I forgot to put the foam cover on the water spigot in my unheated garage. T he pipe to the spigot runs for about ten feet through a wall that is common with the garage and my living room. I turned off that supply line in the b asement; now I'm afraid to turn it back on in case the pipe has burst. I ca n't think of any way to know if the pipe burst without turning on the water and waiting to see if it comes through the wall into the living room. Any better ideas?
I did the same one year but nothing froze. OTOH my situation is not exactly like yours.
Is the spigot in the garage? Is the garage door shut most of the time? All of the time? Even unheated, the garage provides some level of insulation against the cold. After all, the foam cover is unheated inside, but it often keeps the pipe from freezing. I gather it has been enough in prior years.
(If you open the garage door to let in the car, the heat of the car and of your body I would guess matches the heat lost through the open garage door.)
When? Before it got cold or after you thought the pipe may have burst?
As you probably figured out by now, there is really no point to turning off the water unless you also drain the pipe from the valve to the spigot. And in many cases you can't even drain the pipe by opening the spigot because part of the pipe runs uphill That's what the bleeder valve on the turn-off-valve is for, a little brass cylinder that you open after you turn off the water, open the spigot, and then go back inside to drain the pipe.
Although the foam cover may be enough depending on the weather where you live (where is that?)
What happens when you turn the water on at the spigot?
Regardless of the answers above, I sort of think you should act now, because there may be colder periods ahead in the next 6 or 7 weeks.
Maybe you need 3 or 4 people. First turn the water on at the spigot. Does the slightest amount of water come out? Of course not much will because the inside valve is closed.
Now you need one person to turn the water on a trickle at the inside valve, one to immediately note and report if water is coming out at the spigot and how much, and two to watch the wall in question, both inside the house and inside the garage, to immediately report signs of water leakage. Since it's only open a trickle, you may have to wait 10?? minutes. You may have to wait 30 but then you can make the rounds and do the checking If they see any wetness, turn off the inside valve immediately.
Can you patch it from the garage side?
If there is no sign of leaking and the water runs out the spigot even a tifle, let it run and it it will melt any ice in the pipe and the water flow will soon match how much the inside valve is open.
Sarcasm? I'm sure he didn't do all that or he wouldn't need the foam cover at all.
The pipe to the spigot runs for about ten feet through a wall that is comm on with the garage and my living room. I turned off that supply line in the basement; now I'm afraid to turn it back on in case the pipe has burst. I can't think of any way to know if the pipe burst without turning on the wat er and waiting to see if it comes through the wall into the living room. An y better ideas?
From experience, you should know how cold it gets in the garage with recent outside temps. Does stuff easily freeze? It sounds like only the spigot is in the garage, with the pipe going directly into the heated living space. It's likely there is enough heat transfer that it wouldn't freeze unless the garage was left open, got extremely cold, heat in the house was off, etc., without the insulation cover. I'd say you probably have nothing to worry about.
The correct implemenation there is to use a freeze proof sill c*ck. Then there is no need to shut off the water, drain it, etc. And you can have water during the winter, if needed. You could put one in, but it would require access to the pipe on the other side of the wall.
A foam cover is not going to do much, so if you forgot to put it on it should not be a big deal. Hopefully you had enough sense to drain the pipe...but even if you forgot to do that...it's not likely the portion behind a heated wall would freeze.
In my old house near Chicago, I had an attached garage with a bedroom over it. The faucet was on the front of the garage. The garage was basically unheated, however, there was a heating register in the garage, built before local codes prohibited that. But, it was mostly closed. There was a shutoff/drain in the basement. The pipe ran under the concrete garage floor, came up just inside the front wall, went up the wall on the surface of the drywall, turned and went to the sill c*ck. I would shut off the valve, open the drain in the basement and open the sill c*ck outside. Maybe 1/2 cup of water would drain back; certainly not an amount for approximately 30' of 1/2" pipe. I'm sure it froze every winter. Never had a problem unless a hose was left attached.
The one time I had some experience with the foam covers, was at my father-in-law's house. He'd put it on religiously every year, even though it was a so called freeze proof faucet. It froze and burst inside of a bedroom closet, just on the other side where the faucet was located. So, I too, think foam covers are snake oil.
e. The pipe to the spigot runs for about ten feet through a wall that is co mmon with the garage and my living room. I turned off that supply line in t he basement; now I'm afraid to turn it back on in case the pipe has burst. I can't think of any way to know if the pipe burst without turning on the w ater and waiting to see if it comes through the wall into the living room. Any better ideas?
I would think a foam cover would help a bit, but I agree, I don't think it will help a lot. It would be interesting to see some test results where they were actually tested to see the temp diff with and without. They would help more outside, where they would keep the wind off of it. But I think the bottom line is, what good are they really? If it's subject to freezing, then it should be turned off and drained or even better, a freeze proof sillcock. I sure wouldn't rely on one.
Foam works fine -- if there is heat tape under it. Even if there is water flow periodically it might help conserve the heat but it's not going to generate any heat by itself.
If you shut off the water in the cellar there should be no problem. In the Spring, just turn it back on. It should "hiss" for maybe 2-4 seconds as the pipe refills. If that hissing sound of running water doesn't stop then you know you have a burst pipe. :)
Even if the spigot was insulated, if it's out doors it's going to approx reach ambient temperature. A small amount of heat from the house might be retained but I don't think much.
Hi, In that case I highly doubt there sat full volume of water in the pipe. Spring comes, just slowly open up the water. I have 3 spigots, 2 outside, 1 in the unheated garage, I shut off all of them from inside the basement and leave the spigots open after that. But I blow sprinkler system for sure.
I really don't understand the logic here. If your pipe is empty, no problem, it ain't frozen or broke. If it is frozen or broke it's because it has water in it. And if you leave it that way, it may freeze in a different place and break there too. If you can, get the water out NOW!
| I really don't understand the logic here. | If your pipe is empty, no problem, it ain't frozen or broke. | If it is frozen or broke it's because it has water in it. | And if you leave it that way, it may freeze in a different place and break | there too. | If you can, get the water out NOW!
He's already turned off the water. I've never seen a pipe burst when the water's been turned off. Covering the faucet itself would have been unlikely to do anything, so it doesn't matter that he forgot to do that.
I have a similar situation. I've got a water pipe going through my unheated shop -- which right now is well below freezing -- to an outdoor spigot. I shut off the valve in the heated part of the cellar in the fall. I'm not worried that the pipe may burst. If that were a worry then we'd all have to have a gizmo to suck water from outdoor taps every fall. I've never heard of anyone having or using such a gizmo.
So.... It's almost certain the pipe hasn't burst.
If it did, how can it burst again with less water in it than it had before? (Remember the theoretical burst will have released pressure, and the valve in the cellar is closed, so no additional water can get into the pipe until Spring.) What you're proposing is that water in a burst pipe, which will certainly drain and evaporate a bit if it thaws, could then somehow refreeze with such pressure that it would burst the pipe again in a second location. It just doesn't work that way.
Actually, sometimes it does. I've seen pipes split with the water turned off and the tap open. If water pools in a low spot, totally filling a sizeable section of pipe, it can split - and it can split a second low spot a day or two later.
| Actually, sometimes it does. I've seen pipes split with the water | turned off and the tap open. If water pools in a low spot, totally | filling a sizeable section of pipe, it can split - and it can split a | second low spot a day or two later.
It sounds like you've got some 3 Stooges pipes, turning down and then back up again in an exterior wall.
I worked at a company that tried to save $$ by turning off the heat in the warehouse. Most of the water in the building was shut off too. Plumbers drained lines, it cost a fortune:(
Complaints were filed with the city lack of bathrooms etc.
So the heat was turned back on, to the delight of everyone who was working in freezing conditions with 75 people sharing just one toilet....
I happened to be in the warehouse when the water was turned back on. a big mess, low spots in the lines, had leaks everywhere and a major flood.
fixing the broken lines took over a week, and cost a fortune. management later admitted shutting off the heat was a major mistake
Nope. It was in a saggy barn. Get down below zero F and you were fixing pipes, particularly if you had a good wind blowing through and had no hogs in the front. The dairy side was seldom a problem.
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