Thread: Winter Water Pipes Question - Help a Southern Boy

Hi Yall,

To all yall yanks, canadians, or other people used to this winter wonderland I'm walking in it has been cold here. I am having lower and slightly "chuggy" water pressure on my kitchen sink (both hot and cold)...so far it seems to be only the kitchen sink. It is getting both hot and cold water. I had not been dripping my pipes for the last several days and had wrapped my outside hose bibs with towels and duct tape. But last night it rained, so I imagine those ar giant blocks of ice now...I probably should have seen that coming, but whoops.

I have no idea how my pipes run in the house. But the kitchen sink is in the middle of the room, not up against a wall.

Right now I have the kitchen faucet dripping cold water. As I wait for input I will probably go ahed and drip some of the bathroom faucets as well.

1. Is some pipe in the process of freezing so the flow is constricted but not blocked?
2. Is it odd that it is just the kitchen, especially since it is not on a wall?
3. Should I be dripping water on it, and if so cold or hot make any difference?
4. Do I need to chisel my ice towels off the bibs and replace them with dry ones?

It should be noted, that when I was a younger, singler, and care freer home owner my pipes froze a few times with no leaking/bursting. So, hopefully that wont be an issues.

Thanks yall, as always, any advice is helpful. Any advice that does not have me outside with boiling water and chisel will be more helpful . Not only because I am not built for cold, but because I have work to do.

Update: I went ahead and unwrapped the bibs and set them to drip. While I was talking to a neightbor one of them started flowing with more power. So, I am going to leave them dripping. And if I wrap them again I will do several rounds of saran wrap to try to keep the towels dry.

Just so you understand the idea about dripping a faucet... This keeps water flowing! Flowing water is harder to freeze.
But, in very cold temps a drip on the outside of your house can cause a pillar of ice. All the way up to your faucet. Then this can freeze and stop up the flow or close to it. This is a bad thing. So if your dripping outside be sure to check them. Dripping when the weather is bad is normally done inside. Kitchens and bathrooms. Also leaving the doors under the sink open so warmer air can get to the pipes helps too. Dripping with the faucet farthest away inside your home covers almost all your home so no need to have them all going.
My home is built to be in cold areas. This means I can go into the crawl space under my home and turn off and drain the water pipes that lead to the outside. This keeps ice from forming or getting from the outside to the inside. It also makes it a PITA to keep the critters watered as water has to be carried outside for them.

Hot water is not going to plug-up. The main water line to your home can plug up from the cold if it wasn't buried deep enough. To us, this means below the freeze line of the ground. Less water pressure on the hot side is from ice forming in your supply line before the water heater. Just be careful not to burn up your water heater. Not having enough water in it can cause this and cost you a bunch.

So, there you go. A season in cold areas and how to deal with water and keeping it safe. IMO.

Thanks Gasman!

I did rewrap the outside faucets and not leave them running. I put a trash bag over so they don't get (as) wet.

Unfortunately, I also just found out that Austin water is having water pressure issues due to main line breaks and power outages in the water treatment plants. So, talk about a catch 22. Do I drip because it may be freezing or not drip since it may be a city usage issue.

I will open all the cabinets, and we have nudged our heater up a little.

I think that we have two sort of main lines in the house, so I will drip one tap on each and hope for the middle ground between freezing and conserving.

I was thinking about disconnecting the water inlet to the hot water heater and see if it is clogged or getting flow. It is in the garage and we have been leaving the door cracked to let a stray cat stay here for a few months now. I had opened the hot water heater closet a crack thinking it may be a warm place them him/her. And I didn't even think about the fact that it may be freezing the pipe, even after I found other things had frozen in the garage.

Thanks again, sir. Hopefully I can update yall with "water's back and everything is cool" as opposed to "anyone know a plumber that is not busy".

PS: Oh, and my main shutoff to the house is out at the street by the meter. I don't think there is one actually on/in the house. There's one valve with a handle that I can operate and one the city uses a special tool on.

I think it is a city issue. We had a steady decline in pressure, eventually the water would not go upstairs, and now nothing. Doesn't seem likely that pipes froze while the water was running. We were dripping into jugs, so we managed to get about 10 gallons stored up, which should be good for a couple of days. Got plenty of snow to melt to flush toilets.

These are popular up here. The valve is deep in the wall so it doesnt freeze.

Originally Posted by alex1921

These are popular up here. The valve is deep in the wall so it doesnt freeze.

That's really cool. I would have to build a little box in my living room to hold it, though (obviously relocating the bib is the right answer). So, I'd rather yall just keep your polar vortexes up there with your pet polar bears where it belongs .

Originally Posted by Gasman

J

Hot water is not going to plug-up. The main water line to your home can plug up from the cold if it wasn't buried deep enough. To us, this means below the freeze line of the ground. Less water pressure on the hot side is from ice forming in your supply line before the water heater. Just be careful not to burn up your water heater. Not having enough water in it can cause this and cost you a bunch.

.

Unless you have a recirc line the hot water can stagnate and freeze just the same as the cold lines. unless the hot water heater is above your faucet tat you are dripping it will not run out of water to burn out.

Originally Posted by planeden

Thanks Gasman!

I did rewrap the outside faucets and not leave them running. I put a trash bag over so they don't get (as) wet.


I will open all the cabinets, and we have nudged our heater up a little.

I think that we have two sort of main lines in the house, so I will drip one tap on each and hope for the middle ground between freezing and conserving.

I was thinking about disconnecting the water inlet to the hot water heater and see if it is clogged or getting flow. It is in the garage and we have been leaving the door cracked to let a stray cat stay here for a few months now. I had opened the hot water heater closet a crack thinking it may be a warm place them him/her. And I didn't even think about the fact that it may be freezing the pipe, even after I found other things had frozen in the garage.



PS: Oh, and my main shutoff to the house is out at the street by the meter. I don't think there is one actually on/in the house. There's one valve with a handle that I can operate and one the city uses a special tool on.

So different from here to there. I have an 9 foot or so tool to reach down to my city shutoff if needed. Not that your everyday person has one! I don['t feel that you are going to be cold enough long enough for the frost to reach your main line. Does your meter come above ground before going back under?

Cats can survive much colder than you might think. Shut the door.

Originally Posted by alex1921

These are popular up here. The valve is deep in the wall so it doesnt freeze.

Off course my house is old school. I have a shut of 4' inside my basement with a drain valve that I manually drain every fall. Sometimes I have to reopen it aqgain if the weather turns nice......

It also depends where your pipes run. If you have a basement you are in good shape. If the pipes run in an unfinished and unweather proofed attic that spells trouble. Several days of sub freezing weather and no heat in the house and you can have busted pipes. If you have plastic pipes that's even worse. They can crack really easily.

Thanks 32t,

NINE FEET? My main is under ground, but probably no more than a foot. I'm not going to clear the snow and measure though. And even then, it is just a metal or plastic cover over the hole. Nothing is insulated. Hell, it has finger holes in it, so it is probably full of ice/water/snow. But as a metaphor for the issues we have here. I have a jean jacket as my winter coat. I couldn't find it, so I just went with the next best thing, a thick flannel shirt. So, basically, I think that our city water system basically has a jean jacket.

My concern with the water heater was that if water was not going in, but I was dragging water out, then it would dry up. But, we stopped using hot water before the rest of the house lost all water.

We did finally get confirmation, though, that is our whole neighborhood is without water and not just frozen pipes. So, I suppose I was a little premature in my questions. But, got some good information for next time.

I know cats can handle extreme cold and hot better than we can. Their fur is actually insulating and keeps them both cool and warm. When I heard about that I put an ice cube on my cat one evening and it took 45 minutes before it melted enough to get him wet and he knocked it off. The control cube on the ground melted in minutes. I should post about Sam in the pets thread at some point because for a cat that I have only seen four or five times in four months, I really have quite an affection for it. It is an interesting little personality. But, I am pretty confident it is not in the water heater closet and have closed that up. I am not sure if it is in the garage, it stays well hidden, but I don't think the crack in the garage door is really an issue. Especially since we are warming up. Which it seems may be part of the city wide problem? Now that things are thawing we are getting too many leaks to maintain pressure? All that is way out of my expertise.