@me_valentijn @ai6yr @tadbithuman @JohnJBurnsIII How long is it supposed to be freezing?
If the water mains are deeper than a foot or two, they are unlikely to freeze in a day or two as someone will be running / dripping water even if the ground froze that deep.
The feed to your house might be a concern. Your outside taps definitely are a concern. They will freeze in a day. But, they freeze outside in, meaning the ice will grow in the pipe farther into your house over time and if you heat your house, it won't be freezing much pipe.
You need to turn off your outside taps and drain any outside hoses or at least get the pressure in the hose out. That will give the ice room to expand.
Maybe your outside taps have an inside shutoff or the valve is inside your house. These are common here in Canada but our code expects winter. In the first case, shut off the inside tap and open the outside taps. This drains that bit of pipe.
I usually end up freezing an outside tap every year. If you get to it early, it shouldn't actually be a problem.
Whatever you do, don't heat your frozen pipes with a torch. Use a hair dryer and start with part of the pipe that isn't frozen. You want heat in the pipe to melt the ice in the opposite direction to how it formed.
If all of your pipes are exposed under your house and it freezes down there, you should be running water slowly continuously.
Comments
Displaying 0 of 1 comments
Human 3500
@me_valentijn @ai6yr @tadbithuman @JohnJBurnsIII now here in Canada, our water mains are at least four feet deep, so we don't worry about those. That's the usual frost line.
The feed into our house comes in in the basement so it's usually lower than four feet underground. No worries.
Our pipes all run inside the house, in inside walls and we heat our houses. Those pipes are not a concern.
Our main concerns are outside taps and any pipe in an outside wall even if that wall is insulated.
If your piping is exposed to outside temperature or in outside walls your risk is higher. That water needs to flow or be heated externally.
Mentions: @me_valentijn@m.ai6yr.org @ai6yr@m.ai6yr.org @tadbithuman@mastodon.social @JohnJBurnsIII@kzoo.to
Likes: 0
Replies: 0
Boosts: 0