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Posted

Also, as a gripe, I have these Freeze Miser faucet protectors on my hose bibs with northern exposure. The idea is that you connect these, turn the hose bib all the way on, and when it gets below about 37 degrees it starts to auto drip your faucets for you, to keep them from freezing. 

71uhlVg9SxL._AC_SL1500_.thumb.jpg.6a9a6516077a741607516cf70197f255.jpg

 

They usually work great. Except that someone (and I don't know who, it could have been the wife, could have been some workers we had at our house over the weekend), decided to turn the handles to off. So the hose bibs froze over anyway. 

So I have that going for me. 

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Posted
11 minutes ago, hornian said:

Also, as a gripe, I have these Freeze Miser faucet protectors on my hose bibs with northern exposure. The idea is that you connect these, turn the hose bib all the way on, and when it gets below about 37 degrees it starts to auto drip your faucets for you, to keep them from freezing. 

71uhlVg9SxL._AC_SL1500_.thumb.jpg.6a9a6516077a741607516cf70197f255.jpg

 

They usually work great. Except that someone (and I don't know who, it could have been the wife, could have been some workers we had at our house over the weekend), decided to turn the handles to off. So the hose bibs froze over anyway. 

So I have that going for me. 

So, I have some of these (bought in planning for the 2021 freeze):

shopping?q=tbn:ANd9GcRChHH-vY59csLu9gZ4U

 

They work great -- when it gets below 35 or so, the internal thermostat trips and they throw off moderate heat, enough to keep any pipe they're in contact with from freezing.  But, two issues....1) they depend on electricity (so, in 2021, fuck me -- my whole "keep shit from freezing" plan was electricity-dependent), and 2) they are long and really designed for protecting longer lengths of pipe.

What I would LIKE to find is something like that in a much shorter length -- like 18-24 inches.  You can then wrap that smaller length around the exposed exterior faucet, cover it with something simple (seriously, I used coffee cans and whatnot) to make a shelter from the wind and something to retain the heat), and then pretty much "set it and forget it" for the season.  When it's not freezing, they are dormant.  When it drops to freezing, they trip on, and warm your pipes.  They should make a Texas version of these for just that purpose.  I've found a 3-foot length, but that's still a bit too long.

Oh, and we re-routed a faucet that ran through the garage to an exterior wall - we installed a shutoff valve for that right next to the interior wall of the house, so we just shut that pipe off and drain it.  That's the main pipe that burst on us in 2021, so we just eliminated the risk.

Posted

A buddy and I came up with that "freeze preventer" concept probably 12 years ago.  We never filed a patent.  Eventually, they hit the market.  That was a swing and a miss on our part.

What's really annoying is that hose bibs "up north" are designed so the valve is well inside the wall, and you can just close it and drain it.  I don't know why (or if) they aren't available here.

Posted
4 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

So, I have some of these (bought in planning for the 2021 freeze):

shopping?q=tbn:ANd9GcRChHH-vY59csLu9gZ4U

 

They work great -- when it gets below 35 or so, the internal thermostat trips and they throw off moderate heat, enough to keep any pipe they're in contact with from freezing.  But, two issues....1) they depend on electricity (so, in 2021, fuck me -- my whole "keep shit from freezing" plan was electricity-dependent), and 2) they are long and really designed for protecting longer lengths of pipe.

What I would LIKE to find is something like that in a much shorter length -- like 18-24 inches.  You can then wrap that smaller length around the exposed exterior faucet, cover it with something simple (seriously, I used coffee cans and whatnot) to make a shelter from the wind and something to retain the heat), and then pretty much "set it and forget it" for the season.  When it's not freezing, they are dormant.  When it drops to freezing, they trip on, and warm your pipes.  They should make a Texas version of these for just that purpose.  I've found a 3-foot length, but that's still a bit too long.

Oh, and we re-routed a faucet that ran through the garage to an exterior wall - we installed a shutoff valve for that right next to the interior wall of the house, so we just shut that pipe off and drain it.  That's the main pipe that burst on us in 2021, so we just eliminated the risk.

Yep. I've been searching for a long time for something just like this. Something like 4-9" (twss) of bendable heat tape with a housing to cover the bib.  As you have detailed, all the heat taps are much longers or become very cost prohibitive. This seems like a slam dunk for those of us on slab with exposed bibs.

5 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

What's really annoying is that hose bibs "up north" are designed so the valve is well inside the wall, and you can just close it and drain it.  I don't know why (or if) they aren't available here.

They are available here. My house has frost free exterior valves. They seem to hold up ok so far. 

Posted
26 minutes ago, hornian said:

Also, as a gripe, I have these Freeze Miser faucet protectors on my hose bibs with northern exposure. The idea is that you connect these, turn the hose bib all the way on, and when it gets below about 37 degrees it starts to auto drip your faucets for you, to keep them from freezing. 

71uhlVg9SxL._AC_SL1500_.thumb.jpg.6a9a6516077a741607516cf70197f255.jpg

 

They usually work great. Except that someone (and I don't know who, it could have been the wife, could have been some workers we had at our house over the weekend), decided to turn the handles to off. So the hose bibs froze over anyway. 

So I have that going for me. 

 

Agreed, these have worked perfectly for me every freeze. 

Screenshot-20250220-090412-Gallery.jpg

Posted
Just now, Anastasis said:

Yep. I've been searching for a long time for something just like this. Something like 4-9" (twss) of bendable heat tape with a housing to cover the bib.  As you have detailed, all the heat taps are much longers or become very cost prohibitive. This seems like a slam dunk for those of us on slab with exposed bibs.

And just like that, "Surlywarmers" was launched, making millions that ended up being squandered by the company founders.

Posted
Just now, Brisketexan said:

And just like that, "Surlywarmers" was launched, making millions that ended up being squandered by the company founders.

We'll need to workshop that name. Maybe something that plays off the 4-9" thing. 

Posted
7 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

So, I have some of these (bought in planning for the 2021 freeze):

shopping?q=tbn:ANd9GcRChHH-vY59csLu9gZ4U

 

They work great -- when it gets below 35 or so, the internal thermostat trips and they throw off moderate heat, enough to keep any pipe they're in contact with from freezing.  But, two issues....1) they depend on electricity (so, in 2021, fuck me -- my whole "keep shit from freezing" plan was electricity-dependent), and 2) they are long and really designed for protecting longer lengths of pipe.

What I would LIKE to find is something like that in a much shorter length -- like 18-24 inches.  You can then wrap that smaller length around the exposed exterior faucet, cover it with something simple (seriously, I used coffee cans and whatnot) to make a shelter from the wind and something to retain the heat), and then pretty much "set it and forget it" for the season.  When it's not freezing, they are dormant.  When it drops to freezing, they trip on, and warm your pipes.  They should make a Texas version of these for just that purpose.  I've found a 3-foot length, but that's still a bit too long.

Oh, and we re-routed a faucet that ran through the garage to an exterior wall - we installed a shutoff valve for that right next to the interior wall of the house, so we just shut that pipe off and drain it.  That's the main pipe that burst on us in 2021, so we just eliminated the risk.

protip - older bulb-style christmas lights are decent for this, or really any string light that isn't LED-based

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Posted
9 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

A buddy and I came up with that "freeze preventer" concept probably 12 years ago.  We never filed a patent.  Eventually, they hit the market.  That was a swing and a miss on our part.

What's really annoying is that hose bibs "up north" are designed so the valve is well inside the wall, and you can just close it and drain it.  I don't know why (or if) they aren't available here.

they are definitely available.   put them on every house we build.  

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Posted
Just now, Captainant said:

protip - older bulb-style christmas lights are decent for this, or really any string light that isn't LED-based

Yeah, I thought of rigging something up like that, but it requires action when the temp is threatening.  The thermostat trigger and "set it and forget it" element is really helpful.  That way, as the beginning of cold weather season approaches, you just go out, clamp on/wrap the warmer around the pipe, plug it in to an exterior outlet, slide the housing/shelter over the setup, and you're done for the season.  No worries at all if you're out of town when a freeze sneaks into the forecast (happened to us in January, had to ask the neighbors to go over and drip faucets for us).  Once the threat of hard freezes is past, you just remove the setups and put them back in your winter prep box.

This should be easy.  Again, depending on electricity is a weakness/risk, but for the MOST part, winter power outages are short and shouldn't affect the overall effectiveness.  And, if you see a massive outage coming like we had in 2021....just shut your fucking water off.  That's our plan.  Fill up pots of water for drinking and washing, and 5 gallon buckets to fill toilet tanks for flushing.  

Posted
6 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

And, if you see a massive outage coming like we had in 2021....just shut your fucking water off.  That's our plan.  Fill up pots of water for drinking and washing, and 5 gallon buckets to fill toilet tanks for flushing.  

One of these for your bathtub: https://www.amazon.com/WaterBOB-Emergency-Container-Drinking-Hurricane/dp/B001AXLUX2

Or one of these for the garage: https://www.amazon.com/HZGREEN-Container-Foldable-Portable-Capacity/dp/B0D4945X1N

Posted
Just now, Anastasis said:

Yeah, I grew up in hurricane country -- filling the tub before a storm was part of the routine (didn't use a liner -- the plan was just to boil whatever you needed for drinking, the water was fine for every other use).  Now, we have to do so when there is a risk of the grid crashing for an extended period of time.  This fucking state.

I'm kinda serious about these exterior pipe protection setups.  Why don't they exist?  They should, and they'd be super cheap to produce (I know a guy in manufacturing in Gyna).

Posted
12 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

And, if you see a massive outage coming like we had in 2021....just shut your fucking water off.  That's our plan.  Fill up pots of water for drinking and washing, and 5 gallon buckets to fill toilet tanks for flushing.  

How will we survive without our bidets? Go scoot our asses across the backyard snow??

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Posted

I'll sell y'all some of my advanced freeze protector kits. Only $19.95

Couple feet of foam pipe insulation. Old rags from the garage with tape for the extraneous parts and bibs.

Call it tactical foam if you'd like. But that may bump the price up to around $29.95 or even thirty-three fiddy.

Posted
7 minutes ago, gofuckyourself said:

I'll sell y'all some of my advanced freeze protector kits. Only $19.95

Couple feet of foam pipe insulation. Old rags from the garage with tape for the extraneous parts and bibs.

Call it tactical foam if you'd like. But that may bump the price up to around $29.95 or even thirty-three fiddy.

swimming pool noodles work great too to cover a faucet if they're the kind with the hole down the middle

Posted

Neighbor didn't winterize his outside faucets and the water in his pool was getting dangerously low to the point that if it dropped any more, his pumps wouldn't be cycling water.  

Gave him a hose (as his were filled with water and frozen) that I bring inside when I disconnect wen I wrap the faucets.  Shut off his water behind the washer, disconnected it, and attach the hose.  You can run hot or cold, but we refilled his pool from the washroom.

If you have a tankless water heater, pull off the cover and tape over the section with tin foil.  Cut a small hole and run a hairdryer.  It will thaw the small pipes inside and get the water flowing again.  Learned that last time from another neighbor from Wisconsin.  

14 minutes ago, Anastasis said:

Yall dont have a case of those flushable wet wipes in the garage for emergencies?

Meh, there are cheaper options

dog-butt.gif

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Posted
10 minutes ago, Captainant said:

swimming pool noodles work great too to cover a faucet if they're the kind with the hole down the middle

I forgot to use this this go round (just used towels) and now I’m worried what I’m going to return home to this evening…

Posted
25 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

I'm kinda serious about these exterior pipe protection setups.  Why don't they exist?  They should, and they'd be super cheap to produce (I know a guy in manufacturing in Gyna).

If you have electricity, just get a tarp and a heat lamp.  Work great.  If you don't, towels and zip ties and a tarp worked great for us last time.  

* talking about pool equipment BTW.

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Posted
1 minute ago, BabaYaga said:

If you have electricity, just get a tarp and a heat lamp.  Work great.  If you don't, towels and zip ties and a tarp worked great for us last time.  

* talking about pool equipment BTW.

I ain't got no cement pond.

And seriously, a simple setup to warm your pipes only when the temp drops below freezing, triggered by a simple thermostat, so it's idle most of the season except for the handful of hours when it's needed, seems like a no-brainer throughout the south.  Put our product in Wal-Marts, Buccees, and Dollar Generals, and.....

95139048-5696-465c-91bd-86e000e7bf0c_tex

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Posted
57 minutes ago, BabaYaga said:

Neighbor didn't winterize his outside faucets

My neighbor travels a ton for work and, apparently, he didn't turn his sprinkler system off before he left for his last trip. I took some trash out to the can at the curb this morning, looked over to see this. His whole yard is icy. 

Screenshot-20250220-104058-Gallery.jpg

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Posted
6 minutes ago, SurlyBDR said:

My neighbor travels a ton for work and, apparently, he didn't turn his sprinkler system off before he left for his last trip. I took some trash out to the can at the curb this morning, looked over to see this. His whole yard is icy. 

Screenshot-20250220-104058-Gallery.jpg

Begs the obvious question why it's even active this time of year?  

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Posted
58 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

I ain't got no cement pond.

And seriously, a simple setup to warm your pipes only when the temp drops below freezing, triggered by a simple thermostat, so it's idle most of the season except for the handful of hours when it's needed, seems like a no-brainer throughout the south.  Put our product in Wal-Marts, Buccees, and Dollar Generals, and.....

95139048-5696-465c-91bd-86e000e7bf0c_tex

So change the name from "Brisk" heat to "Brisket" heat?  I like it.

Let's do it

Posted
3 minutes ago, BabaYaga said:

Begs the obvious question why it's even active this time of year?  

there's a shocking number of property owners and managers that I see with active sprinklers yearround maintaining swamps, even after they've drowned all their St. Augustine

Posted
11 minutes ago, BabaYaga said:

Begs the obvious question why it's even active this time of year?  

Mah green grass!!!!

On the use of incandescent Christmas lights, you could also try to rig a halogen spotlight on a stake - get an outdoor halogen with an outdoor rated spike and maybe find a way to shine it onto the fixture.  Not too close... they can throw off a lot of heat.  I've used them in my little greenhouses to move a ton of contiainer plants and keep them alive during freezes.  We'll see how it all worked out when I take apart my "system" on Saturday.  Last time we got to 22 or so, they did the trick.   Can post pictures later for those trying to save container plants without moving them all into the garage.

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Posted
9 minutes ago, BabaYaga said:

Begs the obvious question why it's even active this time of year?  

 

5 minutes ago, Captainant said:

there's a shocking number of property owners and managers that I see with active sprinklers yearround maintaining swamps, even after they've drowned all their St. Augustine

I've got enough going on in my life to also considered the status of his sprinkler system, and I haven't seen it running lately, or I would have said something ahead of time. I'd never expect the system to be on this time of year either! 

Posted
2 hours ago, jimmyjazz said:

A buddy and I came up with that "freeze preventer" concept probably 12 years ago.  We never filed a patent.  Eventually, they hit the market.  That was a swing and a miss on our part.

What's really annoying is that hose bibs "up north" are designed so the valve is well inside the wall, and you can just close it and drain it.  I don't know why (or if) they aren't available here.

I install them on all new homes.  Not that pricey of an upgrade.

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Posted
1 minute ago, Born to Run said:

Not that pricey of an upgrade.

Had a party at the house a while back.  Couple was buying through Toll Brothers.  As more and more wine flowed, and the more he had to drink, later in the night he's stumbling around the house yelling "that's an upgrade".  He'd get a new wine glass.  "That's an upgrade".  Learned if you want a TB house, or other semi-custom home.  Add at least $100K to the base price

Posted
4 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

Do they work on unheated spaces; i.e. a garage?

I haven't had any fail, but I suspect the pipe leading to hose bib would freeze anyway in an unheated space if it got cold enough.

I haven't had any ruptured pipes in homes that were done in PEX, or copper and spray foam. Even had a temp PEX waterline survive the last major pipe destroying freeze- it was laying on the ground unisulated.  Swelled  up but never ruptured.

Posted
8 minutes ago, BabaYaga said:

Had a party at the house a while back.  Couple was buying through Toll Brothers.  As more and more wine flowed, and the more he had to drink, later in the night he's stumbling around the house yelling "that's an upgrade".  He'd get a new wine glass.  "That's an upgrade".  Learned if you want a TB house, or other semi-custom home.  Add at least $100K to the base price

Toll Brothers is notoriously shitty. One of thier developments in Lakeway had a bunch of problems including most every master shower pan failing creating a moldly mess. They skimped on materials, but saved maybe $200 per unit instead of doing it right.

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Posted
5 minutes ago, Born to Run said:

I haven't had any fail, but I suspect the pipe leading to hose bib would freeze anyway in an unheated space if it got cold enough.

I haven't had any ruptured pipes in homes that were done in PEX, or copper and spray foam. Even had a temp PEX waterline survive the last major pipe destroying freeze- it was laying on the ground unisulated.  Swelled  up but never ruptured.

I know the pipes in my walls are PEX.  I don't know how they're plumbed down into the slab.  Although my garage isn't heated, even in Icepocalypse it didn't get all that much colder than the house, which bottomed out in the low 50F range.

Posted
2 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

I know the pipes in my walls are PEX.  I don't know how they're plumbed down into the slab.  Although my garage isn't heated, even in Icepocalypse it didn't get all that much colder than the house, which bottomed out in the low 50F range.

When we flooded in Houston and tore out the sheetrock, we removed all the 1959 galvanized plumbing (you wouldn't believe the rust inside) and replaced everything with PEX.  From what I've always heard, PEX is much more resistant to freezing.

Posted
1 hour ago, BabaYaga said:

If you have electricity, just get a tarp and a heat lamp.  Work great.  If you don't, towels and zip ties and a tarp worked great for us last time.  

* talking about pool equipment BTW.

I worry about fire with heat lamps and a tarp.  I have had good success with the heat tape though. Several clients had busted pool pump pipes, and RPZs after each big event.  Added heat tape and then insulation. So far no phone calls.

 

They also sell a plug with a built in thermostat that kicks on at 35 degrees.  Just plugs into a regular outlet.  Could be useful for the lightbulb crowd.

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Posted
26 minutes ago, Born to Run said:

I haven't had any fail, but I suspect the pipe leading to hose bib would freeze anyway in an unheated space if it got cold enough.

I haven't had any ruptured pipes in homes that were done in PEX, or copper and spray foam. Even had a temp PEX waterline survive the last major pipe destroying freeze- it was laying on the ground unisulated.  Swelled  up but never ruptured.

PEX is great and extremely durable, there's some good freeze tests on YouTube 

 

 

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Posted
4 hours ago, hornian said:

Also, as a gripe, I have these Freeze Miser faucet protectors on my hose bibs with northern exposure. The idea is that you connect these, turn the hose bib all the way on, and when it gets below about 37 degrees it starts to auto drip your faucets for you, to keep them from freezing. 

71uhlVg9SxL._AC_SL1500_.thumb.jpg.6a9a6516077a741607516cf70197f255.jpg

 

They usually work great. Except that someone (and I don't know who, it could have been the wife, could have been some workers we had at our house over the weekend), decided to turn the handles to off. So the hose bibs froze over anyway. 

So I have that going for me. 

I wonder why they start to drip at 37 and not closer to 32. It's not water starts to freeze at 37. 

Posted
1 hour ago, BabaYaga said:

Isn't it all dormant?

I let our St. Augustine go dormant every winter, as it's better for the grass, my pocketbook, and the water supply.   But we have plenty of neighbors who water year-round, and their St. Augustine stays green year-round (this is in Austin).   It's a choice, I guess, depending on the climate where you're at. 

Posted
Just now, Samson's Wig said:

I let our St. Augustine go dormant every winter, as it's better for the grass, my pocketbook, and the water supply.   But we have plenty of neighbors who water year-round, and their St. Augustine stays green year-round (this is in Austin).   It's a choice, I guess, depending on the climate where you're at. 

I've known more than one person who doesn't know how to turn off their sprinklers or they're more worried about knowing how to get it back on. Their lawn guy is outsourced for all aspects of it.

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Posted
Just now, Samson's Wig said:

I let our St. Augustine go dormant every winter, as it's better for the grass, my pocketbook, and the water supply.   But we have plenty of neighbors who water year-round, and their St. Augustine stays green year-round (this is in Austin).   It's a choice, I guess, depending on the climate where you're at. 

right-to-jail-wide-eye-reaction-z2zpt2rl

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Posted
Just now, Nice Guy Eddie said:

I've known more than one person who doesn't know how to turn off their sprinklers or they're more worried about knowing how to get it back on. Their lawn guy is outsourced for all aspects of it.

That's no doubt some of what I see around here.  We have plenty of olds in our hood, although it's probably the younger families who moved here from big cities and never dealt with a yard before.

Posted

PEX is far superior for freeze protection.  That study that Risinger did was very informative.  A properly built house should have PEX insulated on all exterior walls BEFORE spray foam or batts insulation.  It's a belt and suspenders approach, but it makes a huge difference.  And, I agree on the manifolds @drt.  They're cool, but not practical.  

I'm also a big fan of running hose bibs on a separate loop.  This allows you to shut off water to the bibs an drain them completely prior to a freeze, and it allows you to put a loop in for a softener to the house without it affecting water for irrigation.  

Lastly, I'd highly recommend a leak detection system.  Phyn is my favorite, but Moen makes a good product as well.  Some insurance providers are actually offering rebates if you install one, and rumor has it Chubb, Pure and a few others may require these to be installed to maintain coverage.  It's <$4,000 installed and worth every penny to prevent a catastrophic flood.  Phyn's technology is pretty amazing.  It's programmed using sonar and can detect minor leaks, let you know exactly where they are, and allow you to shut off water to one area or the whole house remotely via the app.  

https://phyn.com/products/phyn-plus-smart-water-assistant-shutoff-v2

I didn't stay at a Holiday Inn last night, but I do own a plumbing company in Austin.  We install several per month, and the reviews are fantastic.  

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Posted
2 hours ago, texasdago said:

Yup... and yet I, too, see people running their sprinklers in the wintertime.  No worries... TONS of water in Lake Travis.

Biggest offender I see of the constantly watering point are new constructions where the builder runs sprinklers four times a week for an hour each time, regardless of the precipitation that week.

Our previous neighborhood was a Perry Homes new build, and in a very small neighborhood there were at least 10 houses watering all the time.

They also ignored the drought water restrictions days and times.  

Posted
Just now, gofuckyourself said:

They also ignored the drought water restrictions days and times.  

I really wish the city would go out and generate some revenue with fines.  Our water situation in Central Texas is not good at all.  Screw the people who think their precious grass is more important than, I don't know, drinking water.

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