I already have one toilet on the north side of house that is frozen by pouring water vut it isn't filling. Guessing I should leave the valve open and for now I put a heating pad on it but.....anything I should be doing? Only pace heater is at my camper...doing nothing. Worried about my line to my water heater and to my washing machine...... any advice. for us warm weather Texans.

Pray for warmer weather. Not trying to be a smartazz, but the time to worry about is before they freeze. Afterwards is too late

Space heater? Insulate pipes if ongoing problem

Turn heat up . Get heat to any lines possible

This dad gum it global warming is for Oregon

Bwahahaha

Kill the water to your house and drain all lines to the best of your ability.

Open your other faucets to a trickle.
Flowing water won't freeze as easily and may help thaw the frozen spot
Ur lady got hair dryer?

Some stores sell "heat trace" essentially high resistance extension cords.

Go buy two or three space heaters and put them where they need to be.

Friggin heating pad ain't gonna do schit.

If you have metalic pipe a women's hair dryer blown onto the stop valve at the wall (remove the escutcheon if you can) and that will heat the piping to the point you may get it flowing again. If you have pex the heat transfer is not nearly as good but still may work if the freeze point is close to the stop valve.

Now the danger in all of this is if the pipe froze and split but is not leaking because of the ice holding the water you will spring a leak when you thaw it, of course this leak is going to appear sooner or later anyway. The good news is now you know where the freezing point was in the pipe after you tear into your wall or ceiling below to find and fix the leak.

Open all the doors under the sinks and let the faucets do a steady small stream of water. a little higher water bill is nothing compared to broken frozen pipes. Good luck to all you Southern guys. Global warming you say? I've never seen the jet stream dipping down this low.

If the pipes are inside cupboards, especially on outside walls, and the house is above freezing, it sometimes helps to leave the cupboard doors open.

Dripping the hot water taps will circulate water through the hot water feeder line. At this point I would run the clothes washer, might be a good time to do laundry 🙂

Disconnect any outdoor water hose .

I get it JamesJr- didn't take it as smart assed.


Other than cover the outdoor spigots, leave doors and cabinets open and leave a sink dripping what else? >

This is also the best way to find the low spots in your plumbing. When things thaw out and you turn the water back on, the pipes will be split at the low spots.

Cabinets open, faucets dripping. Heat from whatever source you can find directed onto pipes. Cross your fingers the line isn’t cracked.

Ok- heard I should run cold water instead - hot makes more sense. I did at least think of the washing and did it all before the sub freezing stuff hit. Am worried about the pipes for the washer though.

If there’s a sink in the room turn the water on. If there’s a cabinet below the sink open it. Anything to get the water moving and give a pressure relief valve for the pipes in that area.
I don’t remember which forum it was on but someone posted a good video about how much the pressure builds.

I had a water line in a wall that froze once, and I shut the room off, put a space heater in it, and turned the heat up. Thawed out in a few hours with no damage.


Good luck, been there before.

Wash some clothes. Or unhook the hoses and trickle into the tub manually.

If I was dripping water, I’d do it both on hot and cold, both can and will freeze if wall insulation isn’t up to snuff.

No global warming there. We just got home from Portland to Twin Falls, ID. Normal 9 to 10 hrs, this time it took 14. I-84 was closed near Hood River by snow and in the Blues by a 20 car/truck pileup. We ended up going north over White Pass in WA. That added 150 - 200 miles and 4 hrs by the time it was over. The Blues were open by the time we got back from the detour but it was plenty slick. It was easy running from La Grande on south and east.

I leave the heat at a decent temperature, open the cabinets under all the sinks and run the water at a trickle in my bathroom and kitchen sink.

Has to have done it before. This is not the coldest weather TX has seen. We had 9. I"ve seen 3. But all dripping. Outside ones wrapped and covered no hoses on em.

Never know till it thaws but our house is plumbed in the attic with CPVC. Wife double covered the pipes with the stick insulaiotn years ago. Then put R30 bats on top of it. Sitting on R19 bats. I think we will survive.

But if its frozen nd you can't get it going right away with heat, then as noted best is shut down water totally and drain what you can, even if you open things and nothing comes out open if you can.

Be careful and ready for a flood later when you turn it back on.

Good luck. Dont get caught again.

Expose whatever you can buy opening cupboards, access holes in the wall etc, crank the heat up in the house, put electric heaters in the cupboards, and turn hot and cold water on.

Keep things moving. Flush the toilets throughout the day, open your faucets and let them flow, then turn them back to a trickle.

Good luck and pray nothing broke.

-Jake

Helps to place a fan in front of the open cabinet to blow warm air from the room into the cabinet.

The number of RVs that will need water line repairs will be staggering!
Hope you Texans warm up soon. Do you not install furnaces down there???

Unhooking the lines and dribbling them into a sink would be easier than running the machine but that’s prob’ly not doable most houses. If I were worried I’d just keep running the machine.

deflave knows, ain’t gonna be good when it thaws out.

Fill five gallon buckets to flush your toilets.


I turned mine off, drained lines yesterday

Furnaces need power, no? I have my insert burning oak but w/o electricity the fan can't run so a good hit in heating capability.

I picked up a space heater Thursday am, and I got lucky, space heaters will be scarcer than ammunition in Texas right now.

I do have a gas stove and have it on, no reason not to, my house does have good ventilation 🙂

I didn't take that as smart assed.

I took it as dumb assed.

Salvage what you can while you can.

Put a hair dryer to suspected low spots if you have to.

Run the stove with the ghetto style.

Open any and all barrier to pipes.

These don't need power to operate. They make a lot of sense...can use gas or propane.

Got the fireplace going, got a bunch of wood.

Saw this coming last week. Drove down to my cabin. Water turned off. Drained lines as best as I could (opened up faucets and drained system at low outdoor spigot). Left hot water heater on (guess I could have drained it, but once the water gets hot, it’ll stay warm for days). Flushed the toilets (drained tanks as low as they would go). Used a plunger to push a little extra water out of the bowls (still enough there to block sewer gas).

Poured RV antifreeze into all sink drains, toilet bowls, toilet tanks. Turned on three space heaters.

Hopefully, the space heaters will keep it warm enough in there, but did the other stuff for inevitable power outage. Will hope it did the trick.

A low of -3, and 6 straight days of nothing but sub-freezing temps, is rough (in Texas).

Nor do either of these.
We chose to not be reliant on electricity for heat for a reason.

Biden will take care of us

Also, check and see if there any vents / openings leaking cold air inside the foundation / basement especially if any of your waterlines are near. If possible close them off as best you can and use some type of heat source on waterlines closest to coldest areas.

This is the best advice.

I use one of those electric oil radiators in my back room. Doesn’t cost much and keeps the dog warm.

There is gonna be pipes broken everywhere in Houston area, plumbers making a fortune if they can get parts to make repairs

I recommend PEX water lines whenever installing new or replacing Plumbing lines.

I've had PEX water lines freeze, but I've never had one rupture. Do everything in your power to minimize the number of fittings. Fittings are where the rupture will occur.

Burrrrr

Hope it's PEX....

If copper, I believe they can be thawed by putting an electric welder on it - I don't know the exact procedure. I guess the juice will heat the copper, thawing the water inside.

Hopefully the water stays inside....

Blaines farm and fleet , Loews, Walmart, they all have them for around 50 bucks. Oil radiators electric.

You're a long way from Texas, cowboy.

LOL

Does the supply line come through wall or up from the floor?
If there is enough of an opening might set a blow dryer by it with air blowing into the opening for a bit.
On low setting and don't leave it for long periods unattended.

I light bulb and some insulation will work in a pinch assuming you have power. I’ve gone without power for a week during a heat wave and thru a brutal winter storm. I’ve always had a least one generator and plenty of extension cords. Both times we had small children to tend to. It’s your individual responsibility to prepare for the worse.
Good luck Texas!

Not dripping. Allow a stream of diameter equal to a pencil lead. ~1/8”

Have not seen too many farm and fleet stores down in Texas

Shouldn't, if the water has been drained any water trapped in low spots will expanded laterally within the pipe when it freezes, supplanting the air space left by the drained liquid. Ice will split the pipe when it is dead headed with nowhere else to expand, which is why you drain the water ahead of the freeze.

^^^THIS^^^

Plus, turn off your outside spigots. Some of you are saying that you're covering them. I'd turn them Mofo's off and drain them unless you're using them. You sure as hell ain't gonna wash your car. Below zero is some cold schit no matter where you're from.

It can be cheaper and easier to cut a hole in the wallboard and install a grate over it, than to fix broken pipes.

A lot of folks in the South don't have any way of turning off the outside faucets. It's common for them to be plumbed into the main line of the house without any means of turning them off except for shutting off the main at the meter. In fact, I don't think I've ever seen a house in my area with the shutoffs for the outdoor faucets that are common up North.

This is the choice I had to make just a few minutes ago. One cold water line in the kitchen has developed a leak, probably ruptured. I shut off our water out at the meter because I've heard how much a big leak can cost. Now the rest of the plumbing will freeze because I can't keep a trickle going. There are no good choices here.

"A lot of folks in the South don't have any way of turning off the outside faucets. It's common for them to be plumbed into the main line of the house without any means of turning them off except for shutting off the main at the meter. In fact, I don't think I've ever seen a house in my area with the shutoffs for the outdoor faucets that are common up North."

Our Tenn house didn't used to have one.
It froze and split, has one now.
140+ basically identical houses in the neighborhood, guessing many have been replaced over 20 years of this global warming.

I don't turn mine off, but they are the kind that the valve is way back in the house, like 12-16 inches. The best thing you can do is make sure the hoses are disconnected outside and let it run some.

One can stop the flow of water from the burst pipe with a quick connect end cap. If it’s a separate line will then be able to run water to prevent the other lines from freezing.

Open every valve that you can.

True enough, but if would go so far as to do that much, I may as well just do the entire repair. Not happening today.

A 100 watt incandescent lamp produces a lot of heat if
an old trouble light can be placed in the right place.



There are a lot of old pump houses and add on bathrooms
around here that are kept from freezing by a lightbulb.

That’s what I’d do, an emergency, not permanent repair that may likely prevent further damage to other pipes.

Good advice Dillon

Unhook at meter and hook up air compressor and open valves an faucets to blow out low spots or fill with rv antifreeze. Good luck.

If there are already frozen pipes?

There won’t be couplings or unions to be found for months.

When I lived in OKC we would have blizzard like weather once a year like Texas is getting now with the temps down in the single digits and once or twice below zero. I had exposed copper water pipes in the garage going to my washing machine that bursted one year due to freezing... After fixing that, I wrapped 2 layers of that black foam looking pipe insulation around the pipes and taped it on from top to bottom really well. Never had an issue again with those pipes freezing up...The pipe insulation looks like the same stuff as those pool noodle toy tube things...You can buy it at Home Depot or Lowes.

Interesting, never thought of that. Always figured everyone could turn them off.

It’s like that here, I have four, two of which come up out of the ground on the north side of the house, ran em at somewhat more than a trickle all night long, gonna do the same tonight. My water bill will be significant but prob’ly way cheaper than a plumber I hope.

Buy shark bites now !

Hot water will freeze before cold water.

Traps are likely frozen on toilets.

Water bill ? LOL. Never seen such a thing.

I have had to do this. Pipe to outdoor spigot froze. Had to cut drywall to repair the leak. Instead of replacing the drywall, thus shutting off the heat source, I installed one panel from a louvered bi-fold door. Haven't had an issue since.

The 100 watt light bulb will work wonders, if you have power.

Charcoal in a baking tin will work also. Beware of the carbon monoxide.

Good luck down there.

After a sub-zero deep freeze here in NEPA always one or two people who burn the house down trying to thaw frozen pipes.
People get desperate.

Make sure everybody in the house knows where the main Water Shut Off is!

Where did you hear that? Copper water pipe is grounded.

The concern was with the line feeding the water heater, apparently the (hot water) lines leaving the heater not so much.

Every winter hereabouts it get down to -40–at that temp it don’t matter what scale you use—it was -50C here the other night.
I have 2 cabins which i don’t use in winter so at the end of October I drain all the water lines fill the drains with RV antifreeze and use the air compressor to blow out the lines. When I had copper pipe and fittings every Spring I would have a bunch of leaks to deal with. It takes very little water in a copper line to rupture the pipe. I changed all the copper out to pex and now I don’t even drain the lines—let ‘em freeze—never had a leak.
My water supply is 1 1/4 black plastic pipe buried 6 inches deep inside 4 inch plastic weeping tile and runs 145ft lineal out to the lake, deep water submersible well pump on the end of that. I have a sink that drains out to the back yard—not into my septic field. I leave a tap running on that sink 24/7 just a dribble but increase it depending on how cold it gets. I have no water lines on outside walls—nobody here does. Outside water taps have shut-off valve located indoors the outside taps are left open.
I don’t know what to tell you if your house ain’t designed with the possibility of hard frost in mind—wait till it warms up and grab a bunch of shark-bites I guess.

Just don’t use an LED bulb.

las is right. It’s done a lot. Don’t know the procedure though.

Perhaps ungrounded, then attached. Gotta know where the freeze block is, and go on either side of it.

Buy a Bargain Bin rate Al Gore global warming books burn them to keep warm.

At this point, heat tape is your negro.

Put a space heater in the room with the frozen pipe. Turn on the faucets a trickle for rest of the "cold" weather. Wrap them remaining pipes in insulation of some sort. Even if you need to use a pool noodle. It's better than nothing.

There is pipe wrap with fiberglass insulation but in my experience it gets wet and stays wet, even from humidity.

Is there a crawlspace? Or is it a slab? If crawlspace, you can place a heater below the plumbing pipes, hopefully all in a pretty compact area. The heat will heat the pipes from the bottom up, with heat rising through the holes in the subfloor to heat areas inside walls where pipes rise into the home. Works very well for homes with well designed compact plumbing layout, others may need multiple heaters if water fixtures are widely scattered. Of course, only use electric heaters with appropriate heavy gauge extension cords(12 ga. minimum), and only use to thaw, then run faucets at a trickle. Stop heater use as soon as pipes are thawed, never leave heaters unattended while sleeping or absent.

Also, if a crawlspace, be sure vents are closed, possibly even insulate them with pieces of sheet foam cut to fit. Open crawlspace vents cause pipe freezes quite often.

It’s all moot now, not much one can do until the temps warm up.

4 realz

I’ve got one outside faucet on the north side of the house froze up. Four year old house...should be PEX...so I’m thinking it will be alright. I guess we’ll see. Not much I can do about it. It’s just a faucet sticking out of a brick wall.

That new of a home, it should have been a frost free.


It's the south, I know.


But new construction, why in the hell wouldn't a contractor
do it? Can't say it don't freeze there. It's froze.


If it was a spec home, I would be worried where else he made
a Benjamin, at your expense.

Be careful with the wood stoves, they need something called combustion air. If the wood stove is burning without out it it will start pulling air into the house anywhere it can, if it’s near a water line that line will freeze.
I used to see several houses a year where the boiler would shut down because the wood stove was in the same room as the thermostat. No pump running and cold air infiltration led to expensive repairs.

Sound like a texas problem. Any broken lines?

hindsight being what it is, for future events i'd make sure you had a water main valve inside the house with a drain valve inboard of it. this way you could shut off the main, open the drain valve and then blow the house lines with a compressor if this happens again. then just fill buckets as needed for the schitter flush. this is the way i run my camp in the winter.

Didn’t know if they had any of these stores or not!

Think I have the bathroom line unfrozen ever so slightly by use of a heating pad.

I pulled away that little metal circular cap that surrounds the line from the wall and wedged the pad in behind it. It filled and flushed and you can hear the water doing its best to trickle into the tank ever so slowly- which is probably a good thing I guess. I cranked it up high enough to be almost hot to the touch and left it. It is about 3° here and -4 at the trailer....a whole other story. I put one of those painters lights, concave metal with a clamp on one end and bulb in the middle, and took a clear 60 watt bulb in it (best incandescent bulb I had on hand) and have it pointing at the valves for my washing machine. Daughter near by- no water, BIL about 20 minutes away- no power, friend in Houston- no power, elderly lady who raised my BIL lives in a trailer- no power.

My trailer - I drained the water heater and wrapped heated pipe tape or whatever it is called around the toilet valve. I drained my holding tank- the one for the water pump, and drained two lines that had screw caps on them- think they are low water lines but not sure...Put antifreeze in the drains. I did not blow out lines or fill them wit ha\freeze. Hoping my pump is okay- it was off.

Good deal, hope there's no damaged lines.

Don’t forget that candles can make a big difference in confined areas. Especially if you can direct and shield with foil.

Just don’t burn your house down. LOL

Thanks- I was going to use a candle but wife is paranoid about them. I do have a hurricane lamp and oil and told her if power goes out it will be put to use. Just have to hang in there until this weekend. Bad news is tonight and tomorrow forecasting sleet which is more in line with what we normally get here. It REALLY wreaks havoc on trees and of course by default - power lines. Just got to make it to the weekend. I have a five gallon water tank filled and a coleman stove if needed- no idea how old those little tanks are . Then there is always the Weber if it comes to that.

Appreciate everyone's support and hope all are safe and warm.

#1) Get a roll of insulation and go around your basement and check for areas that the cold air is getting in and hitting pipes, and plug them.

That’s the number 1 reason your pipes are freezing...

If they do set it ablaze at least they'll stay warm while it burns, the fire would probably thaw those frozen lines too.

Ya gotta think positive..

Getting a small portable heater with a fan on it and pointing it into the sink cabinets, and or places the water lines run works ok...

The “chase” (vertical area the pipes run up) areas are normally open at the bottom so the hot basement air can raise up them, and the cold air can drop out.... so if someone plugged them at the bottom open it up... and make sure you basement area has some open duct vents to heat up the basement & pipes.

To survive a broken pipe in one section of the house ... (install a shut off on that leg of the water supply without soldering)

I also use these when an goofball left a hose on and now the exterior faucet is frozen - you just shut the water off, make a couple of cuts and slide it on in-line so you can shut off that leg of water supply and just turn it on later.

Go get a “Shark BITE” ball shut off in the link below - that can be inserted in existing line provided you can cut it and move the pipe so it can slide over one side.
You cut that line, about 2” apart and slide one end over one side, then it will slide back over the other side so you can shut off the water on that side of the house where you have the broken line and restore water to the rest of the house.

Here’s a picture of it -
https://www.amazon.com/SharkBite-24735LF-Water-Connect-Copper/dp/B00MB10PVK

You can use any shark bite with a shut off to cut a line and slide it on and shut it off to cap a line, but I used these for emergency repairs (no soldering... or anything), on copper and or PEX.

Damn. Shiit. Fuuck. Handy terminology for your days ahead.

Even an incandescent light can be enough to stop things from freezing in an enclosed space. LEDs probably don't put out enough heat.

Halogen work lights crank out the heat as well,
Shark bites are a good fix if the copper hasn't swelled a little due to the freeze.

Best of luck guys down in that mess

Learn to run PEX.

I would suggest putting some Yankee water in your lines or possibly even taking some advice from a Yankee. I've had -30*F here for two weeks and still no frozen water lines.

Roof rats are a fact of life around here, almost all the pipes in this old house are copper, but one newer section of PEX was chewed by a roof rat. Fortunately it had just happened when I woke up and heard the water running. That pipe had been in place for fifteen years, so it ain’t an everyday occurrence but it can happen.

Sharkbite caps are friggin awesome, I hope the guy who invented them is a billionaire.

Between the possibility of roof rats and the climate, I’d take the time to put in copper over PEX down here, unless there’s something else that a rodent won’t chew.

Would suggest being at home when it starts to warm up, don’t want water damage on top of everything else.

It's not nearly as fun as blaming the blackouts on liberals, but most of the problems in Texas are due to facilities (and Ken's toilet plumbing) not being designed to handle the cold. This happens every dozen years or so and everyone promises to spend money on upgrades, but like people rebuilding mansions in California fire zones, the downside is soon forgotten.

I hope you know a little about plumbing because there is going to be hundreds of millions to billions in water damage with tens of thousands of homes without power. Plumbers and contractors are going to be booked up for months.

I think the procedure is to put one welding lead on the ground rod and the other one on the metal water pipe system. Open the faucets and turn the welding machine on. I don't know what amp setting is used.

Man .. Roof Rats ! Glad we don’t have those here.

Just curious if anyone can answer, what makes an outside faucet a more likely candidate for a freeze problem if there is a hose (empty) attached to it?

Our faucets on side of house have the actual valve 8” or 12” inside the house. You shut off the water, the final 8” is slopes down and drains empty. Water is inside in the insulation.

Leave a hose attached, water won’t drain. That 8” copper freezes and cracks. Doesn’t show up until you use the spigot the next time.

Wife’s grandparents in Texas don’t have the freeze proof ones, they’re just a valve on outside of the house. I’m not sure how they keep from freezing.

Edit to add-if the hose is empty, the valve should be drained.