Winter Tips for Plumbing

[xoxoxoBruce]

I suspect we're a long way from hearing the fat lady sing this winter's swan song. And since it's been extra cold in places they usually see only moderate cold, plumbing vigilance is a wise idea.

The New York Times has some advice how you can keep plumbing gremlins from creeping up on you.

Q. O.K., so I live in the Connecticut suburbs in a normal house, and it’s ridiculously cold outside right now. How worried should I be about my pipes bursting?

A. Not nearly as worried as someone in Nashville. Northern plumbers put water supply lines in rather protected areas, but Southern plumbers have been much more careless about that. If the frequency of freezing-pipe incidents surpasses the institutional memory of the area, you’re in real trouble.

But still we hear the horror stories even up north — or at least here in the northeast, where really severe cold isn’t the norm. How do I avoid becoming the star of a horror story?

It helps to understand how pipes burst. The way that happens doesn’t follow conventional wisdom, which says water turns to ice and pushes outward against the wall of the pipe and causes a rupture. The blockage grows along the length of the pipe and acts like a piston, causing elevated water pressure when the faucet is turned off, and that’s what causes the rupture. So if you can relieve the pressure downstream of the blockage by allowing the tiniest little drip at the faucet, then the ice blockage can grow and it won’t rupture the pipe.

Etc.... etc.... etc....

[Molasar]

One tip is that if you're leaving a place for a while in winter, throw a big handful of salt into the lavatory pan, helps stop the water freezing and shattering the pan.
Turn off the water at the mains and flush it to empty the cistern before the salt goes down!

[chrisinhouston]

What is a lavatory pan? The bowl or the tank?

[limey]

[translator] The pan is the bowl [/translator]


Sent by thought transference

[tw]

If a plumber knew his job, then a building can be heated to only 40 degrees (5 degrees C) and no pipes freeze. Problem is so many plumbers who never learned their job.

Freezing pipes are best corrected in the summer. If any water pipe is inside an exterior wall, then the plumbing is completely defective and should be changed.

Identify a defect easily. Does a pipe exit from an exterior wall to connect to a sink or toilet? Or does it come up through the floor?

Winter is a time to identify other problems. No floor in any interior room should feel cold. But even in 1970, many contractors said insultation was unnecessary in that space between floors. No amount of reasoning could change their attitude. Because they were told those spaces between joists did not need insulation on exterior surfaces. Then pipes between the floors freeze. But that is your fault; not theirs.

Freezing pipes when a building is at 40 degrees and outside temperatures are at zero (-18 C) identifies defective workmanship. Any underground pipe that freezes clearly violated a simple rule - it must be three feet (1 meter) or deeper (even underneath a garage floor).

[monster]

maybe Molasar is referring to ye olde outhouses?

Up here we'd never leave the house unheated because we wouldn't leave it for more than a couple of weeks tops, but maybe people with cabins would? I dunno. We'd just turn the thermostat down to sufficiently above freezing (exact temp depends on what animals remain in the house) Like twinkie says, all pipes are away from the exterior walls except the ones to the outdoor faucets and we winterize those in November.

[monster]

....but we don't count as a place that only usually sees moderate cold...

[Molasar]

Originally Posted by monster

maybe Molasar is referring to ye olde outhouses?

of course! we can't stand those dirty indoor things.

yes, thanks to my translator, I did mean salting the pan/bowl as opposed to the cistern/tank.

BTW why do Yanks use the word 'faucet' when 'tap' is only half as many characters to type, and half the number of syllables so it's quicker to say?
also you talk of beer being 'on tap' but not 'on faucet'

[Undertoad]

Well nobody ever fauceted a keg.

[Griff]

.

[Molasar]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

Well nobody ever fauceted a keg.

my point exactly

@griff
if only {sigh}

[busterb]

I've heard that you can stick a short 2x4 into toilet and ice will climb and keep bowl from freezing.

[Griff]

@ molasar: I've seen it done. It may account in part for my current sobriety. I wasted three years at a technical school after high school. The machine trades guys had hot, cold, and lager at their kitchen sink.

[Molasar]

Originally Posted by busterb

I've heard that you can stick a short 2x4 into toilet and ice will climb and keep bowl from freezing.

presumably a softwood.
a bit of random hardwood timber eg. oak teak or mahogany wouldn't have enough 'give' to absorb the pressure of the enclosing ice (which could still crack the pan/bowl under the pressure) whereas a bit of pine would be better.
a common sense thought that may be total BS but makes sense to me.
I guess something like a hollow plastic or foam-filled stress ball (that floats half above and half below the water line) would do the same.
best not give it to the kids to play with afterwards though. yeuch

[Molasar]

Originally Posted by Griff

@ molasar: I've seen it done. It may account in part for my current sobriety. I wasted three years at a technical school after high school. The machine trades guys had hot, cold, and lager at their kitchen sink.

is that house for sale by any chance?
I could easily put a new slow-running tap on it for Guinness

and for the record I don't suffer from sobriety, except allowing generous 'bottle to throttle' time for driving. :halo: