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Icepocalypse watch 2022/2023

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maroon barchetta
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In reply to maroon barchetta • 9:39p, 12/25/22
maroon barchetta said:
I'm checking on pets for someone that left today. Went by this evening and they had barely a trickle from the kitchen faucet downstairs.

Bathroom upstairs had no flow at all.

They get back the 29th. I'm hoping this is not a big problem.


Still no water at this apartment I've been checking. If it's frozen and didn't thaw today, maybe it will thaw tomorrow and we can see if there are any problems. I really hope not.
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swimmerbabe11
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6:46a, 12/26/22
had three of these. 2 are fixed, plumber is supposed to be here fixing the third right now. no hot water until he does
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Mas89
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In reply to swimmerbabe11 • 7:43a, 12/26/22
AG
Do you live in a portable building?
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maroon barchetta
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In reply to swimmerbabe11 • 8:07a, 12/26/22
Did you recently connect that hose or was it connected thru the entire cold snap?
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Charismatic Megafauna
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In reply to maroon barchetta • 11:07a, 12/26/22
AG
maroon barchetta said:
maroon barchetta said:
I'm checking on pets for someone that left today. Went by this evening and they had barely a trickle from the kitchen faucet downstairs.

Bathroom upstairs had no flow at all.

They get back the 29th. I'm hoping this is not a big problem.


Still no water at this apartment I've been checking. If it's frozen and didn't thaw today, maybe it will thaw tomorrow and we can see if there are any problems. I really hope not.

Any chance building management shut off water to the unit/building when they determined it was unoccupied?
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maroon barchetta
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In reply to Charismatic Megafauna • 12:33p, 12/26/22
Charismatic Megafauna said:
maroon barchetta said:
maroon barchetta said:
I'm checking on pets for someone that left today. Went by this evening and they had barely a trickle from the kitchen faucet downstairs.

Bathroom upstairs had no flow at all.

They get back the 29th. I'm hoping this is not a big problem.


Still no water at this apartment I've been checking. If it's frozen and didn't thaw today, maybe it will thaw tomorrow and we can see if there are any problems. I really hope not.

Any chance building management shut off water to the unit/building when they determined it was unoccupied?


Hopefully.
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swimmerbabe11
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In reply to Mas89 • 1:08p, 12/26/22
All houses are portable if you have enough money


But no, it's just a pier and beam home.
one pipe busted on saturday morning, one saturday afternoon, and the hot water line busted right as the plumber was about to leave. he should be there in the next thirty minutes to get the hot water back on line.
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Jackal99
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1:46p, 12/26/22
AG
On Friday night, I got to find out what happens when your neighbor's pipes burst and they aren't home. We came home from a friend's house for a holiday get-together and my son asks why there's so much water on our driveway when it isn't raining. Took a closer look and noticed water coming out of the weep holes of the house next door. All the lights were off. Took a flashlight and looked through the front window, saw water on the floor and what looked like tiny rapids. I could hear water pouring from somewhere, too. Walked around to their driveway, looked through the kitchen window, and saw a waterfall coming out of the recessed light fixture (that was no longer recessed) and a hole in the ceiling. Turned off their water for them.

Came home, wrote a note to warn them before they entered a flooded house, and by the time I got back the lady's son was there. Never met him before, but he seemed a bit odd. As he's standing there squeegeeing water out of the front door, he asked if I knew someone who could patch up the ceiling "because it's urgent." Bro, you got busted attic pipes and two inches of water in your house, you got more urgent problems than a hole in the ceiling. I did get him the phone numbers for Serv-Pro and a neighborhood plumbing company because I figured they could get him on the right track, but he didn't seem too thankful and told me that "it's under control now." Cool, dude, if you say so. But his dad passed away a year ago and his mom goes out of the country somewhat frequently, so I don't think she's even home. It's been a few days and from what I can tell, nobody has done anything over there.

But damn if the sight of that water pouring out of the ceiling wasn't somewhat frightening. Makes me really glad we upgraded to pex when we bought this house.
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swimmerbabe11
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In reply to Jackal99 • 1:54p, 12/26/22
you can call the city to have them turn it off. Also Fire Dept can turn it off.
Or if you know where the water shut off is, you probably could have
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Bondag
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In reply to Ag_07 • 2:02p, 12/26/22
AG
Ag_07 said:
You guys shutting off water and draining pipes have no power or what?

If you've got power and I assume you're running your heater what's the point? It shouldn't be below freezing in your house or attic so what gives?


I shut mine off because I left town. Will turn back in when I return.
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Charismatic Megafauna
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In reply to Jackal99 • 2:30p, 12/26/22
AG
Jackal99 said:
...he didn't seem too thankful and told me that "it's under control now."... It's been a few days and from what I can tell, nobody has done anything over there.

That's the point where i stop worrying about helping and start thinking about what I'd be willing to offer if they fire/flood sale it
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txags92
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2:33p, 12/26/22
AG
We had the same situation with a neighbor across the street. Water pouring out under the siding onto a driveway. Had to look them up on HCAD and then Google sleuth a phone number. Finally reached their boss at a realty firm and he said they were out of the country. He managed to get a message to them and they had a contractor come over and shut things off. Not knowing them personally, I didn't want to shut it off and burn up a water heater or something and have them blame me for it.
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Ag_N_Houston
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In reply to Bondag • 2:49p, 12/26/22
AG
Bondag said:
Ag_07 said:
You guys shutting off water and draining pipes have no power or what?

If you've got power and I assume you're running your heater what's the point? It shouldn't be below freezing in your house or attic so what gives?


I shut mine off because I left town. Will turn back in when I return.
Same. I was out of town until Friday night. It was off/drained for the hard freeze Thursday and Friday. My dad went over and turned the water back on for us once we actually got on the plane and knew we would get back to Houston that night.

If I'm not out of town, I just drip water and make sure everything is well wrapped.
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Duck Blind
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2:52p, 12/26/22
AG
I went out of my comfort zone this freeze and bought 4 Freeze Misers for my outside faucets. They worked as advertised. No issues. Dripped when the temp hit 37 and shut off when it went above it.

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htxag09
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3:09p, 12/26/22
AG
Just went for a quick run and saw three water main leaks…..memorial at memorial park, memorial and crestwood, and Washington and Schuler.

Glad to see our tax dollars working so well and for the city to blame the low water pressure on people dripping faucets
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BQRyno
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In reply to Duck Blind • 3:13p, 12/26/22
AG
Had to drip manually this freeze, but bought a set for future use. Reviews looked solid. Everyone who out covers on seemed to end up with frozen pipes.
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Jackal99
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In reply to swimmerbabe11 • 3:44p, 12/26/22
AG
swimmerbabe11 said:
you can call the city to have them turn it off. Also Fire Dept can turn it off.
Or if you know where the water shut off is, you probably could have


I did turn it off. End of first paragraph.
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Jackal99
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3:47p, 12/26/22
AG
Anyway…I saw the lady outside this afternoon. She knew what happened and thanked me repeatedly for helping. She said all the water is out and she's waiting on a plumber and a drywall guy. So, it seems like it is somewhat more under control now.
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Tom Cardy
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In reply to BQRyno • 3:47p, 12/26/22
AG
Going to do the same, I spent a lot of effort wrapping hose bibs just to have one freeze up anyway. These seem to have good reports from everyone that I've seen
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Jugstore Cowboy
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In reply to Jackal99 • 6:28p, 12/26/22
AG
Jackal99 said:
Anyway…I saw the lady outside this afternoon. She knew what happened and thanked me repeatedly for helping. She said all the water is out and she's waiting on a plumber and a drywall guy. So, it seems like it is somewhat more under control now.
Good job, Gilbert!
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CDUB98
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8:30p, 12/26/22
AG
Arrived back home this afternoon to no issues...so far.

Looks like my preventative house draining worked.
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AJ02
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In reply to redag06 • 9:36p, 12/26/22
AG
redag06 said:
Cold water on my kitchen sink is still ru Ning at a drip, can't figure out why. Don't feel like cursing on Christmas so will put the deep investigation off for tomorrow


Did you clean the screens on your faucet? Happened last February when our pipes froze (but didn't burst) and Christmas Eve (when one did burst). When we lose water pressure for a day or more, we get a lot of sediment stuck in our screens.

Spent Christmas night unscrewing all the faucets and shower heads & washing machine spigot to clean out the screens so we could get water pressure again. Our sink has one of those tall faucets with the sprayer. There was another screen underneath that attached the water hoses coming out of the pipes and then to the sprayer hose. Had to get that apart and clean it out as well.
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Stat Monitor Repairman
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In reply to Duck Blind • 9:59p, 12/26/22
Duck Blind said:
I went out of my comfort zone this freeze and bought 4 Freeze Misers for my outside faucets. They worked as advertised. No issues. Dripped when the temp hit 37 and shut off when it went above it.

Damn.

Freeze minder.

You learn something new everyday
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Texaggie7nine
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In reply to AJ02 • 10:23p, 12/26/22
AJ02 said:
redag06 said:
Cold water on my kitchen sink is still ru Ning at a drip, can't figure out why. Don't feel like cursing on Christmas so will put the deep investigation off for tomorrow


Did you clean the screens on your faucet? Happened last February when our pipes froze (but didn't burst) and Christmas Eve (when one did burst). When we lose water pressure for a day or more, we get a lot of sediment stuck in our screens.

Spent Christmas night unscrewing all the faucets and shower heads & washing machine spigot to clean out the screens so we could get water pressure again. Our sink has one of those tall faucets with the sprayer. There was another screen underneath that attached the water hoses coming out of the pipes and then to the sprayer hose. Had to get that apart and clean it out as well.


Very happy I had that experience last big freeze as well. Had a toilet, 2 sinks and the washing machine all have almost no pressure after turning water back on. At first I thought they had some frozen sections then I remembered the setiment thing and cleaned all screens and got water pressure all back to normal.
7nine
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digging tunnels
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In reply to Duck Blind • 12:40a, 12/27/22
AG
Duck Blind said:
I went out of my comfort zone this freeze and bought 4 Freeze Misers for my outside faucets. They worked as advertised. No issues. Dripped when the temp hit 37 and shut off when it went above it.



Is it still necessary/recommended to cover the faucets with the Styrofoam insulation covers when using these?
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Duck Blind
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In reply to digging tunnels • 3:17a, 12/27/22
AG
digging tunnels said:
Duck Blind said:
I went out of my comfort zone this freeze and bought 4 Freeze Misers for my outside faucets. They worked as advertised. No issues. Dripped when the temp hit 37 and shut off when it went above it.



Is it still necessary/recommended to cover the faucets with the Styrofoam insulation covers when using these?


No. I didn't. The water would have no where to go if you installed a cover. I left mine uncovered. Amazing how this device works so well.
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TXAG 05
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6:41a, 12/27/22
AG
Good to know. I'd seen those things but didn't want to risk using them in case they didn't actually work.
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bloom
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In reply to Jackal99 • 7:45a, 12/27/22


"Came home, wrote a note to warn them before they entered a flooded house, and by the time I got back the lady's son was there. Never met him before, but he seemed a bit odd. As he's standing there squeegeeing water out of the front door, he asked if I knew someone who could patch up the ceiling "because it's urgent." Bro, you got busted attic pipes and two inches of water in your house, you got more urgent problems than a hole in the ceiling. I did get him the phone numbers for Serv-Pro and a neighborhood plumbing company because I figured they could get him on the right track, but he didn't seem too thankful and told me that "it's under control now." Cool, dude, if you say so. But his dad passed away a year ago and his mom goes out of the country somewhat frequently, so I don't think she's even home. It's been a few days and from what I can tell, nobody has done anything over there."

I will put money on mom asking the son (prior to freeze) to turn off the water, drain the pipes, wrap the pipes, etc and the son assuming mom is a boomer who watches too much weather channel so he did not do what she asked.
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maroon barchetta
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In reply to bloom • 8:34a, 12/27/22
Mom might be Gen X and son is a millennial. That would explain a lot.
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TP Ag '87
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In reply to Duck Blind • 9:11a, 12/27/22
AG
Stupid question: do those also impact (help) the overall flow (and anti-freezing) of internal pipes as well?
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aggiedata
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In reply to TP Ag '87 • 10:02a, 12/27/22
AG
Probably not.
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combat wombat™
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In reply to TP Ag '87 • 10:09a, 12/27/22
AG
TP Ag '87 said:
Stupid question: do those also impact (help) the overall flow (and anti-freezing) of internal pipes as well?


There is wax in them that solidifies/freezes at temps below 37. It contracts when it freezes and allows the water to flow. These would not work inside, unless your temperatures get to below freezing inside.
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Big Al 1992
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10:29a, 12/27/22
AG
Ok - plants - ones that are toast cut down to the root now or wait? Ones that have come back in the past - oleanders etc cut back now?
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Jackal99
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In reply to bloom • 10:36a, 12/27/22
AG
Mom is old. Son is somewhat intellectually challenged, from what I can tell and have heard from neighbors. Between her being gone and him being slightly confused by things, the situation got more complicated.
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combat wombat™
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In reply to Big Al 1992 • 11:24a, 12/27/22
AG
I'd wait unless it's rotting (bananas, elephant ears, etc).
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