Frozen Pipes

Mark Custis

fixing the leak.

LOL

Dan_59

Frozen pipes

The baseboard heating (one old cast iron radiator and 2 newer types with just the copper pipe and some tin fins) in our breakfast room have never worked well. It sits over an uninsulated storeroom. This weekeknd with below 0 temps one of the pipes burst. We had a plumber come over and repair the pipes, but we could could not get water circulating through this room. We get water from 2 of the bleeder valves, but no air or water out of the 3rd. I have run a heat gun on the pipes and valves that I can access for a long time with no results. It's warming up to 30 today but will be back in the teens tomorrow so I need to fix fast! Any suggestions?

Brad White_191

Missed one...

You may have had more than one freeze point. Can you access and feel all sections of the pipe?

Coincidentally, I was doing some IR scanning yesterday and continue to find very cold pockets not far from piping. Often near sills or under sinks against outside walls.

Well-intentioned insulation often exacerbates the problem. Folks wrap insulation around the piping which sometimes does as much to force the piping to face the cold side as much as the ambient within the house. One water meter enclosure had a heat lamp above it but had 18 degree spot temperatures through fiberglass insulation. Pervasive stuff I see more and more.

Dan_59

Actually I can't access about 6 ft of the pipe where I suspect there was another freeze point. However, I was able to get water out of that bleeder this morning. Now I can't get hot water to flow through the room.

Brad White_191

Dodged a bullet there!

Good news, that must make you feel better.

In such conditions, where sub-freezing conditions cannot be avoided, I like constant circulation and a mixing valve for control, as a measure of freeze protection. In a power outage though, absent use of glycol, there is not a lot one can do.

Darrell_7

I've been busy explaining to many well intentioned people that thawing a frozwen heat or water line is only the start of the project...unless the freezing situation is addressed it will happen again. Expose the pipe, re-route the pipe, insulate the space, block the air infiltration, correct the negative pressure in the structure, etc, etc, etc.

gman_5

> I've been busy explaining to many well

> intentioned people that thawing a frozwen heat or

> water line is only the start of the

> project...unless the freezing situation is

> addressed it will happen again. Expose the pipe,

> re-route the pipe, insulate the space, block the

> air infiltration, correct the negative pressure

> in the structure, etc, etc, etc.

gman_5

This is why I will add 2 gallons of boiler anti freeze to my heating system this week.

Many got luckey when temps went up. What happens if we have a week of temps in the single digits ??? It's rare but could happen.

I would have been screwed.

Rocky_3

Single digits...

rare indeed....;-)

LOL

Rocky in Fairbanks, Alaska.

lee_7

Didn't you just post it was 47' the other day? It was colder her in Pa then in Nome, Alaska the other day. BURRRRR

Rocky_3

It was warmer here than my dad in Tulsa by 30 degrees

Chinook moved through and temps went from -48 to +47 in two days. Set new record highs for this time of year. Snow melting everywhere. That's not good as we still have three months of winter left and we need all the snow we can get.
Rocky