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WARNING / Hard Freeze Tonight

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  • TX69

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    Make sure to prepare for yet another hard freeze tonight. Turn your water faucets at the furthest point from entry into your home on a slow drip and open your cabinet doors to keep the pipes from freezing.
    Target Sports
     

    breakingcontact

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    Im from the frozen prairie where it is currently about -5 originally. We never had any issues. Do Texans freak out about these freezes too much or are the houses, spigots et cetera not built for this?
     

    rl96ss

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    Im from the frozen prairie where it is currently about -5 originally. We never had any issues. Do Texans freak out about these freezes too much or are the houses, spigots et cetera not built for this?
    More like unprepared, everytime there's a freeze I notice Walmart sells out of those little heaters, gloves,etc.
     

    robertc1024

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    Either seems to work fine. I typically cover the more difficult to access and drip the others.
     

    Brains

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    Grew up in the Midwest, been in SE TX for many years now. The big difference is plumbing in cold areas is buried underground, and not a mere 1.5 feet like here. More like 6+ feet depending on what year your house was built. Exterior fixtures are basically the same though, but you won't see exposed PVC and an exposed vacuum break for your sprinkler system, which is one of the most common failure points in a freeze down here.
     

    mitchntx

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    It has been sunny and in the 60s/70s around here the last few days.
    The earth is an amazing heat sync.
    A few hours of freezing temps shouldn't cause problems in a modern built home.

    If your home is poorly insulated, heated by remote heat sources, sits on a pier and beam foundation and kitchen/bathroom plumbing is on an exterior wall, then opening cabinet doors and dripping faucets are a good idea. Otherwise insulation, central heat and concrete slabs are good protection.

    However, the foam protection caps are ~$1 each. Cheap insurance. Even wrapping a towel around exposed pipe will do the trick.

    I have an exterior faucet tapped into my main feed line for the house. It sits in an underground access box next to the foundation.
    The copper is exposed underneath a plastic cover about 12" below the surface. I have the exposed section wrapped in insulation.
    So don't forget about your lawn irrigation. It's probably the most vulnerable.
     

    Vaquero

    Moving stuff to the gas prices thread.....
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    Good call on the irrigation.

    I'm woried about my pool pumps and filter. Brainstorming right now.
     

    karlac

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    I did too. Are the spigots here not freeze proof? (new texas homeowner here)

    As a builder in new residential construction (and having to warrant all work), and despite that fact that in most municipalities in Texas, "frost proof hose bibs" have been required by code for at least a decade, I wouldn't take that as proof they were installed and/or will work in all cases, particularly if your home is older.

    While these do work after a fashion, as the methodology of the design is to remove water from the parts that are subject freezing when in the off position, I would classify that as being more freeze "resistant", than freeze "proof".

    You can however, make them more likely to work as designed by removing the hose in freezing conditions. Leave a hose attached to a "frost proof hose bib" during freezing conditions and all bets as to effectiveness are off.

    Still hard to beat shutting off the water cutoff valve and draining the lines in an unoccupied structure; keeping the interior heat on, and opening cabinet doors under all sinks, along with your other methods (dripping a faucet/five drips a minute +/-), for the duration of the freezing temps (28 degrees for over four hours in most parts of Texas) in occupied structures.
     

    TX69

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    So whats the move? To let them drip or cover them?

    Perhaps they are called frost proof not freeze proof.

    The interior faucet let slow drip the exterior ones leave closed. Not really sure f the covers on the exterioe ones work or not but we have them. Homes in Texas are not always known for having the best insulation so the pipes closest to the exterior walls can freeze.
     
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