I am back.

submitted by magnora7[A] from self.SaidIt

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[–]bobbobbybob 4 insightful - 3 fun4 insightful - 2 fun5 insightful - 3 fun -  (5 children)

my main line is just polybuteline, survives -15C frosts quite happily, uninsulated. I leave the tap at the end of the line dripping over the worst winter months, as moving water brings fresh energy and slows down freezing. you can get waterproof drywall too. its called aqualine down here in NZ. Might be worth it in your outdoorsy places, as we are due for a lot more cold in the future.

[–]magnora7[S] 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (4 children)

Thanks for the info. This my first time dealing with pipes freezing, it's just not a thing down here. Learned a lot of mistakes I won't be making again.

[–]Node 4 insightful - 2 fun4 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 2 fun -  (3 children)

I've lived in the cold regions, and doubt you need to dig up much of your broken water line. I believe you said it just popped where it exited the ground and went into your house?

You should be fine just digging down a foot or so to a clean and unbroken section of pipe, and replacing it with more pvc. A split section of straight pipe should probably be replaced back past the the next fitting, as the split may travel further than visible. So this may mean digging up and replacing the elbow underground where the pipe goes vertical and emerges from the ground.

Do some research on the advantages and disadvantages of PEX before deciding to use that.

They're pretty likely to fix the 'loss of power generation' issues after this mess, so in potential future freezes you could cover or wrap your exposed piping with a blanket or tarp with a low wattage 'real' lightbulb, or leave the water trickling that night.

Good to have you back. Hope you brought some of that freeze with you to apply to the trolls and shills.

Edit: I now live on the coast where it never freezes, except that one time back in the early 90s... Checked on a friends house who was away, and it turns out water lines went to the kitchen though the ceiling. I could hear the water when I opened my car door. Water was pouring out around the front door. Imagine what happens when a whole ceiling/attic gets filled with water from a wide open incoming water line. It was an amazing sight.

[–]magnora7[S] 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I believe you said it just popped where it exited the ground and went into your house?

Yeah just like a 3' segment above ground and outside the house is what broke off.

You should be fine just digging down a foot or so to a clean and unbroken section of pipe, and replacing it with more pvc. A split section of straight pipe should probably be replaced back past the the next fitting, as the split may travel further than visible

Thanks, that makes sense. It has several straight PVC cuffs along the pipe that comes up from the ground. There's a shutoff valve on that pipe, so maybe I can cut it just after that to get a fresh section and a good unfractured cut.

so in potential future freezes you could cover or wrap your exposed piping with a blanket or tarp with a low wattage 'real' lightbulb, or leave the water trickling that night.

Yeah definitely going to take these things very seriously for the rest of my life after this event. I just didn't even know my mains was exposed like that, I thought that pipe was just a separate line to have a hose hookup for that side of the yard.

Thanks for the advice! And yeah I'm extremely glad this didn't break over the house itself and flood the house. That would've been a nightmare, especially with the power out for days and it below zero

[–][deleted] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

I'd love to hear more about your friend's house. What did it look like? Did you open the front door, man?

[–]Node 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

There were inches of water when I opened the front door. Parts of the ceiling had collapsed in a mess of wet sheetrock and insulation. The area above the dining room just had this huge sag full of water and I have no idea how it held together that long. A lot of the incoming water was pouring directly onto the dining room table.

The house was partly built into a hillside, so there was a level below the destruction too. That got pretty wet, although the ceiling may not have collapsed there. It was pretty much the worst place for the water line in a freeze, and it did a ton of damage to that house.

If he had been home, he would have had the heat on and nothing would have happened. Really bad timing on his trip and the 'probable 100 year' freeze.