On Tuesday, January 7, 2014 12:59:03 AM UTC-5, nestork wrote:
'mike[_22_ Wrote:

;3178136']

When should homeowners be alert to the danger of freezing pipes? That

depends, but in southern states and other areas where freezing weather

is the exception rather than the rule (and where houses often do not

provide adequate built-in protection), the temperature alert threshold

is 20�F.





I fully understand that in some parts of your country, "winter" is when

you put on a sweater before going outside.



But, I don't understand why architects can't design homes where the

potable water supply piping always runs up through interior walls so

that people don't have to be concerned about their pipes cracking the

odd time the temperature does drop below 20 deg. F.


I would think in most cases, the architect probably doesn't even
get to the level of detail that shows exactly where the pipes run
and even if they do, plumbers probably do what they feel like. The
plumber runs them where it's easy. Classic case is a kitchen sink
which usually has a window, so it's in the middle of an outside wall.
Not so easy to run pipes to that, versus coming straight up from
the basement. In some houses in colder climates, I've seen where they
run them up throught the floor for that instead of in the wall where
they are hidden, out of the way, etc.

The main thing the architect can do is avoid putting fixtures where
the natural way to get to them would be via an outside wall. In the
new construction here in NJ that I've seen recently, the only pipes
that are in an outside wall have been for the kitchen sink mentioned
above. In my house, built in 1983, the kitchen sink and one bathroom
toilet line are in outside walls.






Alternatively, why not fasten electric heating cables to those pipes and

insulate the assembly to eliminate that risk? You could have a switch

somewheres that turns on the power to those heating cables, and a

thermostat on each cable that maintains the temperature of the pipe at

45 deg. F, say, for good economy.



It just seems to me that the cost of preventing the pipes from freezing

is small, but the cost of repairing water damage from a cracked water

pipe is large, so why not spend a little bit up front to avoid paying a

lot later on down the road.









--

nestork