd dribble water.

[EDS_]

Originally Posted by oceangaia

When we moved to Texas 35 years ago from a northern state, we laughed at this idiotic advice. Every home in a subdivision with a dripping faucet doesn't amount to one person running a shower at full blast, and think of how many people hit the shower at around 7am on a weekday morning.

I tend to agree........we are in Dallas all our outside spigots are plumber built drain back types that simply cannot freeze - they are empty. Save one old school spigot line that runs over the garage and ends on a cold garage wall.

I let that thing dribble pretty hard, at ~10 drops per minute it'll freeze at 17 or so, via a 5 gallon bucket measurement I'm wasting a shade more than 1 gallon per hour at a rate of maybe 40 drops per minute - wild guess.

[UMN2BE]

Originally Posted by Arepa

So, arent many northern states under 32F for several months? Do they leave their faucets dripping every night during the winter?
I lived in CO for 2 years and never did this. Getting 30F nights was very common.

Here in MN it was -20F a few days ago (-2F as we speak) and I've never heard of leaving faucets open overnight. However, the inside of our home is heated to 68F around the clock. Supply lines to the house are buried below the frost line (something like 6 or 7 feet below the front door) so that's not an issue, and all water pipes must run in interior walls which are warm. We still have the original 60-year-old copper water pipes that are in pristine condition.

We've only had an issue with a outdoor spigot once - I do shut off the water to those every winter and drain them.

[oceangaia]

Originally Posted by WRM20

Houston doesn't generally use water towers to create water pressure, it uses pumps. The pumps aren't designed for every dwelling to have an open faucet at the same time.

We followed a suggestion to set our washing machine on delay start and let it run a short cycle. That worked - it ran at 2.30 am, and no issues with our pipes. Since our water heater is on the back wall of the house, we ran hot water as well.

The pumps aren't designed to run without electricity either. Some parts of the city have normal water pressure and some have no water at all. I highly doubt some parts of the city all left their faucets open and some parts kept them closed.