Frozen Pipes?

[dev553344]

https://weather.com/safety/winter/video/frozen-pipes-heres-what-to-do

 

[JohnDB]

Preventing your pipes from freezing is the best method. Using heat trace ....Basically a wire wrapped around the pipes that gets warm which keeps them from freezing.

Or using low wattage tungsten light bulbs that regularly are used for construction lighting or decorative lighting. These wrapped and hung by uour pipes also works wonders. Little 25 watt light bulbs on a string of 50 will bring a lot of heat to the crawlspace.

Leaving a faucet dripping inside the home will work too....especially if the plumbing runs along an exterior wall under the house.

 

[JohnDB]

BTW....as an electrician I hate plumbing.
It's a cultural thing.

 

[dev553344]

BTW....as an electrician I hate plumbing.
It's a cultural thing.

I did some new construction plumbing for a few months when I was younger, I've also done low voltage electrician work. I've had plumbing problems at my place and would hate plumbing that is not new construction.

 

[JohnDB]

I did some new construction plumbing for a few months when I was younger, I've also done low voltage electrician work. I've had plumbing problems at my place and would hate plumbing that is not new construction.

I was a Journeyman construction electrician for years. Foreman many times. Specializing in commercial/industrial work...mostly because I could do motor controls, security-related wiring, and complex AV system wiring with integrated lighting systems.

I've done everything from hospitals to courthouses and of course Switch Yards, high rises, Chem plants, car makers, and steel plants.

And I still hate plumbing. It's always in the way because for whatever reason every time there's plumbing somebody wants lights, plugs, or some other electric devices. PITA!

So I have an intrinsic dislike for plumbing and those who install it. The worst are those who are installing air handling devices heated or cooled by water lines (water is either heated or cooled and then forced air moved over heat exchangers) This work of HVAC is done by "Tin Knockers" or plumbers....they are a brain dead lot. Pipe fitters tend to have a few more skills of being able to work with others but not many.

Today most plumbing of 1" or smaller plumbing lines are done with PEX. And that stuff is amazing. It can freeze and thaw over 100 times and never bust or leak. However....rodents can't get enough of it. Squirrels and mice love this stuff. They have added chemicals to make it taste bitter to the rodents but since when has lead or steel pipe tasted great? CPVC doesn't attract mice but the microplastics it gives off and it's susceptibility for breaking is over the top.

Heavy wall copper is still the best stuff. Not the thin stuff in most homes that crushes the second you try and cut it...but the red line copper pipe. However...most guys today don't sweat the joints very well. It has to be extremely clean and untouched when sweated. And ½" of silver solder is all you need for a ½ joint....that's all it will hold. Anymore than that and you are wasting the stuff. (Which is expensive)

Yes, unfortunately I know way too much about plumbing and flow dynamics. I was thinking about getting an instrumentation certificate. Tech 3s get golden child treatment and are in constant demand. But life in refineries and petroleum plants kinda sucks too....no matter how ridiculously much they are paying these days.

 

[lforrest]

I've heard that in some colder parts of the world it is common practice to cover your windows with cardboard every year to add a layer of air gap insolation and save on heating.

 

[dev553344]

I've heard that in some colder parts of the world it is common practice to cover your windows with cardboard every year to add a layer of air gap insolation and save on heating.

I noticed that thru the double pane windows here I can hear thru them pretty easy. So maybe heat is conducted also?

 

[Big Boy Johnson]

BTW....as an electrician I hate plumbing.
It's a cultural thing.

The things electricians say is... "shocking"!

 

[lforrest]

I noticed that thru the double pane windows here I can hear thru them pretty easy. So maybe heat is conducted also?

They usually fill those with argon gas. Heat would definitely conduct through them but they are much better than single pane.

Unless you can insolate something with a vacuum, like a thermos, you will still have conduction and convection. Thermal radiation is only a big factor at high temperatures.

 

[dev553344]

I was a Journeyman construction electrician for years. Foreman many times. Specializing in commercial/industrial work...mostly because I could do motor controls, security-related wiring, and complex AV system wiring with integrated lighting systems.

I've done everything from hospitals to courthouses and of course Switch Yards, high rises, Chem plants, car makers, and steel plants.

And I still hate plumbing. It's always in the way because for whatever reason every time there's plumbing somebody wants lights, plugs, or some other electric devices. PITA!

So I have an intrinsic dislike for plumbing and those who install it. The worst are those who are installing air handling devices heated or cooled by water lines (water is either heated or cooled and then forced air moved over heat exchangers) This work of HVAC is done by "Tin Knockers" or plumbers....they are a brain dead lot. Pipe fitters tend to have a few more skills of being able to work with others but not many.

Today most plumbing of 1" or smaller plumbing lines are done with PEX. And that stuff is amazing. It can freeze and thaw over 100 times and never bust or leak. However....rodents can't get enough of it. Squirrels and mice love this stuff. They have added chemicals to make it taste bitter to the rodents but since when has lead or steel pipe tasted great? CPVC doesn't attract mice but the microplastics it gives off and it's susceptibility for breaking is over the top.

Heavy wall copper is still the best stuff. Not the thin stuff in most homes that crushes the second you try and cut it...but the red line copper pipe. However...most guys today don't sweat the joints very well. It has to be extremely clean and untouched when sweated. And ½" of silver solder is all you need for a ½ joint....that's all it will hold. Anymore than that and you are wasting the stuff. (Which is expensive)

Yes, unfortunately I know way too much about plumbing and flow dynamics. I was thinking about getting an instrumentation certificate. Tech 3s get golden child treatment and are in constant demand. But life in refineries and petroleum plants kinda sucks too....no matter how ridiculously much they are paying these days.

As a small voltage electrician apprentice, I was ordered to go under houses and run security wiring. Talk about spiders and 3-dimensional webs. The spiders would hang their webs in drop strings that looked like a thick beard. I would wear a hat and a pull over hood, but still the amount of spiders I encountered were terrible.

As a plumber apprentice it was nice and clean. So ya I can see some jealously perhaps.

 

[JohnDB]

As a small voltage electrician apprentice, I was ordered to go under houses and run security wiring. Talk about spiders and 3-dimensional webs. The spiders would hang their webs in drop strings that looked like a thick beard. I would wear a hat and a pull over hood, but still the amount of spiders I encountered were terrible.

As a plumber apprentice it was nice and clean. So ya I can see some jealously perhaps.

Oh plumbers get in some NASTY situations as well. Plumbers always have work because stuff always leaks at some point or valves go bad....something always needs fixing. And water leaking will destroy any building rather quickly.

But yes, there's ALWAYS dirt, dust, bugs, mice, and general icky stuff when remodeling. New isn't so bad but the limestone dust gets annoying. Car plants are full of grease that never comes out of clothing. Chem plants? Oh some are really clean but others are scary nasty. You literally don't know what's in the sticky goop covering you....or it eats your clothes and skin.

Zinc plant made sulphuric acid concentrate that small spills would dissolve the metal grate floor. (Scary stuff)

Yogurt plant was clean...but I don't like the smell of yogurt. And the boot wash destroys your boots. (You have to use it....and FDA plants have special requirements for clothing and working practice guidelines)

All of it is work...

 

[Chains Broken]

They usually fill those with argon gas. Heat would definitely conduct through them but they are much better than single pane.

Unless you can insolate something with a vacuum, like a thermos, you will still have conduction and convection. Thermal radiation is only a big factor at high temperatures.

I've heard also that metal window frames and studs are really bad in the cold weather. I believe they conduct heat much more than wood so the heat in your house has a passage way out through your walls and around your windows.

 

[BeyondET]

BTW....as an electrician I hate plumbing.
It's a cultural thing.

Electric waterheaters must drive you nuts, lol

 

[Debp]

I've heard that in some colder parts of the world it is common practice to cover your windows with cardboard every year to add a layer of air gap insolation and save on heating.

I don't know if they still do this.
But when I grew up in Pennsylvania, we would put putty along the window cracks (frame) to keep cold air out.

 

[JohnDB]

Electric waterheaters must drive you nuts, lol

I don't mind wiring them or even changing thermostats and heating elements or the electrode that removes hard water calcium and other elements from the water....just plumbing them really sucks.

I started using flex connectors with compression fittings and soldiered a ¾ male and piece of straight pipe to make the connections. That was much easier than anything else. The copper must be heavy wall copper and the copper straight pipe must be perfectly round...no oval whatsoever. Then it's almost plug and play. But nobody did that sort of thing except me.

 

[Big Boy Johnson]

As a small voltage electrician apprentice, I was ordered to go under houses and run security wiring. Talk about spiders and 3-dimensional webs. The spiders would hang their webs in drop strings that looked like a thick beard. I would wear a hat and a pull over hood, but still the amount of spiders I encountered were terrible.

What you needed was a blow torch... to clear the way!

 

[Rockerduck]

. I've done a lot of plumbing in houses. Those galvanized pipes lasted 100 years on the cold water side on some houses, Those hot water pipes cause all the problems. The copper pipes lasted almost as long as galvanized and they got too expensive to install. Polybutylene was a joke, I had to yank alot of it because of all the hot water pin hole leaks. CPVC was fine about getting high on glue and flammable. Pex is much, much easier to install it saves on labor. All the good plumbers with experience are fading fast. I guess I was one of the last to heat up lead and oakem to pack in black pipe drain systems. You don't have plumbers with muscles anymore, because 10 foot of 6 inch black pipe weighed 150 lbs and you have to unload a truck by yourself.

 

[Taken]

I did some new construction plumbing for a few months when I was younger, I've also done low voltage electrician work. I've had plumbing problems at my place and would hate plumbing that is not new construction.

Plumbing has changed over the years, from materials to amounts of places in homes in and outside where water is available or necessary for taps for water and also for exiting.

The very old in ground often has broken apart, shifted, crumbled, roots grown into…
The fairly newer PVC is the modern preferred, but can be not sized properly, or connected properly, and “in ground” or “behind’ sheet rock…you would not know. Improper “reducers”, can also be a menace for proper pressure.
Just saying new or old construction, be it plumbing (or electrical) can each come with their own set of problems. And modernly…the water, the waste, the electrical gadgets…are rather enormous.

 

[JohnDB]

Plumbing has changed over the years, from materials to amounts of places in homes in and outside where water is available or necessary for taps for water and also for exiting.

The very old in ground often has broken apart, shifted, crumbled, roots grown into…
The fairly newer PVC is the modern preferred, but can be not sized properly, or connected properly, and “in ground” or “behind’ sheet rock…you would not know. Improper “reducers”, can also be a menace for proper pressure.
Just saying new or old construction, be it plumbing (or electrical) can each come with their own set of problems. And modernly…the water, the waste, the electrical gadgets…are rather enormous.

So tell me, if you know:
How do you connect a standard 4" PVC sewer line up to a hollowed out log?

The guys in NYC really want to know. They haven't really found an ideal solution yet.

 

[Taken]

So tell me, if you know:
How do you connect a standard 4" PVC sewer line up to a hollowed out log?

The guys in NYC really want to know. They haven't really found an ideal solution yet.

Off hand, can’t imagine wanting to do that…
And while you mention the 4” PVC pipe…but not the size of the hollowed log, or how it was hollowed, keeping the entire outer part of the log intact, or how long it is…why? Really, they want a LOG to be part of the device to carry human waste and paper and undissolved drugs?

Connecting a pvc pipe to the end of a log or another device seemingly would require a cupeling and cement glue applicable to both devices.