So... how are everyone's pipes now that we're above freezing?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At the temps we had, OP, there was never any risk to pipes unless you lived in a poorly-built house with pipes running along exterior walls.

Well, some people do have poor insulation and some people do have exterior pipes, so not sure what your comment contributes?

GW hospital has had a whole slew of burst pipes, and water mains are breaking. So it's not a weird ask.

In any case, I hope everyone's home and pipes are ok.

Your question doesn't make sense, though. If pipes were to burst, they'd have done so last week. Frozen pipes are much less worrisome and must be dealt with differently than burst pipes, which are a hassle. And water main breaks are different again - they don't have insulation at all, so it's not surprising there were so many of them last week.

You're so ignorant about so many things that you mix up all sorts of different problems.

A lot of times burst pipes won't leak until they thaw.

This.

You don't know a pipe has frozen and/or burst until it thaws. And you may not know it's frozen, if it's a water source you don't use often.

PP sounds like a mansplaining ahole.

You need to check all your pipes in a cold snap if you think any of them are at risk. This is why faucets need to be very slightly open for those at risk pipes.

I know only one person who had one pipe freeze temporarily: he checked last week, found one wasn't dripping, immediately opened the faucet and ran a space heater near the pipe (which was somewhat insulated but ran too close to the roof in one spot, due to a weird addition to the main house). Within a few hours, the situation was resolved, no bursting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At the temps we had, OP, there was never any risk to pipes unless you lived in a poorly-built house with pipes running along exterior walls.

Well, some people do have poor insulation and some people do have exterior pipes, so not sure what your comment contributes?

GW hospital has had a whole slew of burst pipes, and water mains are breaking. So it's not a weird ask.

In any case, I hope everyone's home and pipes are ok.

Your question doesn't make sense, though. If pipes were to burst, they'd have done so last week. Frozen pipes are much less worrisome and must be dealt with differently than burst pipes, which are a hassle. And water main breaks are different again - they don't have insulation at all, so it's not surprising there were so many of them last week.

You're so ignorant about so many things that you mix up all sorts of different problems.

A lot of times burst pipes won't leak until they thaw.

This.

You don't know a pipe has frozen and/or burst until it thaws. And you may not know it's frozen, if it's a water source you don't use often.

PP sounds like a mansplaining ahole.

You need to check all your pipes in a cold snap if you think any of them are at risk. This is why faucets need to be very slightly open for those at risk pipes.

I know only one person who had one pipe freeze temporarily: he checked last week, found one wasn't dripping, immediately opened the faucet and ran a space heater near the pipe (which was somewhat insulated but ran too close to the roof in one spot, due to a weird addition to the main house). Within a few hours, the situation was resolved, no bursting.

+1.

This happened to us, and we used the space heater too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't know anyone who had pipes freeze/burst.

I do. Multiple in Fairfax.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At the temps we had, OP, there was never any risk to pipes unless you lived in a poorly-built house with pipes running along exterior walls.

Yup my house is over 100 yrs old and all the bathrooms have at least 1 thing on an exterior wall. I also need new windows. My windows are original to the house

[Anonymous]

Just found out that we have a burst hot water pipe in the crowl space. Any plumber recommendation?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At the temps we had, OP, there was never any risk to pipes unless you lived in a poorly-built house with pipes running along exterior walls.

Tons of houses here have pipes running along exterior walls.

Just moved into a newly built custom home. Have a few pipes running up inside on an exterior wall. The pipes are exponsed to the inside of the home so as long as the surrounding area does not sit in the 20s for an extended time, no worries. I did check and all good....but yes, pipes are run along exterior all the time. They need to be properly insulated

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At the temps we had, OP, there was never any risk to pipes unless you lived in a poorly-built house with pipes running along exterior walls.

Tons of houses here have pipes running along exterior walls.

Or under the house in crawl space.

[Anonymous]

We have a utility sink in the attached garage. Was keeping a close eye on the temp in there - lowest reading during the recent cold spell was 41 so OK. Just need to make sure the garage door is closed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At the temps we had, OP, there was never any risk to pipes unless you lived in a poorly-built house with pipes running along exterior walls.

It's a cultural thing in DC that people think they live in a warm place. So plumbers do things like running pipes in exterior walls, most contractors think insulation is bull.

I'm from southern New England, it doesn't really get any colder there than in DC, but people think of themselves as Yankees and they take preparation for winter seriously. No one would ever dream of putting pipes in an exterior wall there.

I have lots of family in the Boston area and they ALL have a kitchen sink on an outside wall (kitchen window).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At the temps we had, OP, there was never any risk to pipes unless you lived in a poorly-built house with pipes running along exterior walls.

It's a cultural thing in DC that people think they live in a warm place. So plumbers do things like running pipes in exterior walls, most contractors think insulation is bull.

I'm from southern New England, it doesn't really get any colder there than in DC, but people think of themselves as Yankees and they take preparation for winter seriously. No one would ever dream of putting pipes in an exterior wall there.

I have lots of family in the Boston area and they ALL have a kitchen sink on an outside wall (kitchen window).

You an run pipes through the floor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At the temps we had, OP, there was never any risk to pipes unless you lived in a poorly-built house with pipes running along exterior walls.

Tons of houses here have pipes running along exterior walls.

Just moved into a newly built custom home. Have a few pipes running up inside on an exterior wall. The pipes are exponsed to the inside of the home so as long as the surrounding area does not sit in the 20s for an extended time, no worries. I did check and all good....but yes, pipes are run along exterior all the time. They need to be properly insulated

Proper insulation is the key, not the location of the pipes. I have plenty of pipes running up exterior walls, but there is adequate in-wall/floor insulation, and they have not frozen. I also take the precaution of leaving open cabinet doors in bathrooms and the kitchen, where pipes may be in the walls, allowing conditioned air to circulate against the interior drywall to help moderate in-wall temperatures.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't know anyone who had pipes freeze/burst.

several water mains burst in our town

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At the temps we had, OP, there was never any risk to pipes unless you lived in a poorly-built house with pipes running along exterior walls.

Well, some people do have poor insulation and some people do have exterior pipes, so not sure what your comment contributes?

GW hospital has had a whole slew of burst pipes, and water mains are breaking. So it's not a weird ask.

In any case, I hope everyone's home and pipes are ok.

Your question doesn't make sense, though. If pipes were to burst, they'd have done so last week. Frozen pipes are much less worrisome and must be dealt with differently than burst pipes, which are a hassle. And water main breaks are different again - they don't have insulation at all, so it's not surprising there were so many of them last week.

You're so ignorant about so many things that you mix up all sorts of different problems.

frozen pipes lead to burst pipes. did you really not know this o wise one?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At the temps we had, OP, there was never any risk to pipes unless you lived in a poorly-built house with pipes running along exterior walls.

Well, some people do have poor insulation and some people do have exterior pipes, so not sure what your comment contributes?

GW hospital has had a whole slew of burst pipes, and water mains are breaking. So it's not a weird ask.

In any case, I hope everyone's home and pipes are ok.

Your question doesn't make sense, though. If pipes were to burst, they'd have done so last week. Frozen pipes are much less worrisome and must be dealt with differently than burst pipes, which are a hassle. And water main breaks are different again - they don't have insulation at all, so it's not surprising there were so many of them last week.

You're so ignorant about so many things that you mix up all sorts of different problems.

A lot of times burst pipes won't leak until they thaw.

This.

You don't know a pipe has frozen and/or burst until it thaws. And you may not know it's frozen, if it's a water source you don't use often.

PP sounds like a mansplaining ahole.

no, you know a pipe has frozen when the water won't run.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At the temps we had, OP, there was never any risk to pipes unless you lived in a poorly-built house with pipes running along exterior walls.

Well, some people do have poor insulation and some people do have exterior pipes, so not sure what your comment contributes?

GW hospital has had a whole slew of burst pipes, and water mains are breaking. So it's not a weird ask.

In any case, I hope everyone's home and pipes are ok.

Your question doesn't make sense, though. If pipes were to burst, they'd have done so last week. Frozen pipes are much less worrisome and must be dealt with differently than burst pipes, which are a hassle. And water main breaks are different again - they don't have insulation at all, so it's not surprising there were so many of them last week.

You're so ignorant about so many things that you mix up all sorts of different problems.

A lot of times burst pipes won't leak until they thaw.

This.

You don't know a pipe has frozen and/or burst until it thaws. And you may not know it's frozen, if it's a water source you don't use often.

PP sounds like a mansplaining ahole.

no, you know a pipe has frozen when the water won't run.

And you won't know if it has burst until the water is running again.