Now I’m gonna worry about that!
Well, in my case a leak would only result in ruined drywall in the garage. There are plenty of worse places for a pipe leak. I guess I’ll just be on the lookout over the next week.
Frozen pipes :-(
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Well, in my case a leak would only result in ruined drywall in the garage. There are plenty of worse places for a pipe leak. I guess I’ll just be on the lookout over the next week.
mountain man 2
Burning Hunk
Gotta be careful tho....that technique can loosen solder joints if copper n left on too long!
Living in a cold climate, like northern MN, means protection of all plumbing. All of our house plumbing is in interior walls or exposed in the heated basement. The water line from the well is buried 9' down. Slight risk of the line to the septic tank freezing, but with normal use and normal snow cover, no freezing here either. Extended cold of -10F and much lower into the -30'sF and still lower, plus little snow cover does put septic systems at risk of freeze up. Kind of *hitty when that happens.
OP you need to get a therm-guard... The guy who invented it, posts on this site. I just bought 2 of them last week after frozen and broken pipes two weeks in a row. I installed it in 5 mins, hooks right into thermostat. Runs your baseboard for a set time and interval regardless of the thermostat temp. I do 5 minutes every 2 hours, the guy who invented it in Montana does 5 minutes every 3 hours. I'm being cautious as I don't want to deal with any more frozen pipes. For $60 something dollar with the 10% coupon on hearth.com it's the best damn insurance policy I've ever bought...
http://www.bearmountaindesign.com/
I set my thermostat for 62-64 degree's, wood stove runs all day, thermostat says 68-70. After I fall asleep, maybe heat kicks in 6-8 hours later in the middle of the night but good old thermo-gaurd circulates my pipes every 2 hours. CAN'T BEAT IT, I even ordered a second one for my other zone but have yet to need it.
http://www.bearmountaindesign.com/
I set my thermostat for 62-64 degree's, wood stove runs all day, thermostat says 68-70. After I fall asleep, maybe heat kicks in 6-8 hours later in the middle of the night but good old thermo-gaurd circulates my pipes every 2 hours. CAN'T BEAT IT, I even ordered a second one for my other zone but have yet to need it.
Cool idea. Thanks for sharing that information.
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Holy crap, that is genius!!
I can’t thank you enough for sharing this. It’s going to save me real money, not to mention give me peace of mind.
I just texted this to the plumber who got me fixed up, and he’s going to be passing it on to his customers. Also posted to NextDoor for all my neighbors to see.
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Beer Belly
Minister of Fire
This is awesome. I have three zones, one is in the living room where the stove is, so will need one each for the other zones. We are actually holding off a little on the stove due to chance of frozen pipes.
Add me to the list, frozen hydronic zone, pipes run in concrete slab - NE section of home. Locked zone valve open in affected zone, turned heat up in all other zones. Rubber mallet tapping on copper pipes, Fingers crossed for a heat wave.
I had a similar problem with frozen pipes. I purchased 3 therm guards and put one on each thermostat. I set them to run every 2 hrs. for 5 min. Now I don't have to worry about the pellet stove tricking the thermostat which can freeze pipes up without circulating water. It was easy to setup. Turned off power to furnace. Then connected wires to thermostat. I followed the instructions to program it. That was easy too.
Here in MI all the boiler piping has anti freeze in it. To keep it from freezing and boiling. Just like your car. Different recipe though.
Pipes in a wall that is exposed to the outside are often at risk of freezing. This is especially true if that area of the house is away from the wood stove and a thermostat is too close to the area the wood stove is heating. The pipes don't even have to be in the wall. At times, some isolated rooms with baseboard heating can freeze under the right conditions.
Sprinter
Minister of Fire
Freezing, burst pipes are the worst. Sometimes, when the dreary, rainy days hit and the temps are in the 30's or 20's, I like to tune in to this channel just to feel better.
We've lived through freezing pipes in other places (especially bad when we had some rentals to fix in N. Calif.) (I don't wish being a landlord on anyone, BTW).
Around here, when it gets in single digits, it's drip, drip, drip on nearly every faucet in the house, and open any exterior-wall cabinets, until it's over. Even the exterior hose bibbs when it's bad. I feel for you all.
We've lived through freezing pipes in other places (especially bad when we had some rentals to fix in N. Calif.) (I don't wish being a landlord on anyone, BTW).
Around here, when it gets in single digits, it's drip, drip, drip on nearly every faucet in the house, and open any exterior-wall cabinets, until it's over. Even the exterior hose bibbs when it's bad. I feel for you all.
Which is worse? Freezing, burst pipes or this? Debatable perhaps?
https://www.boston.com/news/local-n...-caused-by-man-trying-to-thaw-pipe-with-flame
(From last week . . . the firefighters are more or less OK by the way.)
https://www.boston.com/news/local-n...-caused-by-man-trying-to-thaw-pipe-with-flame
(From last week . . . the firefighters are more or less OK by the way.)
Sprinter
Minister of Fire
Anything that causes injury to firefighters? No contest. I hope your guys over there recover and can return to work.
I hear about this kind of thing every season it seems. Very careless. And so preventable.
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