The pipes at my place must be much more insulated than those in Houston. I live in Northwest Arkansas, where it's only been above 20 once this week, with lows consistently in the single digits. I haven't had a single problem with freezing pipes at my place.
We had the exact same thing this morning. 2 hours ago a pipe burst in my attic and we have a major catastrophe at my house. TURN YOUR WATER OFF IMMEDIATELY!!! What a disaster.
Different building codes in Houston. Since temps in the lower twenties/teens are rare, homebuilders don't have to have a higher grade of pipe/insulation. In my county, eventhough it's not a costal county, homes have to be built with wind/hurricane straps, that's probably not in the building codes up north. In 1989 it got to 7 degrees in Houston, my parents had a major pipe break as did most of our neighbors. When we moved and had a new home built my Dad paid a few thousand more in upgrades to get pipes installed that were rated for northern winters.
sorry to hear that. i have several friends here in austin who had something happen last night. i guess im lucky in that nothing burst - i just have no hot water. i still cant get the pilot light lit (it sparks, but thats it) so ive given up and called the plumber, but they cant get out till monday. i was able to get a shower in w/ what was left, but it ran out. oddly, even though the water heater hasnt been on since this morning, i was just doing dishes and i had the hot water on and it was coming out hot.
For the homeowners. Even living in Houston you should still insulate your hot water pipes to save energy.
this morning an exposed pvc sprinkler pipe bust for us. Some cap flew off and water was gushing out. We were the first on the street to have this issue but more and more people had this problem throughout the day. We shut off the valve and water pressure was somewhat restored. I have figured out that it is called a vacuum breaker, and the bonnet flew off. I know plumbers will be charging a ton to fix this within the next few days. The parts aren't at home depot- does anyone know where I can find the correct stuff and how to fix it?
<i>Google</i> (or your preferred <i>Search Engine</i>) is your friend. Start here and then <i>Search</i> again (if needed) until you find what you need. Sprinkler Warehouse
same with me...woke up with no water. It was frozen at the main valve so i took a hair dryer to unfreeze it. But later in that day my sprinkler system pipe busted out of no where. Had to turn off the valve for that one.
Yep let me join in too, pipes have also burst, good thing a friend was able to fix it since it's a weekend...note to self: don't be cheap and let the water run pencil width next time
same here!! It was the sprinkler system, and as other posters pointed out they had the same problem. My condolences to the person that had it burst in the attic, that must have been hell.
Ditto here in OK. Dipped below zero a few times and still no issues with pipes freezing at all. People hardly even mention stuff like that around here. Guess it comes with being used to it.
Same thing happened to my sprinkler system - some cap came off of the top of the pipe where the water pipe comes up out of the ground and then goes back in. I turned off the flow valve, but now I have to fix the dang thing.
Sorry to hear from everyone whose pipse have burst during this freeze. Hope you'll get those repaired quickly and cheaply! My neighbor's vacuum cap on his sprinkler line also popped off and water was shooting up like a geiser. My backyard neighbor saw it and thought it was mine but it was actually my side neighbor. Nobody was home so I went back there and turned off his sprinkler valve. Luckily I had turned mine off after receiving a voicemail from the City of Pearland advising us to shut off the water to sprinkler systems. Good luck to everyone with burst pipes and hopefully the warmup helps...
