It is now raining in my area with 25 degree weather. How the **** does that even happen? All that rain gonna turn into ice.
If you shut the main off and turn on all the faucets (hot and cold), flush the toilets, turn on the washer (warm to clear the hot and cold lines), outside faucets, etc you will have drained all your lines. Any water remaining in the pipes would have plenty of room to expend to the point that the pipes won't burst. It's pretty much the foolproof way to make sure you won't have a problem. The bad thing is you'll be without water obviously. The main thing there is to release the pressure on the line because when water freezes it will expand and break your pipe if there isn't room to expand. The option I'd choose if possible - because I like water - is winterize the outside faucets (even towels and duct tape will work) and run (not drip) every item in the house every couple of hours if you have heat or every hour if you don't. Hot and cold, washer, toilets, etc. Dripping works if it's going to get below freezing for 12-18 hours or so. After that you better get the flow moving more so it can't freeze. Too late for that info now but if it does happen again, you can be prepared. Could save you a ton of headaches as some will find out.
Now that things are semi-attempting to think about maybe thawing outside, I'm about to fill bathtubs and buckets and do just that.
It does make sense, depending on context. Water expands appx 9% in solid state. If the water can't expand, it will not freeze. Heat will remain trapped. If you're at 25-32 degrees, it probably makes more sense not to drain your water lines as the PVC piping can prevent the water from freezing and expanding/retaining the heat. A steady trickle when its 25 outside will ensure the water never gets that cold in your pipes as its much warmer underground. But its different story when you're sitting at 0 degrees and no heat in the house. If you open all your faucets and try to drain everything, the water will freeze much much quicker. All you need is at least 10% of your water line to be empty to prevent the pipes from shattering when it does freeze. and if your faucets are open, the ice can expand down the pipe instead of outward and shattering the pipes. I dont want to claim its 100% foolproof, but still beats doing nothing.
The other day there was a large amount of water frozen below my exterior spigot. It was wrapped in insulation and duck tape. I did not let them drip. The line is towards the front of the garage away from the rest of the house (but connected/the garage is the front of the house, room above). I only have the main shut off valve outside. I dropped the inside sinks and left cabinets open. There was no water in the garage, no condensation on the wall on the inside of the garage or outside (where I assume that line runs parallel to the ground). is this a guaranteed pipe burst that is just frozen at the moment waiting to thaw and unleash its damage? I’m really hoping I accidentally opened the valve while wrapping it and that was all from drip?
Sorry, Im not a plumber and nothing I say should be taken as advice. Did you have the water shut off before the freeze? Its possible the water could be forced out of the valve before freezing. The valve could have been the weak point instead of the pipe (assuming the pipe is some form of steel and not PVC) ... or the valve could have a mechanism that releases water at a certain pressure. If you dont have running water now, you might want to go ahead and shut off the main valve (if you haven't already) and open a few faucets. That way when they do unthaw and you do have a busted line, it wont flood everything. Im not sure why this information isn't being propagated to reduce risks of serious property damage.
Okay, so a bunch of us request keeping this non-D&D, just so we can check up on people and get information and stories... and you follow that up with a misinformed tweet from a known tribe-over-truth hack, someone who delighted in making fun of other states when they had energy problems, all just to secure a few extra votes or donations. Okay. For anyone interested, some nice factual articles have been posted in this thread about what happened to the TX energy grid, absent left or right spin. Here's a fairly balanced one, and apologies if already posted: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/bu...ower-prices-spiking-across-Texas-15951684.php excerpt: "The hit to power generation came as frigid weather froze wind turbines and forced outages among natural gas and other power plants. Most of the power knocked offline came from thermal sources, Woodfin said, particularly natural gas. Natural gas supplies for electric generation are already strained in the winter, the peak season for gas used for heating, adding pressure to supplies used to generate electricity. The Texas Railroad Commission, which regulates oil and natural gas in the state, said Monday afternoon that some producers, especially in the Permian Basin and Panhandle, were experiencing unprecedented freezing conditions, causing concern for employee safety and affecting production. As part of its statewide response, the commissioners issued an emergency order on Friday evening to manage shortages of natural gas, requiring gas to first be delivered to residences, hospitals, schools, churches and other locations that meet human needs, then to power plants and then to industrial users." Article also has some valuable quotations from people in the industry and people who study the industry for a living. I didn't see any quotes from political hacks.
Anyone live in the upper Kirby area? My oldest daughter lives in an apartment near 59 and Buffalo Speedway and hasn't had power the last few days and is under a boil water edict so no water. Her apartment temps are in the 50s and she was running low on food, so she walked to Lakewood Church this AM. They gave her a bottle of water and a half of a PBJ. She found a place on the floor near a power outlet and is recharging her cell phones. I think the local HEB is open but last time she was there they were pretty picked over. Anyone familiar with that area that can let me know how the roads are down there? I would like to drive there from Montgomery to get her out of there since it doesn't sound like they will have power any time soon. My normal drive there is Hardy to 610 to 59 to Kirby exit. Is any of that unsafe from black ice? Thanks in advance!
A pipe burst somewhere in my house. Carpet got wet in one room before I realized the problem and shut the water off. So that sucks. I did want to replace the floor in that room anyways so there’s that. All the plumbers I call have full voicemail boxes.
Lol I know But I needed to ask someone! Did not shut off water as there have been no issues inside. Yah I have all the lines dripping. I get up in the middle of the night and flush toilets and make sure water is still dripping. I got alerts from home owners insurance abt what to do and I thought I did everything right but I guess i should have left them drip. I read some houston stuff too and they don’t recommend dripping because of concerns for water pressure/backfill. All the news outlets have had tips. Chambers of commerce and cities have been sending out info. I know some legislators were tweeting and posting links and tips. You’d think people would be okay with phone alerts with advice but people still b**** about the amber alerts on their phone and “don’t text while driving” signs. my assumption is for my situation that if the pipe burst it will be that area and therefore either flood outside or into the garage. I’m tempted to go cut away at the Sheetrock now and see if there is any signs of freezing...
Got my in laws to my house but afraid of what may be happening at their house. Their Neighbors pipes bursted and I may make the drive to check on their house.
My neighborhood is with some private water company whose equipment must be very sensitive cause they shut it off regularly. So I doubt I've had service since Sunday. I've had the water main shut off and drained the pipes. Now just waiting for the company to turn the water back on. Hoping for no bursts.
