Antifreeze - not just for cars

JSB & CY-

I've frozen a few things in glass over the years in the freezer and outside.....jsut a curious kid with an understanding dad.

My comment is...if the glass has any importance, dont do it.

Sometimes they break but most of the time they don't. I think it has to do with the shape of the containter AND with how (from where) it starts to freeze. My theory is, if the top froze first, it created a "cap" and didnt allow the ice to grow in height.

CY- When water freezes it expansion in all directions. Just like when a homogeneous material (like a block of metal) is subject to unifrom heating, it grows in all three axes.

But lets not get started on a discussion of what happens when a metal washer is heated.... :)

cheers Bob

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Let's introduce the mineral content of the water in question.

Or not. :-)

When water freezes it is solid and not compressible and will expand in all directions. What normally happens is that continued freezing and thawing expands the pipe a little each time until eventually it breaks.

Anything that lowers the freezing point of water will help.

No, because you were also slick enough to shut off the water supply and turn on all the faucets, thereby draining them. Remember? You did that yesterday.

It won't unless somehow you cracked the bases of a couple toilets. That wouldn't cause major damage to the home but you would be buying a couple new toilets perhaps shucking out a few hundred bucks plus the cost of labor to replace them if you aren't inclined to do so yourself.

I assist with the maintenance at several church summer camps. Anytime we do not antifreeze the traps they break. When that U shaped slug of water freezes it expands in all directions and fractures the traps. Your theory doesn't work in the real world. We blow all of the supply lines down with compressed air so we have no trouble with those.

-- Tom Horne

OK. I hadn't considered the toilets.

Now, what about the water heater? :-)

Fill it with vodka.

You are wrong.

Anti freeze in traps is standard practice for lots of cabins in the mountains for a reason. Traps freeze and crack. Then you have to repair the damage before you can use the fixtures/toilets.

Plus a tap on the top floor to let air in so it drains out the bottom as well as possible.

Is it a special kind of antifreeze? I would imagine most cabins have septic systems and isn't af a no-no?

Jim

So how do you ice-proof the sprayer?

Again,

The stuff they use for RV's and Boats. Non-toxic, and okay to pour in the river.

"HeyBub" wrote

At my cabin, the floor is joists. All plumbing hangs under there, then goes down to the septic tank.

Temperature in the nearby town was 0 last evening. 1,500 farther up at the cabin, it varies from 10 to 15 degrees colder. So, it was below zero, not just below 32 degrees, at the cabin. If I don't put RV antifreeze in all the P traps, and make sure they have been flushed of water, I stand to have substantial damage. I had a 3/4" copper line freeze on me last winter, and the thing was open on the top end, so there was room for expansion.

I consider burst pipes a significant problem. YMMV.

Steve

"EXT" wrote

Water can be in all sorts of lines you think you've drained. At our cabin, we have one of the pull out snakes in the kitchen. The water in the bow of the hose remained after the cabin had been drained, and it froze. Now, I take off the head and blow through it to empty it, but that first year, it burst. I think I'm going to make a Schrader input, and use air to blow it out, so I can get more.

Steve

"Steve Barker" wrote

Don't ask me how I know. Some people will say that there has to be a sealed pipe, otherwise there's room to expand up the pipe. Balderdash, I say. And what's the big deal taking 15 minutes and two gallons of RV antifreeze and going through the house? Also, don't forget the toilet tanks. There is about a pint of water in there that won't drain, and it needs some antifreeze in there. And the bow of snake sprayers in the kitchen. Again, don't ask me how I know.

Steve

Joe, you said it, therefore it must be true. I guess I didn't crawl in the mud under my cabin and replace a burst P trap. Must been one of those Ambien dreams.

Steve

Didn't the man just say that?

Steve

It won't. But then when the owner returns and starts to reuse it ..........

Steve