Winter Tips for Plumbing

[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).

[footfootfoot]

Originally Posted by 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).

Great in theory, but unrelated to the reality of old houses and different climates. For example, up here on the 43rd parallel, the frostline is 4 feet below grade. If there is a cold snap (-20 or -30 for a week) with no snow cover, as happens every six or seven years, water service entrance lines will freeze. It sucks. Another common problem is when the wind is strong, the temps are below zero and there are cracks in the foundation or gaps in the walls around windows, mouse eaten insulation or no insulation at all, the wind finds its way to a pipe and freezes it. Especially true in unheated basements. I've seen this happen in houses where the living space was at 68 degrees.

Why not stick to cars and 85% of top management instead of blaming plumbers for frozen pipes.

[tw]

Originally Posted by footfootfoot

Great in theory, but unrelated to the reality of old houses and different climates.

Even informed 1950 plumbers properly installed pipes. Then pipes did not freeze even in unheated basements.

Please comprehend what was posted; stop justifying bad workmanship with ignorance. In venues where a frost line is 4 feet, then pipes must be buried more than four feet down. Even a ditch digger knows pipes must always be below the frost line. If not, then pipes are reburied deeper.

If a house is at 40 degrees, then an unheated basement should never have frozen pipes. But some believe failure acceptable. They do not even patch foundation cracks (which are often due to defective workmanship in the footings), do not install missing insulation, and do not replace defective windows. Conditions acceptable only in abandon buildings or the ghetto.

85% of all frozen pipes are directly traceable to a naive or lazy human. Most learn from their mistakes. Since the solution is so simple, so well understood, and easy. A frozen water pipe is fixed so that it never freezes again even in -20 degree (-30 degree C) weather.

A pipe repeatedly frozen identifies a human in denial. Who would lash out rather than admit to why the problem exists.

[xoxoxoBruce]

a

[Griff]

Somebody is lashing out tonight. tw, maybe you could start a thread about whatever is bothering you?