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Icepocalypse watch 2022/2023

185,424 Views | 1531 Replies | Last: 1 yr ago by Jock 07
SJEAg
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AG
CAR96 said:

Well thanks for some input, but I am more perplexed as to what to do now.

I have running water now. I have dripped pipes inside the house ( 2 vanity faucets and kitchen sink faucet).

I have kept the only interior attic door open so the interior home heat can make it's way into the attic.

I have wrapped the only two outdoor hose bib connections really well.

But I will have to leave town for Saturday night and probably Sunday night...and while I am away I will be a nervous wreck wondering if something is going to be bursting?
If you're not leaving until Saturday night I think you should be OK just doing what you're doing. It's supposed to get into the low 40s and sunny on Sat. Any unnoticed issues from the previous nights will likely thaw and become very evident if they aren't already. Sat night is mid/high 20s and light wind, which shouldn't be bad enough to cause problems given the afternoon warm-up reset. Sunday night is a light freeze at most and of no concern.

Tonight may actually be a bigger threat than last night. Still very cold and will be occurring during a long uninterrupted stretch of subfreezing temps. Get through it and you should be gtg for the rest of the weekend.
CAR96
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Thanks for the input. Im also in the middle of a bathroom bath tub shower remodel that is now 7 days with about one more to go….

Really high anxiety now and family pressure to leave town.
CDUB98
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Checking in from Amarillo.

It's a bright and sunny 11 degrees with a negative 4 wind chill. About to slap on some clothes and go get some Taco Villa so I personally contribute to global warming.
CDUB98
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And LOL at the people wanting to bury existing lines. The cost would be ridiculous.

But, in new construction, it really is the better option. The method Fitch laid out earlier is how we do it in industrial facilities as well. It is very reliable and water intrusion is not an issue.
BohunkAg
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JobSecurity said:

toilet in my master bath wont fill, line must've frozen. It's the only exterior wall pipe that I couldn't drip or open a cabinet to keep warm.

Would it be worth running a little space heater pointed at the wall right there to try to warm it up? Or is it too late now
Can't hurt.....
AgLiving06
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Exactly. I grew up in Kingwood with mostly buried lines and I can think of only 2 times there was a sustained outage. Once was Ike and once was another deep freeze a couple decades ago.

I never heard of someone accidentally cutting a buried power line.
gougler08
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Well pipe burst outside on the wall facing the north wind. The back flow preventer itself survived but inflow pipe froze solid…capped it for now and will just get a plumber out once the rush ends in a couple weeks as don't need the sprinklers anyway
CDUB98
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AgLiving06 said:



I never heard of someone accidentally cutting a buried power line.


Never underestimate the power of stupid.
Seabreeze
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Shouldn't
AgLiving06
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CDUB98 said:

AgLiving06 said:



I never heard of someone accidentally cutting a buried power line.


Never underestimate the power of stupid.

Agreed...but I think we can agree the risk of someone damaging a buried power line is orders of magnitude less than above ground power lines being impacted by an event (weather or being hit by a metro bus, etc).
MAROON
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JobSecurity said:

toilet in my master bath wont fill, line must've frozen. It's the only exterior wall pipe that I couldn't drip or open a cabinet to keep warm.

Would it be worth running a little space heater pointed at the wall right there to try to warm it up? Or is it too late now


I have the exact same issue. It's strange because all other faucets in the bathroom work and the sons bathroom which is on the same exterior wall has no issues. Did have the shut off the water for a bit earlier. Shut off valve for my sprinkler system burst and had to cap the pipe. Have taken apart the toilet refill valve and cleaned it still not working .
What do you boys want for breakfast BBQ ?.....OK Chili.
AgLA06
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Is there a hose bib on the outside of that wall?
AgLA06
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AgLiving06 said:

CDUB98 said:

AgLiving06 said:



I never heard of someone accidentally cutting a buried power line.


Never underestimate the power of stupid.

Agreed...but I think we can agree the risk of someone damaging a buried power line is orders of magnitude less than above ground power lines being impacted by an event (weather or being hit by a metro bus, etc).


Just like gas lines that don't get cut all the time? Hell the city cut a main run the other day attempting to repair a water line break. Entire neighborhood without gas and water from people that do one thing every day.
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maroon barchetta
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AgLiving06 said:

CDUB98 said:

AgLiving06 said:



I never heard of someone accidentally cutting a buried power line.


Never underestimate the power of stupid.

Agreed...but I think we can agree the risk of someone damaging a buried power line is orders of magnitude less than above ground power lines being impacted by an event (weather or being hit by a metro bus, etc).


Had a hoe operator tell me he's broken power lines that were buried but they were not in red concrete. He said he never minded hitting those because they just spark a little. They don't cause problems like a natural gas line.
cone
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CALL BEFORE YOU DIG
CDUB98
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The destruction this Taco Villa is going to unleash later will devastate this house.
AgLA06
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Should have done Rosa's instead.
CDUB98
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I can get Rosa's easily.

Can only get Taco Villa the couple of times a year I am here.
MAROON
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Went outside and opened the faucet on that outside wall. It sputtered like it was starting to freeze up and then starting flowing well. Went upstairs and the toilet had filled. Flushed it and it refilled. Will be dripping that outside faucet tonight. Bad part is that it's under our back porch and right near the back door. I'm either going to have to let it just drip on the concrete porch (creating a large ice rink), put a bucket under, or attach the hose and run it into the yard.
What do you boys want for breakfast BBQ ?.....OK Chili.
SJEAg
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A hose is probably a bad idea.
Cromagnum
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Just drip it into a bucket. At worst you might have to dump it, or put a 2nd bucket if the first one freezes.
Charismatic Megafauna
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AgLiving06 said:

Charismatic Megafauna said:

Well i wrapped every pipe i could find but still no water this morning. Guess i should have dripped, unless other westburyans can confirm a city issue

I'm in Westbury 3 and have water.

Thanks, it's just this one problematic line where the main goes in the wall and up to the attic. A little hairdryer action and we're back in business
SnowboardAg
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Neighbor had freezing in a substantial portion of his east wall on a 2 story home with Cpvc. We were able to loosen it up by using portable heater under kitchen sink and running 2 upstair bathrooms, opening attic and running heat at 72, and using heat Guns on some of the exterior walls. He didn't drip the faucets or leave cabinet doors open overnight - lesson learned and he's damn lucky it's not worse.
rcb
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SJEAg said:

A hose is probably a bad idea.


Just curious, why is an attached hose a bad idea? We had the pipe running to outside faucet on a north wall bust above our bedroom in '21 as it thawed. We weren't home. Flooded whole house.

We live on a golf course and there are no houses to block that north wind howling against that north facing wall. Probably due to PTSD I dripped that faucet last night with hose attached and ran the hose out to the golf course. So far so good. Still flowing as of few minutes ago.

Should I remove the hose and just let the faucet drip? It would be dripping into some shrubs.

Thanks.

Ryan the Temp
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The hose will freeze up quickly and keep the faucet from dripping.
MAROON
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Yep. Just walked up my driveway and saw some ice on it. Appears my neighbor had been dripping their outside faucet through a hose all night and it was running just barely onto my driveway.. Looked at the hose. It's frozen solid!
What do you boys want for breakfast BBQ ?.....OK Chili.
terradactylexpress
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Who over that was with cast iron pipes worried about the lack of water causing more issues than them freezing,


You are ****ed either way
Sea Speed
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Family took a walk a bit ago. Boy howdy that wind was face melting.
Ryan the Temp
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The last galvanized pipe in my house is the risers for my bathroom sink. It ran slow this morning, but opening both taps for about 30 seconds got the ice out. My halogens did the trick.
maroon barchetta
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Sea Speed said:

Family took a walk a bit ago. Boy howdy that wind was face melting.


It's a constant sting.
dahouse
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No water in the kitchen. The pipes run in the NW corner of the house. Same thing happened last time but it thawed out soon after we got power back.

I've had the tap open all day and the oven running, and we've been cooking.

Still no water, not even a drip.
Cody
Fightin Texas Aggie c/o 04
Quincey P. Morris
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We had similar in 2021. The first day it got above freezing a little bit I heard a loud vibration suddenly, then a pop, and then there was water coming down the walls. We'd had the pipe freeze before, but it had just melted and was fine. Not so much the second time.
Kenneth_2003
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No need to worry about frozen pipes when your water supplier can't provide water to your entire neighborhood every time it gets cold!!!
dahouse
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Water started flowing at 4:18! I'm not turning the faucet off
Cody
Fightin Texas Aggie c/o 04
 
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