Coping With Freeze In Austin, Texas

[Wpollock]

Unlike homes built to withstand and function where freezing is an every year ritual, it is not the usual case here in Austin. Long story short, the water provider is about to shut the entire system down and restore service sometime tomorrow. My home does not have a low water point drain to completely drain my pipes so i am wondering if there is any chance that I can dodge frozen lines in walls or attic if I turn the service off at the main meter and open all of the cold water taps on my faucets? I do have an electric water tank (heater) and will turn it off if I do block my supply at the main meter to hopefully not burn out the heating elements.

Thanks for any thoughts

 

[Reach4]

An air compressor can be be used to blow water out, even if there is a low spot. A wet dry vacuum cleaner can suck water too, but it is easier to push water than to suck water.

Will the house be heated? If so, that WH can be a good store of water. If not heated, I would drain that too.

Some shutoffs at water meters have a little cap that you can open to drain slowly.

You are talking about draining the cold water. Do you know that water supply lines pass through the attic.

Your profile still says California.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Wpollock]

At this time, having an air compressor with enough volume to satisfactorily remove enough water from my cold supply is akin to a "if a frog had wings he/she wouldn't bump their ..." . Continuing to have power is a constantly changing problem in and of itself and will greatly depend on how many power lines are damaged due to ice build up on the lines themselves and/or falling tree limbs that will down them as well as the state ERCOT supply. At this point I am simply trying to reduce the chances of having a supply line anywhere in my home freeze and burst if I do lose power and the water provider does in fact shut off service. I can only drain the supply lines as far as they will drain by opening the taps on all faucets. And yes, I am aware I have water lines in my attic as well as walls. The majority of my branch cold and hot supply lines are in conditioned/insulated attic space as the attic over my living space is insulated on the ceiling as opposed to the ceiling joist cavities. They are wrapped in foam sleeve insulation in uninsulated attic space as well as in wall cavities along with exterior wall BIBS type insulation. Hopefully not confusing here.

 

[Tuttles Revenge]

simply shutting off your water meter and opening/relieving all your pressure will likely get you through. Not guaranteed.. But if your supply lines are mostly in the attic, then they should mostly drain.

Freeze damage comes from the ice blocks forming near each other or ends of pipes and having no plce for the water in between them to go since water can't compress at normal pressure. If you're depressurized and if you can even blow out some.. you're way better off. You can just turn the electrical off to the water heater, tho theres little chance of blowing elements if you can't siphon the tank.. or even just turn the thermostats to low/vacation so it cant freeze .. I don't think I would drain it out

Also, leave all your sink cabinets open, so that those areas get more ambient heat

 

[Reach4]

I expect that your attic lines will be drained quite adequately by your procedure.

Wet dry vacuum? If you don't have one, those can be nice for some things. This includes spilled food/drink onto a carpet or upholstery. Suck up the food. Apply water. Suck that up. Repeat...

Pex and steel pipes are likely to survive. PVC, CPVC, and copper are easier to damage with freezing. The pipe does not need to be water-free to be safe. There just has to be air space for the water to expand into.

When opening faucets, don't forget the hose bibs.

In the old days, milk got delivered in glass bottles with a paper stopper. If that milk froze, the bottle did not break. Instead the frozen milk would extrude out of the top. For pictures, google milk bottles frozen

 

[Wpollock]

I do have PEX throughout. We are forecast for a low in the mid twenties tonight followed by lows in the high teens tomorrow and Friday night. High starting Thursday of 32 and then higher every night thereafter so my most critical times are tonight thru mid to late Saturday morning when the temp should get above freezing and stay for a while. Since I appear to have normal flow throughout the house I am assuming the provider hasn't shutoff supply yet. I am tempted to leave the main open for now, run a space heater set at 65F and drip both sides of faucets on exterior walls in my master where I have two vanity sinks and leave cabinet doors open in all cabinets where I have plumbing and check on flow every two hours or so. If I lose flow I will then close the main supply at the meter at a minimum and hope for the best.

 

[Tuttles Revenge]

Sounds like a solid plan. PEX is inherently resistant to freeze damage in sections over 7" long.

 

[Wpollock]

Just received notice that we are soon to expect 15 minute rolling power outages with one hour and 15 minutes of service so all bets are off

 

[Jadnashua]

The low point in the home may be the WH drain. PEX itself should survive freezing, but the fittings won't.
I feel for you. Hope it all works out. Expect lots of problems before this is over.