Growing up in Buffalo, I never even considered what is common knowledge here might not be known elsewhere. Every Fall I would help my Dad close and drain the water outlets, put away the lawn furniture, bring up the shovels, oil change the snow blower, and go and buy multiple bags of rock salt and 5 gallons of fuel plus stabilizer. It was a ritual I thought everyone just knew to do. Well, the way New Yorkers are leaving for the South that knowledge should spread in a few years. Makes me wonder what Southerners know about the heat and the house that Northerners dont know.
Texan here- sure wish I'd seen this before we had 3 degree temps! I live in a manufactured home park, and had my faucets all dripping inside, with the cabinet doors open. Woke up in the AM, no more dripping, oh no! It turns out the park owner had his maintenance crew shut off all the water to the individual homes, but didn't bother telling the residents. Now we all have frozen pipes, and it's already been over a week without any water! Got a guy to help me try to unfreeze the pipes, had heaters running under the house & in all the cabinets with taps, but no luck so far. Got water from the outside tap next to the main water valve, but none anywhere inside the house. I'm furious with the park owner, and if the pipes burst I'll be suing him!
Hi did you try putting salt down the drain I did to unfreeze any ice in it ,it worked try doing it everyday though ,any salt works I used regular salt no broke pipes though
@@admar6934 Hey, thanks for the reply! No, I didn't try salt- what happened was, none of our pipes would've frozen, if the damn park mgr hadn't decided to turn off the water to us all without warning. We'd been letting the water flow thru the pipes, so when he turned off the water it meant that the water left in the pipes stayed there- and froze!- which burst the pipes. We were lucky, only one pipe burst & it wasn't hard to fix, but some folks were really screwed. If it had only been the drain, salt would have done the job, I'm sure!
Same here some of my neighbors pipes broke sadly but this winter try it for sure ,it's predicted a winter storm but worse also I put the heater opened the cabinets from under the sink placed the heater in front that helped,well best wishes to you and your family be blessed
@@admar6934 Yes, the heater under the sink is a great idea! I'll try that this winter, thanks for the tip! All the best to you and your family as well, and may God bless you all!
I am in Texas, visiting my son. He just bought a house last year. We suffered no power, for a while, got a generator working, and thought all was well. All external faucets were insulated, and not leaking. However, it was the bathroom in the garage that posed a problem. Someone cut out one external faucet and capped the end with a steel, natural gas line cap. The freeze finished pushing the rusty steel cap apart, spray water behind a dry-walled wall of the garage. Interestingly, that pipe was outside of the original brick house, NOT INSULATED, and hidden behind drywall. Remember: 1. NEVER MIX METALS. 2. use the same type and appropriate metal for its final purpose.
Great video, but big error on the thermostat part : it costs more to maintain a house at higher temperature, because overall thermal loss increase with temperature difference between inside and outside. This is simply physics.
@@Got2Learn segoetnico is correct in that the video is great but the thermostat comment was a big mistake. To a great fraction of the world population, turning up the heat in the home would be very expensive indeed since maintaining heat has a cost that is directly proportional (as represented by multiplication) to the increase in temperature differential between indoor and outdoor, multiplied again by the time you maintain this temperature differential. If maintained for more than a short while (which will often be necessary), the temperature maintenance cost will often be bigger (again, proportional to time, so if time approaches infinite then cost also approacges infinite) than the initial temp ramp cost unless your house is exceptionally well insulated (represented by division by the insulation factor). This will in many cases be such an expensive solution that it might in fact bankrupt people with weak finances, fairly big, poorly insulated houses, living in places with prolonged harsh winters, which is a non-negligible fraction of the world population. Since the rest of the video is so good, please own your single mistake an help any onlookers from thinking the thermostat solution is cheap when not (nor environmentally friendly), by editing out this erroneous comment from the video. Besides, this solution is not permanent, so someone else who later lives in the house after you might not know of the problem an this theoretical solution, which might lead them to set the thermostat back down for other reasons thereby unknowingly causing ice-broken pipes because this solution is not permanent and requires this perpetual knowledge transfer and remembering too. Please edit this comment out for the sake of humanity.
That was way too much of a comment for a simple concept. Most of the world population know what they can afford and won’t be watching this video, anyway. You’re giving this guy way too much credit for his “world” influence.
I live in a mobile home which are notorious for frozen plumbing. Most have the water, electric, and the dryer vent come in near the same spot. I built a small box out of insulation board around the water line when I bought the trailer 20 years ago. Instead of running the dryer vent through my skirting I ran it into the box around my water line, about 3 feet in distance. The one and only time mine froze it had been single digit Temp for a few days. I turned the dryer on and thawed it out in less than ten minutes. I've used the dripping faucet since then and it's worked but the dryer is there for backup lol Merry Christmas to y'all
Before you EVER attempt to thaw a frozen pipe, make sure you know where your water main shutoff is and make sure it WORKS before you do anything. Open every tap beforehand and watch very closely for drips while thawing the frozen pipes. Opening the taps will reduce the size of the leak if there is one. If it drips or shows evidence of a leak or split, stop, turn off your water main, and call a plumber.
7:54 #10 is okay if you have just one faucet and one pipe; if you have multiples of these, the water can still freeze in any pipe that isn't being slowly "drained" by an open faucet like this. Also, slowly letting water into a drain can actually make freezing worse, in that the drain-pipe is no longer empty of water in some areas.
In Europe, Germany specifically, it is in our code to insulate the piping, whether it being hot or cold tap water. The hot side, so it doesn't lose temperature and to save energy. The cold side, so there is no possibility of bacteria build up. Our cold water lines need to stay below 20°C (68°F), to ensure that. Some institutions are pushing for even better separation of hot and cold piping, to ensure the cold water temperature below 20°C even more, but that is still not in the code (yet). As we have water based central heating, the water lines of these circuits need to be insulated as well, so the heat gets to the radiators and doesn't get lost on the way to them - and to save energy. There is a mandatory thickness in relation to the pipe diameter somewhere in the regulations, that doesn't come to mind right now. A good rule of thumb is 100%, which means pipe 1/2in = insulation 1/2in. Up to a certain extent, of course. And you have to insulate the valves, too. There needs to be as little open pipe as possible. Your example with the outdoor tap has a little short coming: With insulated pipes here you would still have the shut off valve inside, as these are mandatory by the building insurances, which every building owner has to have. Doesn't matter, if you have a frost free tap or not. Sounds over engineered, but it works. Every water damage case caused by frost I heard of didn't follow these simple rules. Or the heating failed, what let the cold creep into the house. Energy saving - and therefore cost saving - might not be a big thing in the US, as natural gas, oil and electricity are so cheap, people don't bother. We in Germany are paying so high prices for energy, american people would protest non stop (on he other hand: If we had to pay your prices for internet access plans, we wouldn't protest in the classical sense, we simply wouldn't get the gear). But as we have all seen, to winterize your home can have it's advantages, even when there might never be a ROI via energy cost savings...
Anybody who is installing RV antifreeze in drain traps should really consider fully winterizing all of the house, which would include shutting off the water, draining all water pipes and radiators, draining the water heater, draining the boiler, plus other things. Banks have this done on foreclosed properties that will remain vacant and unheated during cold weather months.
Thanks so much for posting this. I feel much more secure about my pipes. To think the things we take for granted....until something goes wrong! Thanks again.
There is totally inaccurate information at about 7:30 about the cost of warming an house. It is false to say that the cost of heating a house is the same no matter what the temperature is, and that it's only the increase in temperature that cost money. That's not how thermodynamics works. It would be accurate if insulation was infinitely perfect, but nothing in the universe is perfect, and our insulation material are nowhere close to even good. We will never live the day where we see insultation with R-Value of infinity. Heat loss = (Delta T x Area x Time) / Insulation R-Value. The heat loss in BTU/hr is equal to the difference in temperature between the outside and the inside time the area of insulation times the time divided by the R-Value of the insulation. At a R-Value of 30, the difference between heating your house to 70 or 73 for the average American house is about 200 BTU/hr. That's 42.5 kWh at the end of the month, or 4.25$ more per month on your electricity bill at 10c per kWh (you can also convert BTU/hr to your gas energy density to get the cu. ft. of gas you'd need more and convert by the price of the gas you pay also, if you are heating with gas). For an older house at R-15, the loss for that 3F is 400BTU/hr, so 8.50$ per month. You cannot control the outside temperature, but you can definitely control the inside one! And no, it's not 4.25$ to increase the temperature, it's the price to __maintain__ that temperature. If you reduce temperature during the night, or while you are away, the economies are even greater. It is almost always cheaper to decrease your temperature for any time greater than one hour than to maintain the temperature. I'm sure you'd rather stay comfortable when you are at home and save while you are away than paying through the nose to heat a house when no one is in it. I remember an exercise one of our thermodynamics professor had us do in College. He got us to convert an average R-30 insulated house into a perfectly insulated one with a hole in the wall. I believe the answer was something along the line of a 1 foot hole in the wall. The average house has the equivalent of a 1 foot hole in the wall because insulation are pretty bad. It's kind of shocking when you think about it.
I didn't want to make it too complicated, but yes, there will be a small delta if it's heated more, I just thought that for 1 or 2 degrees it wasn't worth specifying, thanks man!!!
I lived 1 year in Laneville ;TX. 1974. I was sooo happy to be away from my freezing Illinois home. Then it snowed! First time in like 100 years! @&:#!!! 😡
Great tips as always! I would only add to install pipe insulation close to the exterior wall to a maximum of only 18” away in a basement or exterior wall that meets a inside wall. That way you get the heat from the room, even if it’s ambient such as a basement, on a good bit of the exposed pipe and the pipe closer to the wall will be insulated from the cold. Also those outside faucet covers need to have insulation stuffed inside of them before installing them over the faucet. Lastly since you didn’t mention it if you cut off water to device and you have a ball valve after the shut off valve you cut off place the valve after the cut off point to half on half off. Enough water can get trapped between the ball and the wall of the valve causing it to freeze and crack. This is mainly for backflow devices for irrigation systems. Even turn all the test cock valves half on half off and back off the bolts of the relief valve a little bit so the water can drain out from there as well. Also installing tees with drain plugs right at the ground of the inlet and outlet pipes of the backflow device can allow you to drain all the water out of the device and piping above ground eliminating any worry of frozen piping.
My solution… I purchased a digital irrigation timer at Lowes that you would normally use on your garden. I have a Orbit brand, Item #604469 Model #24600 about $30 bucks. I attached it to my kitchen sink with a quick disconnect. I set the timer to turn on once per hour around the clock and run for 2 minutes. It was really easy to set and works perfectly. I live in Northern Minnesota in a mobile home. It hasn't failed me yet. My water lines into the house have heat tape but this is my extra insurance….
What works for me is leaving a faucet or two dripping. If it's a slow enough drip it doesn't even register on the meter (therefore the bill doesn't go up)
Nice tricks! Also worth mentioning is a method to keep underground pipes frost free. You can feed a heating cable inside the pipe with a cable that is suited for that purpose. A small cable inside a ~40mm diameter house main water supply line won't hurt the flow too much. Of course the pipes shouldn't freeze if buried deep enough but unsually long cold peaks can reach frost to 1m deep underground. Also, it does cost more to raise your indoor temperature because heat loss through insulation rises when temperature difference rises.
Great video. Lots of good ideas. Another idea for thawing frozen pipes is to use a stick welder. The frozen pipe has to be metal. With the welder turned off attach one of the clamps to either side of the frozen section, usually a buried pipe. Open a faucet and then turn the welder on the lowest amperage setting. When the flow is restored turn off the welder and remove the clamps. Doing this too long can melt your pipe, so only use the low setting. Connecting the clamps with the power on could cause an arc that will put a hole in your pipe or blind you. When listing drains to add RV antifreeze I'm pretty sure you forgot washing machine drains. That would be a bad trap to forget. Thanks for the awesome videos. I've learned a lot from them.
Thank you so much! Yes I heard of that technique but never saw anybody using it, pretty sure it makes for a quick unthawing hehe...have a great day buddy ;)
Heat trace on a copper (or metal) pipe should be fed from a GFCI (ground fault circuit interrupter) power circuit. The GFCI will keep you from electrocution if the insulation on the heat trace starts to fail and energizes the metal pipe. Use a 30 mA GFCI for this purpose. The standard 6 mA GFCI may result in nuisance trips which will allow your pipes to freeze.
good Information In the 1990s I noticed the Sears rubber Garden hose would freeze but did Not bust until 34 below zero F so I did My whole plumbing with It, I use Gimour brass valves and connectors the plastic are more likely to bust I cover the hose with flexiable sewer pipe and If the Water line does freeze I uses a hairdryer to blow warm Air down the lines, I have tried heat tape but It usually does Not work and one time It about set My house on fire, I have been after manufacturers to make something as a automatic Water flushing system to flush the Water lines every few minutes I tried a automatic lawn sprinkler It worked for 2 hours but does Not have multiple repeats, also do Not run Warer lines near cement because cement absorbs the cold like a magnet.
7:55 this method increases risk of damage if the space is unoccupied, now you are betting certain damage on your drains not freezing VS taking precautions else where.
Awesome video man. Lots of good info. Two observations-1) you guys use gate valves up there? They are trash in the desert . I won’t even try turning an old one off when run into it. Automatic replace. 2) Your water must be awesome right from the ground there. I didn’t see any hardness or calcium deposits on any of the hose bibs you showed on exterior.
Hehe yes, the gate valve is original from the house and it's starting to already not be smooth and for the calcium deposits, there's none because I replaced them ;) Thanks Mark always nice to see you back ;)
Don’t use regular antifreeze. Boaters use the RV antifreeze for Winter storage because any unflushed residue is drinkable and auto antifreeze is deadly in home pipes. Add the “cherry juice “ as it is sometimes called. Any marine dealer will have it in the winter in colder climates. JoeB
No. 8 is a new one on me. As for those outside foam insulators, never thought they were of any real use. Thanks for giving your opinion. I'll pick up a couple. As always, I enjoy all your videos.
Great video!! I learned a lot. I have a problem, I shut off the upstream water supply feeding the outdoor hose bib, opened up the outdoor hose bib faucet to drain, and left it open for 12 hours but the outdoor faucet keeps dripping nonstop, from the video is supposed to leak for 30 minutes at the most but the faucet keeps dripping. Please help!
As of writing this here in Houston Tx. , neighbors water heaters and sprinkler lines bursting. My water is off at the street meter but was done too late. I don't want to turn it back on.
These are all good tips but I have one small disagreement. Keeping the heated areas of your home at a higher temperature might prevent pipe freezing in certain situations but it does cost more. The reason is that, in cold weather, a greater difference in temperature between the inside and outside of a building will increase the rate of heat loss to the outside.
My house: built 1912 Kitchen: built 1928ish Plumbing: redone 2019. Insulated: of course not. thanks contractors, now I know lol, I have been opening cupboards and running higher temp throughout the house, this helps but if this is to be a rental I need to properly fix it
Boy does that sound familiar; I grew up in an old Sears home. [Great house!] but you could literally drop a rock in the wall from the attic and it would end up reaching the basement!
You could do it for all of them, I personally just do it for 1 and on really cold days (-45 degrees celsius) my pipes didn't freeze like the previous year, so it worked!
Never install water pipes in attics or outside walls, install non freeze hose bibs and disconnect any hoses, if it turns cold and heat is off turn off the water at the main line and drain down the whole system until danger of freezing passes, if you have an air compressor get a hose bib adaptor and blow all the water out of the pipes with compressed air! Turn off hot water tank and get a short hose so you can pull drinking water from the bottom drain, Fill up your tub and use that
Use water stored in the tub to flush your toilet, pour some in the tank and flush away! Once it warms up put the system back in service and you will have no leaks! Note if the water meter is in a box outside on the lawn place a sheet of foam insulation on top of it and weigh it down with something heavy so it can’t freeze! If you are handy disconnect the discharge side of the water meter and this allows the water main to drain so it can’t freeze either! Get a plumber to show you how to do all this and you could save
More heat in your house means more money to spend, it doesn't cost the same. Thanks for the video, I'm looking at solutions for my main water line in the crawlspace. I guess I'll go with insulation.
@@Got2Learn awesome, thank you ive been constantly having them running. So many of my family, friends, coworkers with busted pipes. Another freeze coming tonight...ugh! Thank you!!
Is the auto shut off valve electrically powered? I would expect the pipes to freeze if the power goes off while you're away. With no power there is no heat and the pipes could freeze in a basement. So, how would this electronic device help if the power goes off? Is there a battery backup?
I’ve used a torch while living in Montreal, during power failures. For some reason, they used build homes with little insulation and they would install plumbing against an outside wall🙄. Awesome video as usual mon ami!
@Got2Learn, nice tips. However, your suggestion to check wall voids by pulling switch plate covers is missing a very important point. One should only be checking behind switches that are on exterior walls. No value in insulating interior walls as they are heated on both sides. Got to make that clear, right?
You have me thinking about what to do with my hydronic heating system. rather than draining the system, and boiler which is a major PITA, I am thinking about adding an SPDT switch on my circulator so I can byass the boiler control, and allow the circulator to run from a timer to keep the water moving in my radiation so it won't freeze. Does that make sense, and will it work to prevent freezing? I am thinking of this as a solution to a boiler system failure rather than power outage.
If you shut off water from the meter you won't have any water supply. I did that once shutting of at the meter(summer time).The water district advice me not to. If I break the valve I'll be liable.
Growing up in Buffalo, I never even considered what is common knowledge here might not be known elsewhere. Every Fall I would help my Dad close and drain the water outlets, put away the lawn furniture, bring up the shovels, oil change the snow blower, and go and buy multiple bags of rock salt and 5 gallons of fuel plus stabilizer. It was a ritual I thought everyone just knew to do. Well, the way New Yorkers are leaving for the South that knowledge should spread in a few years. Makes me wonder what Southerners know about the heat and the house that Northerners dont know.
Lots of tips for next year.Hopefuly not but never know.
Texan here- sure wish I'd seen this before we had 3 degree temps! I live in a manufactured home park, and had my faucets all dripping inside, with the cabinet doors open. Woke up in the AM, no more dripping, oh no! It turns out the park owner had his maintenance crew shut off all the water to the individual homes, but didn't bother telling the residents. Now we all have frozen pipes, and it's already been over a week without any water! Got a guy to help me try to unfreeze the pipes, had heaters running under the house & in all the cabinets with taps, but no luck so far. Got water from the outside tap next to the main water valve, but none anywhere inside the house. I'm furious with the park owner, and if the pipes burst I'll be suing him!
Hi did you try putting salt down the drain I did to unfreeze any ice in it ,it worked try doing it everyday though ,any salt works I used regular salt no broke pipes though
@@admar6934 Hey, thanks for the reply! No, I didn't try salt- what happened was, none of our pipes would've frozen, if the damn park mgr hadn't decided to turn off the water to us all without warning. We'd been letting the water flow thru the pipes, so when he turned off the water it meant that the water left in the pipes stayed there- and froze!- which burst the pipes. We were lucky, only one pipe burst & it wasn't hard to fix, but some folks were really screwed. If it had only been the drain, salt would have done the job, I'm sure!
Same here some of my neighbors pipes broke sadly but this winter try it for sure ,it's predicted a winter storm but worse also I put the heater opened the cabinets from under the sink placed the heater in front that helped,well best wishes to you and your family be blessed
@@admar6934 Yes, the heater under the sink is a great idea! I'll try that this winter, thanks for the tip! All the best to you and your family as well, and may God bless you all!
S/O my fellow Texans 🇨🇱
TEXAS WEATHER FEB. 15-18, 2021 IS BAD. NO ELECTRICITY IN MOST PLACES! THIS VIDEO IS SO HELPFUL. I MEANT TO MENTION THIS BEFORE.
🙏🙏🙏🤞🤞🤞🥶🥶🥶
Texas weather brought me here thanks for the information
Glad to help!!
Haha same here san antonio
We're all in this together 🙂
Thanks from Dallas Texas
Your welcome!!
I am in Texas, visiting my son. He just bought a house last year. We suffered no power, for a while, got a generator working, and thought all was well. All external faucets were insulated, and not leaking.
However, it was the bathroom in the garage that posed a problem. Someone cut out one external faucet and capped the end with a steel, natural gas line cap. The freeze finished pushing the rusty steel cap apart, spray water behind a dry-walled wall of the garage. Interestingly, that pipe was outside of the original brick house, NOT INSULATED, and hidden behind drywall.
Remember:
1. NEVER MIX METALS.
2. use the same type and appropriate metal for its final purpose.
Great video, but big error on the thermostat part : it costs more to maintain a house at higher temperature, because overall thermal loss increase with temperature difference between inside and outside. This is simply physics.
I said it was equal, but yeah there's a small difference, but not really noticeable in this case, thanks!!!
@@Got2Learn segoetnico is correct in that the video is great but the thermostat comment was a big mistake. To a great fraction of the world population, turning up the heat in the home would be very expensive indeed since maintaining heat has a cost that is directly proportional (as represented by multiplication) to the increase in temperature differential between indoor and outdoor, multiplied again by the time you maintain this temperature differential. If maintained for more than a short while (which will often be necessary), the temperature maintenance cost will often be bigger (again, proportional to time, so if time approaches infinite then cost also approacges infinite) than the initial temp ramp cost unless your house is exceptionally well insulated (represented by division by the insulation factor).
This will in many cases be such an expensive solution that it might in fact bankrupt people with weak finances, fairly big, poorly insulated houses, living in places with prolonged harsh winters, which is a non-negligible fraction of the world population.
Since the rest of the video is so good, please own your single mistake an help any onlookers from thinking the thermostat solution is cheap when not (nor environmentally friendly), by editing out this erroneous comment from the video.
Besides, this solution is not permanent, so someone else who later lives in the house after you might not know of the problem an this theoretical solution, which might lead them to set the thermostat back down for other reasons thereby unknowingly causing ice-broken pipes because this solution is not permanent and requires this perpetual knowledge transfer and remembering too.
Please edit this comment out for the sake of humanity.
That was way too much of a comment for a simple concept. Most of the world population know what they can afford and won’t be watching this video, anyway. You’re giving this guy way too much credit for his “world” influence.
I live in a mobile home which are notorious for frozen plumbing. Most have the water, electric, and the dryer vent come in near the same spot. I built a small box out of insulation board around the water line when I bought the trailer 20 years ago. Instead of running the dryer vent through my skirting I ran it into the box around my water line, about 3 feet in distance. The one and only time mine froze it had been single digit Temp for a few days. I turned the dryer on and thawed it out in less than ten minutes.
I've used the dripping faucet since then and it's worked but the dryer is there for backup lol
Merry Christmas to y'all
I wish i could have watched these videos about 10 years ago when I was an apprentice.
So informative and easy to follow.
Thanks Aaron!
Definitely need this for what coming to Texas thank you🙏
🙏🙏🙏👌
Thought I was the only one looking up these videos.
Me too, in Texas.
TEXAS!
Lolol in Texas looking this up as well
Before you EVER attempt to thaw a frozen pipe, make sure you know where your water main shutoff is and make sure it WORKS before you do anything. Open every tap beforehand and watch very closely for drips while thawing the frozen pipes. Opening the taps will reduce the size of the leak if there is one. If it drips or shows evidence of a leak or split, stop, turn off your water main, and call a plumber.
💯
Your videos are the best plumbing videos on RUclips. I hope you realize that.
Thanks 🙏🙏🙏😇
If you shut off the main water, shut off the water heater so it does run dry and burn out
It shouldn't empty itself, but if you feel safer that way, it's fine.
@@Got2Learn ... if the water is shut off then you can't get any hot water so might as well not heat it in the first place.
Your art and graphics are 👌🏽. Definitely a pro as a plumber and animator
Thank you so very much!!!!!
7:54 #10 is okay if you have just one faucet and one pipe; if you have multiples of these, the water can still freeze in any pipe that isn't being slowly "drained" by an open faucet like this. Also, slowly letting water into a drain can actually make freezing worse, in that the drain-pipe is no longer empty of water in some areas.
I really am thankful for folks like YOU 🌞
😇😇😇🙏
And another excellent educational video.
The best plumbing channel you will find on any social media bar none!
Thanks!!!
@Got2Learn
💥🇨🇦💥
;)
Watching this before it freezes down here in Texas, thanks @Got2Learn
Awesomee, good job Roel!!
Brilliant. Though we have different kind of plumbing here, somehow can apply the mentioned procedures.
In Europe, Germany specifically, it is in our code to insulate the piping, whether it being hot or cold tap water. The hot side, so it doesn't lose temperature and to save energy. The cold side, so there is no possibility of bacteria build up. Our cold water lines need to stay below 20°C (68°F), to ensure that. Some institutions are pushing for even better separation of hot and cold piping, to ensure the cold water temperature below 20°C even more, but that is still not in the code (yet).
As we have water based central heating, the water lines of these circuits need to be insulated as well, so the heat gets to the radiators and doesn't get lost on the way to them - and to save energy.
There is a mandatory thickness in relation to the pipe diameter somewhere in the regulations, that doesn't come to mind right now. A good rule of thumb is 100%, which means pipe 1/2in = insulation 1/2in. Up to a certain extent, of course. And you have to insulate the valves, too. There needs to be as little open pipe as possible.
Your example with the outdoor tap has a little short coming: With insulated pipes here you would still have the shut off valve inside, as these are mandatory by the building insurances, which every building owner has to have. Doesn't matter, if you have a frost free tap or not.
Sounds over engineered, but it works. Every water damage case caused by frost I heard of didn't follow these simple rules. Or the heating failed, what let the cold creep into the house.
Energy saving - and therefore cost saving - might not be a big thing in the US, as natural gas, oil and electricity are so cheap, people don't bother. We in Germany are paying so high prices for energy, american people would protest non stop (on he other hand: If we had to pay your prices for internet access plans, we wouldn't protest in the classical sense, we simply wouldn't get the gear).
But as we have all seen, to winterize your home can have it's advantages, even when there might never be a ROI via energy cost savings...
Anybody who is installing RV antifreeze in drain traps should really consider fully winterizing all of the house, which would include shutting off the water, draining all water pipes and radiators, draining the water heater, draining the boiler, plus other things. Banks have this done on foreclosed properties that will remain vacant and unheated during cold weather months.
Thanks so much for posting this. I feel much more secure about my pipes. To think the things we take for granted....until something goes wrong! Thanks again.
🤘🤘🤘
When heating our homes, We are paying for the temperature difference from outside to inside. The greater the difference, the higher the cost.
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There is totally inaccurate information at about 7:30 about the cost of warming an house. It is false to say that the cost of heating a house is the same no matter what the temperature is, and that it's only the increase in temperature that cost money. That's not how thermodynamics works. It would be accurate if insulation was infinitely perfect, but nothing in the universe is perfect, and our insulation material are nowhere close to even good. We will never live the day where we see insultation with R-Value of infinity.
Heat loss = (Delta T x Area x Time) / Insulation R-Value. The heat loss in BTU/hr is equal to the difference in temperature between the outside and the inside time the area of insulation times the time divided by the R-Value of the insulation.
At a R-Value of 30, the difference between heating your house to 70 or 73 for the average American house is about 200 BTU/hr. That's 42.5 kWh at the end of the month, or 4.25$ more per month on your electricity bill at 10c per kWh (you can also convert BTU/hr to your gas energy density to get the cu. ft. of gas you'd need more and convert by the price of the gas you pay also, if you are heating with gas). For an older house at R-15, the loss for that 3F is 400BTU/hr, so 8.50$ per month.
You cannot control the outside temperature, but you can definitely control the inside one! And no, it's not 4.25$ to increase the temperature, it's the price to __maintain__ that temperature. If you reduce temperature during the night, or while you are away, the economies are even greater. It is almost always cheaper to decrease your temperature for any time greater than one hour than to maintain the temperature. I'm sure you'd rather stay comfortable when you are at home and save while you are away than paying through the nose to heat a house when no one is in it.
I remember an exercise one of our thermodynamics professor had us do in College. He got us to convert an average R-30 insulated house into a perfectly insulated one with a hole in the wall. I believe the answer was something along the line of a 1 foot hole in the wall. The average house has the equivalent of a 1 foot hole in the wall because insulation are pretty bad. It's kind of shocking when you think about it.
I didn't want to make it too complicated, but yes, there will be a small delta if it's heated more, I just thought that for 1 or 2 degrees it wasn't worth specifying, thanks man!!!
I’m in TX and mine are frozen outside as I write this, hope they don’t burst
What happen ?
I lived 1 year in Laneville ;TX. 1974. I was sooo happy to be away from my freezing Illinois home. Then it snowed! First time in like 100 years! @&:#!!! 😡
@AntiFem Glasscock Climate change bro.
@AntiFem Glasscock and climate change affects the severity of weather phenomena, both hot and cold weather events.
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GOD BLESS! GREAT VIDEO! JUST MOVED TO THE USA AND EXPERIENCING THIS HISTORICAL COLD!
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Sorry we don't normally. do this to new comers. Sorry.🙂
Great tips as always! I would only add to install pipe insulation close to the exterior wall to a maximum of only 18” away in a basement or exterior wall that meets a inside wall. That way you get the heat from the room, even if it’s ambient such as a basement, on a good bit of the exposed pipe and the pipe closer to the wall will be insulated from the cold. Also those outside faucet covers need to have insulation stuffed inside of them before installing them over the faucet. Lastly since you didn’t mention it if you cut off water to device and you have a ball valve after the shut off valve you cut off place the valve after the cut off point to half on half off. Enough water can get trapped between the ball and the wall of the valve causing it to freeze and crack. This is mainly for backflow devices for irrigation systems. Even turn all the test cock valves half on half off and back off the bolts of the relief valve a little bit so the water can drain out from there as well. Also installing tees with drain plugs right at the ground of the inlet and outlet pipes of the backflow device can allow you to drain all the water out of the device and piping above ground eliminating any worry of frozen piping.
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I am in Dallas, Texas.
My hot water line froze in the house.
Luckily it did not burst.
I just left it open and it thawed out.
Good job.
Do I leave the outside on or the sink faucet on or both
My solution… I purchased a digital irrigation timer at Lowes that you would normally use on your garden. I have a Orbit brand, Item #604469 Model #24600 about $30 bucks. I attached it to my kitchen sink with a quick disconnect. I set the timer to turn on once per hour around the clock and run for 2 minutes. It was really easy to set and works perfectly. I live in Northern Minnesota in a mobile home. It hasn't failed me yet. My water lines into the house have heat tape but this is my extra insurance….
I have tried that but the problem Is the lawn sprinklers do Not have multiple repeate or else I think It would work.
Dallas Texas checking in...
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Vivo en México donde lo más frío es 5°C no sé porqué veo estos videos, pero son muy educativos, keep them going
Proper insulation and use of anti freeze outside faucets really helps.
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Excellent video thank you so much!
Too bad I didn't realize I needed this video yesterday 😢
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YOUR AWSOME! IT IS SO BRIEF AND TO THE POINT AND PERFECT TIPS ALL IN 1 VIDEO! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!
You're so welcome!!!!!
What works for me is leaving a faucet or two dripping. If it's a slow enough drip it doesn't even register on the meter (therefore the bill doesn't go up)
Nice tricks!
Also worth mentioning is a method to keep underground pipes frost free. You can feed a heating cable inside the pipe with a cable that is suited for that purpose. A small cable inside a ~40mm diameter house main water supply line won't hurt the flow too much. Of course the pipes shouldn't freeze if buried deep enough but unsually long cold peaks can reach frost to 1m deep underground.
Also, it does cost more to raise your indoor temperature because heat loss through insulation rises when temperature difference rises.
Thanks Antti!!
Great video. Lots of good ideas. Another idea for thawing frozen pipes is to use a stick welder. The frozen pipe has to be metal. With the welder turned off attach one of the clamps to either side of the frozen section, usually a buried pipe. Open a faucet and then turn the welder on the lowest amperage setting. When the flow is restored turn off the welder and remove the clamps. Doing this too long can melt your pipe, so only use the low setting. Connecting the clamps with the power on could cause an arc that will put a hole in your pipe or blind you.
When listing drains to add RV antifreeze I'm pretty sure you forgot washing machine drains. That would be a bad trap to forget.
Thanks for the awesome videos. I've learned a lot from them.
Thank you so much! Yes I heard of that technique but never saw anybody using it, pretty sure it makes for a quick unthawing hehe...have a great day buddy ;)
Thank you for the tips.
Helllllo from Friday January 20, 2023. Already 486k subscribers! Thanks again for alllll the great videos. Hope your weekend goes perfectly
499,000k 😏😏😏
@@Got2Learn hahaha YES!!!! Even better!
@@T.E.P.. 😏😏😏
Another great useful video that most people can learn from.
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As a first time home owner, I didn’t do this, going to this today, hopefully I can drain the water, and it’s not frozen.
I took your advice and used a torch to thaw my pipes....worked great except for the PEX melted.
Just on copper hehe
Here from Texas winter storm.
I wonder what the farm animals think!
This Texas snow gotta go
It was awful. Luckily my pex pipes didnt burst.
@@eazy1174 I was in the same boat with you my man! Whewwww....
Minus 14 this morning in Oklahoma 30 below wind chill.
Ouchhhhh 🥶🥶🥶
That torch is a no go, the hair dryer is the best bet
at a moderate setting
Thanks from good ol Texas, Houston to be exact!!!
Niceee!!
Thanks from Corpus Christi, Tx.- “Most Majestic Oceanview”- 200 miles west of Dallas,Tx.
Awesome!!! 🤘🤘🤘
Heat trace on a copper (or metal) pipe should be fed from a GFCI (ground fault circuit interrupter) power circuit. The GFCI will keep you from electrocution if the insulation on the heat trace starts to fail and energizes the metal pipe. Use a 30 mA GFCI for this purpose. The standard 6 mA GFCI may result in nuisance trips which will allow your pipes to freeze.
good Information In the 1990s I noticed the Sears rubber Garden hose would freeze but did Not bust until 34 below zero F so I did My whole plumbing with It, I use Gimour brass valves and connectors the plastic are more likely to bust I cover the hose with flexiable sewer pipe and If the Water line does freeze I uses a hairdryer to blow warm Air down the lines, I have tried heat tape but It usually does Not work and one time It about set My house on fire, I have been after manufacturers to make something as a automatic Water flushing system to flush the Water lines every few minutes I tried a automatic lawn sprinkler It worked for 2 hours but does Not have multiple repeats, also do Not run Warer lines near cement because cement absorbs the cold like a magnet.
5:59 This is the only real solution.
;)
I needed this video 2 weeks ago LOL Texas got hit with the worst snow/ice cold spell I think we've ever had in history
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Nice tips.👍
7:55 this method increases risk of damage if the space is unoccupied, now you are betting certain damage on your drains not freezing VS taking precautions else where.
So great! The best plumbing videos are here on Got2Learn 🙌🏻👏🏻👏🏻😉
Thank you!!!!
Are you his girlfriend/wife?
Awesome video man. Lots of good info. Two observations-1) you guys use gate valves up there? They are trash in the desert . I won’t even try turning an old one off when run into it. Automatic replace. 2) Your water must be awesome right from the ground there. I didn’t see any hardness or calcium deposits on any of the hose bibs you showed on exterior.
Hehe yes, the gate valve is original from the house and it's starting to already not be smooth and for the calcium deposits, there's none because I replaced them ;) Thanks Mark always nice to see you back ;)
Don’t use regular antifreeze. Boaters use the RV antifreeze for Winter storage because any unflushed residue is drinkable and auto antifreeze is deadly in home pipes. Add the “cherry juice “ as it is sometimes called. Any marine dealer will have it in the winter in colder climates.
JoeB
Thanks!!
Thank you so much Great advice
Most welcome!!! 🙏
Nice. Love your animation.
Thank you very much, tried to make it as clear as possible lol ;)
Question are you supposed to turn on cold water or hot water .or both at a drip or flow . To prevent freezing
Only cold.
great guy thanks for sharing information
Pleasure is all mine Manoj, thanks for commenting!
Thanks for nice video 👍
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No. 8 is a new one on me. As for those outside foam insulators, never thought they were of any real use. Thanks for giving your opinion. I'll pick up a couple. As always, I enjoy all your videos.
Thank you J, appreciate it!!
Well done
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Great video!! I learned a lot. I have a problem, I shut off the upstream water supply feeding the outdoor hose bib, opened up the outdoor hose bib faucet to drain, and left it open for 12 hours but the outdoor faucet keeps dripping nonstop, from the video is supposed to leak for 30 minutes at the most but the faucet keeps dripping. Please help!
Might need to change that shut off valve before the bib, what condition is it in? What type of valve is it?
As of writing this here in Houston Tx. , neighbors water heaters and sprinkler lines bursting. My water is off at the street meter but was done too late. I don't want to turn it back on.
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Great content. Much appreciated with this incoming Arctic blast!
These are all good tips but I have one small disagreement. Keeping the heated areas of your home at a higher temperature might prevent pipe freezing in certain situations but it does cost more. The reason is that, in cold weather, a greater difference in temperature between the inside and outside of a building will increase the rate of heat loss to the outside.
Yes, but to a point where it's considerably higher, I don't think so, but I am not 100% certain.
I agree with Don Ho. The rate of heat loss will increase.
One or so degrees will not make a differance in heat loss
Thanks
I wished some one told me before my pipes froze and busted about the rv antifreeze for everything. I going to buy that and do that this time. Thanks.
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Thank you. Worth the subscription.
Awesome, you won't regret it :)
Running pipes through the attic is another practice to avoid, just like running pipes within an exterior wall.
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Great little tips
Thx hoots c!
Very useful!
Thanks!!!
My house: built 1912 Kitchen: built 1928ish Plumbing: redone 2019. Insulated: of course not. thanks contractors, now I know lol, I have been opening cupboards and running higher temp throughout the house, this helps but if this is to be a rental I need to properly fix it
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Boy does that sound familiar; I grew up in an old Sears home. [Great house!] but you could literally drop a rock in the wall from the attic and it would end up reaching the basement!
On the one about letting the faucet drip do you have to do that for every faucet in the house or just one?
You could do it for all of them, I personally just do it for 1 and on really cold days (-45 degrees celsius) my pipes didn't freeze like the previous year, so it worked!
@@Got2Learn That jacks up your water bill for sure no?
@@nelsonechevarria7009 use a bucket to collect the water, Sherlock
Never install water pipes in attics or outside walls, install non freeze hose bibs and disconnect any hoses, if it turns cold and heat is off turn off the water at the main line and drain down the whole system until danger of freezing passes, if you have an air compressor get a hose bib adaptor and blow all the water out of the pipes with compressed air! Turn off hot water tank and get a short hose so you can pull drinking water from the bottom drain, Fill up your tub and use that
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Use water stored in the tub to flush your toilet, pour some in the tank and flush away! Once it warms up put the system back in service and you will have no leaks! Note if the water meter is in a box outside on the lawn place a sheet of foam insulation on top of it and weigh it down with something heavy so it can’t freeze! If you are handy disconnect the discharge side of the water meter and this allows the water main to drain so it can’t freeze either! Get a plumber to show you how to do all this and you could save
Do you have any info on self regulating heating cables?
More heat in your house means more money to spend, it doesn't cost the same.
Thanks for the video, I'm looking at solutions for my main water line in the crawlspace. I guess I'll go with insulation.
Yes of course, i've also seen those heated wirs being used on drains as well to protect the ptrap, so you can also go with that! :)
Where do you buy the outdoor faucet insulators?
I got mine at Home Depot.
When dripping faucets, do you turn on both hot and cold taps, or just cold? If both, what if you lost pressure on hot tap and causes water to sputter?
I only had cold lines freeze on me, so I never neededto open the hot, but maybe someone else had a different experience here?
@@Got2Learn awesome, thank you ive been constantly having them running. So many of my family, friends, coworkers with busted pipes. Another freeze coming tonight...ugh! Thank you!!
@@jacobmyers5204 just follow everything in the vid and you should be ok, hope for the best 🤞
Is the auto shut off valve electrically powered? I would expect the pipes to freeze if the power goes off while you're away. With no power there is no heat and the pipes could freeze in a basement. So, how would this electronic device help if the power goes off? Is there a battery backup?
Yes, there's a 9V battery in it to operate it.
Thanks !!!!
Knowledge is power
Truly! 👌
Ps drain alll the water from the pipes if you're gonna be in a deep freeze
jaime tes video! could you make a video about garden hose that dosent freeze in winter? just asking , planning to make a "in french" Patinoire ...
great tips, you have a funny way of talking but at least it wasn't boring.
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@@Got2Learn 💛😆
Woohoo first comment! As usual, excellent work G2L 👌
🤙🤙🤙see you later!!!
Can you make a video on blowing out sprinklers?
Maybe in the future!! Thank you so much for watching!!
I'm of the opinion that DRAINAGE pipes can be run on the exterior walls if done properly, we get -40 Celsius and is not an issue
I’ve used a torch while living in Montreal, during power failures. For some reason, they used build homes with little insulation and they would install plumbing against an outside wall🙄. Awesome video as usual mon ami!
Thank Viper6, yeah the torch works, just gotta be careful not to burn anything ;)
@Got2Learn, nice tips. However, your suggestion to check wall voids by pulling switch plate covers is missing a very important point. One should only be checking behind switches that are on exterior walls. No value in insulating interior walls as they are heated on both sides. Got to make that clear, right?
Correct!!!
Good Upload
Thank you!!!
Lol texas needs all the help it can get all the time so someone on here from there trying to figure something out
You have me thinking about what to do with my hydronic heating system. rather than draining the system, and boiler which is a major PITA, I am thinking about adding an SPDT switch on my circulator so I can byass the boiler control, and allow the circulator to run from a timer to keep the water moving in my radiation so it won't freeze. Does that make sense, and will it work to prevent freezing? I am thinking of this as a solution to a boiler system failure rather than power outage.
I live in Texas it’s gets 29d so I guess it’s not bad when you have to apply this method when temperature drops below zero?? Anybody can reply please
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this was a month ago.I really hope you insulatted the pipes.
What if I shut the water off from the city meter and leave faucets dripping? Safer than just dripping faucets?
No because the water can freeze even underground in really cold temps, it must run not to freeze 👌
If you shut off water from the meter you won't have any water supply. I did that once shutting of at the meter(summer time).The water district advice me not to. If I break the valve I'll be liable.
Thanks.
Welcome!