Hi. I live in Minneapolis and just bought a new house. On the first cold winter night, no water came out of the upstairs bathroom cold faucet. The pipe, I discovered, is really close to an outside wall. I was wondering if replacing the copper pipe with pex pipe would be a good solution.
thanks a lot,
William
PEX tolerates freezing better, if you home is brand new never lived in see the builder to relocate the line to a warmer area.
if its a new to you home, time to insulate between outside and line
While our cold is no match for yours, I had a similar problem with this house, the upstairs feed pipes run close to the siding and would freeze up every time it got cold. We slid the foam insulation up the pipes from the bottom, & haven't frozen up since.
William wrote the following:
Is there insulation in the outside wall? If it is the fiberglass bats, or any other insulation, it should be between the outside wall and the pipes.That way, it will get the heat from the inside living space rather than the outside air.
Pex will still freeeze but it is less likely to burst. The solutuion is proper insulation.
Jimmie
I've heard that Pex can be frozen, and won't split. However, you didn't ask for other ideas. So, I won't offer them.
Shhhh.... he didn't actually ask for a solution.
_What about freeze-break resistance?_
"Vanex PEX will stretch slightly to accommodate the expansion of frozen water, then return to its original size when the water thaws. This memory is a feature of cross-linked material, giving it thermo-elastic behavior. Although freeze-break resistant, no pipe is freeze-break proof under all circumstances. Insulation of plumbing pipes as instructed by local codes is still required."
Note, do NOT wrap the insulation all around the pipe, instead place the insulation between the pipe and the cold wall, leaving the pipe exposed to the warm side.
Mark
Is there any way the pipe can be run where it wont freeze, Mine froze luckily I re routed through a closet. You just dont want it to freeze. Where I am now no water is within 3 ft of an exterior wall, a smart design. There is heat tape and foam insulation if you cant re route.
re "leaving the pipe exposed to the warm side."
Can I cover it with drywall? ;-)
It won't keep it from freezing, but the pex won't break when it does.
Have something to add? Share your thoughts — no account required.
Ask the community — no account required