Freezing weather,Burst pipe,Important prep

I'll tell ya all about it as I do the burst pipe repair today.

Get this,the stores dont handle repair kits,but internet does,too little too late,Im going to try a fiberglass'resin wrap from Lowes today.....

Spuds,Now that I live in the midwest where freezing weather is probable, I found an interesting idea. My house has a valve on the pipe leading to any outdoor faucet. When bad weather is expected, I close the valve and open the faucet. All the water pipes in my 55 year old house run between the basement and ground floor.

It's standard practice here in Colorado to have secondary inside valves to your outside faucets. And you close those and drain your outside faucets every winter and then turn them back on each spring. Same for lawn sprinkler systems. Additionally, many here blow out their drained sprinkler pipes with an air compressor. Pipes that run inside the house, through the basement, etc., are not usually a problem (unless you leave your furnace thermostat set at really really cold!) However, pipes that run through a uninsulated crawlspace under the house sometimes freeze. You can put pipe insulation on those. They even make heated tape you can wrap around them. And then there is the age old technique of leaving a faucet at the end of an uninsulated pipe run (like in a remote bathroom) slightly open so it runs a small but steady dribble of water.

They make "Frost-Proof" faucets as well.. they are bascially faucets that have the shut off valve way back on the pipe.. they make them in various lengths depending on the thickness of your outside walls.

I've got two of them that I put in years and years ago.. never had a problem with freezing since. Indoor shut off valve is effectively the same thing, but you have to remember to turn them off and open the outside valve every winter.

This is pretty standard up here as well from what I understand.

That said, I believe my home builder had some form of phobia of shut off valves - the only ones installed when I moved in were the for the main water & the hot water tank. For the outside faucets, they installed some kind of pressure release faucet that prevents burst lines. A home builder friend of mine was surprised to see them installed, but said do prevent burst lines and that with them you wouldn't need the inside shut off valves. I've been in the house 12 years now and have had no issues so far.

That's what our house came with as built. We replaced those with real inside shutoff valves for every line that goes outside, as many here do.

Those pressure release faucets do help against freezing, when a hose is inadvertantly left connected to them, but they have the side effect of spewing the water pressure they release right up there against the side of you house. In many places that might not matter, but here in Colorado we have expansive clay soils. So the last thing you want is having that clay soil expand and contract (due to water) right up against your houses foundation. Makes for very expensive foundation cracking/repair.

I used this from Lowes....IT WORKS!!



Repair Kit

Item #: 16462 | Model #: DPT-0260

3.9 / 5 from 7 reviews

$9.96

2" X 60" Pipe and Hose Repair Kit

Pipe and hose repair kit is a special resin impregnated fiberglass tape sealed in a foil pouch
Wraps around any surface and will set as hard as steel in about 30 minutes -- even under water
It's design facilitates repairs in hard-to-reach areas such as in between walls, working on connectors, and fittings
Adheres to almost any surface and cures within approximately 30 minutes
Certified safe to use on drinking water systems NSF/ANSI Standard 61

My house was built in the 1930's by Sea Scouts as a club project,code? Whats that?? Add in a bunch of mickey mouse repairs and this is what my outdoor service porch looks like,crazy!


Some of the uninsulated pipes,these havent frozen before but 13 degrees and me not home,froze enough they did...



These 2 pics you can see the repair with the tape...





Now the lessons learned.The tape is air activated,comes in a mylar pouch.You open it,drop in water to cover 20-30 secs.

I opened it in the house to look at it.Then folded back in pack,gathered a few goodies,took about 7-10 minutes.

Got it outside,in water,and it had already seriously started to harden.Good thing I got 2!

First roll....ruined,got hard partially and not much sticky at all.....


Cleaned pipe with sandpaper,wiped clean.Apply resin impregnated fiberglass tape tightly,pulling hard.Then as it starts curing you twist it on tighter in direction you rolled it on,it actually does move a bit and tightens. Cures in 30 minutes at 75 degrees,at 25F here,so let it cure 2 hours,it is rock hard.

Turned on water,SUCCESS.At least on leak.Have toilet and bathtub and sink COLD water only.Kitchen....nope. But it will warm up here by Thursday,and toilet and any running water is nice

Got some pipe coverings I will put on when thawed. I do have heat tape to what is accessible and it does help a lot.

Lesson,get more of the stuff,and some pipe repair clamps from INTERNET now,no good to have to order them when pipe fails.If I had them I wouldnt have any frozen pipes because the water would still have been running.Dont know why pipe burst,it was partially frozen,must have been enough to take out a rusty inside old pipe. Also got fittings to remove and fix the section this summer.And picked up a couple cans map gas for torch,dont need that to run out in an emergency situation.

Edit-the repair is ROCK HARD,good stuff and after searching web seems to be the best price too at Lowes.Its about 50% more at amazon and ebay.Going to pick up 4 more,woulda saved me about 450 when I split a pipe when I first moved here.

Friend sent me this,great idea!
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Had not heard of this stuff. I did use pipe insulation on mine. Long as you have cold water that is something. Vacuum with hose on the reverse does get to some places. Thaw slow and easy to not have problems you can stick the hose from vacuum in places where you can not reach other wise. Heat lamp where room I used of the neighbors one time. Vacuum does put out warm air. I have had canister type vacuums.

I never thought about potential foundation issues. I guess that's something I should look into! Thanks.

Neighbor is in extended care,house empty,realty company cares for it.Today they had a burst pipe.

She calls plumber from down the hill 25 miles away. He comes up with 24 year old son in his truck,not plumbing van,to do estimate.

Dogs barking,go outside,he is turning off my water

You a plumber ?

Yup,neighbor has a leak.

I take him to her meter,he turns off.

Say....do you have time to fix a section of copper pipe?

Got the time,not the tools or supplies.

Tell him,I got all the fixings and tools (I picked up at Lowes yesterday 1/2 and 3/4 pipes and fittings) He says,let me take a look.

So son comes over....how much I ask.

50 bucks maybe,but let me ask Dad.

Tells Dad to look,he says I trust you son,do it.

So he does.Getting steel stub outta 1/2 elbow was a bear,took us both( So I never could have fixed it myself).Then when he tried to solder copper to new joint kept getting wet.Had to unhook water heater lines to blow out.SUCCESS!

How about this 3/4 section,cut out and splice? Dad says OK,70 dollars total,Nice Scottish fella. So we traded snow and Husky and GSD stories,they have both kinds of dogs, just like me.

When he was done he says you know I gave you a very good deal since I'm here and it will pay for gas. Said Yup! I DO know what a deal it was and cant thank you enough.!!!

70 bucks and 2 pipe repairs,is that an Angel or what.....like he said 'God put me on your doorstep today',sure did,an Angel was sent.

Hows that for a story??

Went out and got almost all lines covered by those foam tubes,Looks GREAT.

Mrs says its Karma,tell you what,Brian and Jim sure earned a billion Karma points today,what nice kind people!

Fixing up my old house I learned a few things.

1. Replace your propane torch with the map gas (yellow bottle) torch. It burn hotter and will evaporate the drops of water faster or put more heat into what your soldering to help make up for what the water is sinking away.

2. Bread works. Cut the pipe and after the most of it quits draining stuff some bread into it to plug it for a short time, enough to solder your joint. Then you turn the water back on the breag gets soggy and washes away.

3. Always buy the bulk contractor bags of parts, elbows, t's etc, never know when you may need one.

I've known good plumber and bad ones, and I live in a house that has been remodeled 3 times in 60 years never with a licensed plumber present, judging by the aftermath. And I am hydrologically incompetent, I know this from experience. The good plumber I refer to my Mom who is on a fixed income, and her repairs cost half what mine do. I'm happy with that. God bless Dale.

Not weather related but I bought a new dishwasher recently and knew I better call the plumber for the install. Sure enough, no water shut off, no pipes to code, and the poor guy just shuddered and cursed while trying to level it over 3 different kitchen floor surfaces. Been there, done that - cheap at half the price not to do it again.

Auto shutoff water lines,major cool!Lowes has em

http://www.watts.com/pages/whatsnew/floodsafe_connectors.asp

So....one broken pipe has turned into a bathroom remodel,didnt see that coming,boy I have some rusty pipes! More I dug,more needs doing. Oh well,Mrs wanted some bathroom work....