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

[kreeyax]

Dripping faucets was not adequate for myself and most of my neighbors. It simply got too cold for too long, without power to keep the house warm, and our attic pipes not completely underneath insulation (batt or blown) froze. What we should have done on Sunday night was turn the water off at the meter and drained all of the faucets, including the outside spigots. Turned down the hot water heaters to pilot as well so they don't boil over too. 80% of my neighbors have broken pipes, ruined carpet, sheetrock, insulation. What a mess.

[gwarnecke]

We left the water dripping Monday night. By Tuesday afternoon the water pressure had dropped to a trickle, we figured we might as well shut off water at the meter and drain the pipes. Also set both water heaters to pilot at the same time.

Lost power Tuesday night but kept power to the house with a small generator connected to a power inlet and interlocked breaker. Ran 1 out of our 3 furnaces at a time, rotating to keep temperatures reasonable in the house. Got power back Thursday morning and were finally brave enough to turn the water back on this morning. No leaks as far as I can tell.

Many of my neighbors experienced leaks, mostly minor but some major. If we ever go through another ordeal like this I'll just shut off my plumbing at the meter from the very beginning.

[oceangaia]

Originally Posted by kreeyax

Dripping faucets was not adequate for myself and most of my neighbors. It simply got too cold for too long, without power to keep the house warm, and our attic pipes not completely underneath insulation (batt or blown) froze. What we should have done on Sunday night was turn the water off at the meter and drained all of the faucets, including the outside spigots. Turned down the hot water heaters to pilot as well so they don't boil over too. 80% of my neighbors have broken pipes, ruined carpet, sheetrock, insulation. What a mess.

Yeah, dripping is to bridge a brief cold dip and presumes your house is providing some radiant heat. Even running water will freeze if it gets cold enough. Just google images of frozen waterfalls.

[Failed Engineer]

Probably the biggest takeaway is to shut off the main house supply and drain when power first goes out in any overnight freeze. Some additional inconvenience to save a lot of headache.

[oceangaia]

Originally Posted by Failed Engineer

Probably the biggest takeaway is to shut off the main house supply and drain when power first goes out in any overnight freeze. Some additional inconvenience to save a lot of headache.

When power goes out you are basically in the "vacant house" category, where the typical advice is to shut off and drain.

[BOORGONG]

Originally Posted by kreeyax

Dripping faucets was not adequate for myself and most of my neighbors. It simply got too cold for too long, without power to keep the house warm, and our attic pipes not completely underneath insulation (batt or blown) froze. What we should have done on Sunday night was turn the water off at the meter and drained all of the faucets, including the outside spigots. Turned down the hot water heaters to pilot as well so they don't boil over too. 80% of my neighbors have broken pipes, ruined carpet, sheetrock, insulation. What a mess.

The problem to address in the future I guess for Texas and warmer regions is the redesign of insulation for attics and the systems therein. Even a once in a century event would warrant some measures to prevent home disasters of that sort.

[airdrawndagger]

Originally Posted by BOORGONG

The problem to address in the future I guess for Texas and warmer regions is the redesign of insulation for attics and the systems therein. Even a once in a century event would warrant some measures to prevent home disasters of that sort.

I wonder if there will be a push to put water piping in the slab instead of attics moving forward. Obviously a huge hassle if something goes wrong underground, but the subsurface insulates much better than artificial insulation in an attic does. I've been told that prior to the '70s, many houses in the Houston area ran pipe belowground.

[WRM20]

Originally Posted by airdrawndagger

I wonder if there will be a push to put water piping in the slab instead of attics moving forward. Obviously a huge hassle if something goes wrong underground, but the subsurface insulates much better than artificial insulation in an attic does. I've been told that prior to the '70s, many houses in the Houston area ran pipe belowground.

Pipes are no longer allowed under the slab due to Houston's soil issues that resulted in huge repair bills when slabs cracked and broke the pipes. One solution is to run heat tape on the pipes. Our house was build on a slab in 1952, and the pipes are in the attic.

[kreeyax]

Originally Posted by airdrawndagger

I wonder if there will be a push to put water piping in the slab instead of attics moving forward. Obviously a huge hassle if something goes wrong underground, but the subsurface insulates much better than artificial insulation in an attic does. I've been told that prior to the '70s, many houses in the Houston area ran pipe belowground.

Or use PEX for new construction. My understanding is it's more freeze resistant, as it can expand some without rupturing.

[houston-nomad]

Originally Posted by kreeyax

Or use PEX for new construction. My understanding is it's more freeze resistant, as it can expand some without rupturing.

I wish I knew about this option. We just had our attic repiped in PVC. The contractor said, "PVC or copper?" In any case, our pipes were fine so I guess it wasn't a terrible decision.