Texans, Notice! hard freeze due Thur 22nd !

core-aggie

core-aggie

Joined
Jun 28, 2022
Messages
639
Location
Texas
NOTICE! : hard freeze anticipated for next Thur 22nd, so do your pipe wrap shopping *now*, and preparation for it.
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We had two pipes burst in Feb 2021, one in attic and one out in barn (one foot underground).
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Below freezing temps to follow Fri-Sun.
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We are to be down to 12 on Wednesday the 21st in the real north Texas so you should be good. Had an 18 degree morning earlier this week. Nothing froze except my butt.
 
Mophead said:
We are to be down to 12 on Wednesday the 21st in the real north Texas so you should be good. Had an 18 degree morning earlier this week. Nothing froze except my butt.
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Are you on a well ?

If yes, do you shut off the pump and turn off the main feed line leading out of the pressure tank (and open all faucets to relieve pressure) ?

Or do you leave it on , and set all faucets to drip?

Our pump is far underground, but I've read some articles to still turn it off and relieve pressure at faucets.


And we actually had a surprise freeze last night - even right now, the temp is at 27F. Good thing I wrapped pipes yesterday afternoon... I didn't discover the freeze warning until this morning ... last night I checked before bedtime, and it was supposed to only get to 33-34F
 
Are any of your plumbing pipes (inside the house),on an exterior wall(s)?What purpose would there be to relieving pressure?
 
Jethro said:
Are any of your plumbing pipes (inside the house), on an exterior wall(s)?What purpose would there be to relieving pressure?
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I'm simply paraphrasing what I read in an article just yesterday. The idea, I guess, is to open all faucets and let the residual water drain off, after you've turned things off.


Feb 2021 , during our major sub-freeze event here, we had a pipe burst in the attic . (and one in the barn). It ruptured after I turned on the pump and opened the main feed line. I probably should have waited another day to turn everything on.

Plumbers were overwhelmed with calls from many with the same issue. I went to local Lowe's and Home Depot that day and they were both sold out of shark bites. I ended up standing in a line for 2 hours at a plumbing supply shop and was able to get one there.

Keep in mind, sub-freezing here in this part of Texas is not typical, so we're not used to knowing how to prepare, other than what one reads in an article :)

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I understand. Just thinking how things have changed. (Not saying the c word change).Guess we’d all be better off for heating as well as refrigeration if homes were built to northern USA/ Canada building codes.Pay-back in energy savings.
 
Usually when it gets this cold my bike may "pee" a little coolant. No more than a silver dollar spot. Probably because the hoses have contracted due to the cold. Summer time I get no peeing.
 
Spent 5yrs in Texas, wonderful people, but they only know one use for ice and that is to cool their drinks. No way, no how, is any pipe exposed here in NE. Nope. Wouldn't take much forethought to simply put the piping on the heated side of walls when they build stuff down there. That pipe in the attic pic is hilarious.
 
rwthomas1 said:
Spent 5yrs in Texas, wonderful people, but they only know one use for ice and that is to cool their drinks. No way, no how, is any pipe exposed here in NE. Nope. Wouldn't take much forethought to simply put the piping on the heated side of walls when they build stuff down there. That pipe in the attic pic is hilarious.
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It gets worse. Local city code here for irrigation requires an anti-syphon valve to be exposed and standing 36" above the ground. Even when the lines are shut off, if they are not evacuated with air pressure, you will have a burst pipe. You can pretty much walk the neighborhood after a hard freeze once it warms up and see water running out of everyone's yard from those that forgot. This included me the first year, I thought shutting water off and opening the relief valve would be enough. Nope!

Another bizarre thing they do is put the tankless water heaters on the exterior of the house or in the attic. They freeze and burst pretty quickly if you have a day or two below freezing. I have traditional water heaters in closets, but almost all of my friend's homes are in the attic, just waiting to fail.

Anyway, interesting how the building codes allow or sometimes require these type of things that will cause failures. First thing I have done in both homes I purchased was add about 3 feet of blown in insulation. Helps tremendously with heating/cooling bills and general comfort of the home.

Ryan
 
Ryan_B said:
I have traditional water heaters in closets, but almost all of my friend's homes are in the attic, just waiting to fail.
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Yep, we have two traditional water heaters, both in attic (house built in late 70's, we bought four years ago) ... the "pipe pic" previously shown is a line feeding one of those water heaters.
 
core-aggie said:
Yep, we have two traditional water heaters, both in attic (house built in late 70's, we bought four years ago) ... the "pipe pic" previously shown is a line feeding one of those water heaters.
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www.homedepot.com

Everbilt 1/2 in. x 6 ft. Foam Self-Seal Pipe Insulation ORS05812 - The Home Depot

For an economical and energy efficient way to help prevent your pipes from freezing use the Everbilt Self Sealing Foam Pipe Insulation. This insulation is fire-rated helping ensure safety. Product R-Value
www.homedepot.com
 
core-aggie said:
Yep, we have two traditional water heaters, both in attic (house built in late 70's, we bought four years ago) ... the "pipe pic" previously shown is a line feeding one of those water heaters.
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Mellow said:
www.homedepot.com

Everbilt 1/2 in. x 6 ft. Foam Self-Seal Pipe Insulation ORS05812 - The Home Depot

For an economical and energy efficient way to help prevent your pipes from freezing use the Everbilt Self Sealing Foam Pipe Insulation. This insulation is fire-rated helping ensure safety. Product R-Value
www.homedepot.com
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Thanks Joe !!

All four of those pipes are now wrapped and ready :)
 
As long as I lived in Houston, I never had any problems with frozen pipes using common sense... even if we lost power I was good.
 
rwthomas1 said:
Spent 5yrs in Texas, wonderful people, but they only know one use for ice and that is to cool their drinks. No way, no how, is any pipe exposed here in NE. Nope. Wouldn't take much forethought to simply put the piping on the heated side of walls when they build stuff down there. That pipe in the attic pic is hilarious.
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Root causes of the Feb 2021 debacle include deregulation of intrastate energy providers, ERCOT's rugged independence from federal regulation of energy providers, general disdain of common building codes in favor of developers, builders and property owner rights and short memories. There are three major electrical grids in the USA. The Western Interconnection, The Eastern Interconnection, and Texas. What happened in 2021 happened on a smaller scale in 2011 and 2014. It's ironic that the state that proclaims itself the Energy Capitol Of The World blacked out and lost power in most of the state when it could not meet surging demand that was met by all the other states affected by Winter Storm Uri. Because Texas chose to go it alone and use ERCOT's auction platform to set intrastate energy prices in a free market the providers entered a pricing race to the bottom and subsequentially could not invest over the last 20 years to upgrade their grids. We can point to building codes as the cause of residential and commercial plumbing failures but if Texas had a reliable (the R in ERCOT) grid and reciprocity with other states to share electricity the heat wouldn't have been shut off in rolling blackouts.

It wasn't part of the national dialogue at the time but the freeze black out contributed greatly to already troublesome supply chain disruptions plaguing us in 2021. Texas has essential breakbulk hubs serving the national logistics system and when people couldn't get to work for trying to tend to problems in homes and business the freight that comes into and out of Texas stopped for about 3 weeks and it took weeks after that for trucking companies, railroads, and distribution centers to dig out from under the backlog. What affected Texans spilled over to probably every state in the nation.
 
sherob said:
As long as I lived in Houston, I never had any problems with frozen pipes using common sense... even if we lost power I was good.
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Born and raised (65 now) mostly in surrounding Metro Houston area (Seabrook and Cypress mostly), I've NEVER had a frozen pipe or out of power more than an hour or two.

Until of course the catastrophic Valentine Freeze (Feb 2021) ... no power for 2-3 days.
 
Alabama doesn't usually deal with this, either. Add snow (half-inch) or ice (eighth-inch) and my neighbors are paralyzed.
I just shut off the water inside, to the outside faucets, leave a slight drip on downstairs faucets, and open the cabinet doors. Only when it's below freezing for several days, or, like this weekend, when it's in the teens.
Sometimes I wish I was back in my teens again, even though I was more stupid, I had more fun, it seems. At least that's how I remember things...
 
dduelin said:
Root causes of the Feb 2021 debacle include deregulation of intrastate energy providers, ERCOT's rugged independence
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Yep ! ... I guess we'll see if ERCOT made any improvements since Feb 2021 :)

It's 55F here at this moment, but predicted to be down to 15F Thur :/

Our Belgian Warmblood (a horse) isn't gonna be too happy either !
 
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