What am I missing in this local video?
"The cold temperatures are already causing pipes around the Las Vegas valley to burst. Sharie Harvin looks at things people can do now to prevent a problem. "
She talks about HVAC condenser lines, etc. In all my days, I have never heard of such bursting from cold. I'm talking about from outside cold temps.
Video:
It makes perfect sense, once you realize that this is the mainstream media. You know, the same ones that spout out about "fully-automatic shotguns"?
OMG! That's almost as funny as when news media people yap about firearms. ^_^
TDD
How cold would it have to get the refrigerant to freeze solid ?
I have a feeling if it ever got that cold where I am , I would move.
What are the lines on the roof ? Do they put water on the roof during hot days to cool it off or is it a way to heat water ?
HVAC condensation lines - the condensate drain lines from the A/C evaporators.
Fine on the swamp cooler. I am in a humid part of the country and keep forgetting about those things as I have never seen one in person.
The goofy reporter was pointing out the low pressure refrigerant line, not a water drain line. The low pressure refrigerant line will develop frost at times and even build up quite an ice covering in conditions of high humidity in hot weather. It should be insulated in the interests of efficiency and to keep condensation from dripping off of it and getting into where it penetrates the wall. Of course it's insulated all the way to the evaporator coil on the air handler/furnace. ^_^
TDD
Here in humid Alabamastan, the only places where you will see swamp coolers are places like manufacturing plants and outdoor areas. I did service one for a dry cleaning plant because it got very hot in there and the energy cost for air conditioning would have been prohibitively expensive even 25 years ago. Yes we do get freezing weather down South but it's actually rare for pipes to freeze. I remember it having to get down to -10°F or lower for a few days before unprotected pipes under a home would freeze. I did a repair for an idiot car dealer who left a full water hose on his through the wall frost proof sill c*ck. Most folks put an insulated cover over any through the wall sill c*ck or insulate any pressurized free standing outside water faucet. Many homes have a valve on the inner basement walls where an outdoor spigot may be so that it can be turned off and drained. ^_^
TDD
Bubba, dat dere pipe be freezin!
New one to me, too.
Hi, We're just coming out of this cold wave. Last week we recorded -34C, Wind chill of -44C. Received little more than a foot of heavy, sticky snow. No problem at all. No pipes busted, cars started fine. No power outage. It's pretty cold my dog won't even go for a walk all week. Whole week he was inside, this afternoon I took him out for half an hour or so. Now it is only -14C.
Occasionally, condensate lines do have a J-trap, which can freeze and split.
One tip from my fire investigation past. For those of A Certain Age, you will remember the infamous "Freezer Bowl" game in '82 between the Bengals and Chargers. It was around -35 F with windchill. We got a call around half time of a fully-involved apartment complex that the FD had put out, but needed investigated. We rolled and (fortunately) did not take too long to find cause. In a attempt to stop the pipes from freezing the maintenance dude had packed the crawlspace with straw. When that didn't work, he cleared the straw from the area that was frozen (so far so good) and started to thaw the pipes using a torch. What he forgot (or more likely did not know) was that the heat would be transferred along the pipes til it hit the straw which kept it from disipating and eventually caught fire. We were really amazed that it wasn't a fatal fire.
+1
Just another example of an idiot reporter. And sadly this is what so many rely on for their source of information.....
Did you watch the video and what she was pointing to?
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