Frozen/burst pipe nightmare...

[Capt Steve]

Woke up Sunday morning at 0645 and stepped out of bed into about 3" of water soaked carpet. The water spigot on the front of our house had frozen and the pipe burst sometime during the wee hours of the morning {I'm guessing around 0400}.

The entire master bedroom and bath were flooded with more water migrating down the hallway and out to the living room. I knew immediately what had happened and scrambled to get dressed. The shutoff valve is right in front of the leak and fortunately I have the tool to turn off all the water to the house. Unfortunately it was 17 degrees.

Because the water spigot is recessed into the brickwork on the front of the house the only way to get a hose attached is to utilize a 60 degree adapter. Evidently a little water was trapped in that piece and after several hours at 17 degrees it froze hard with the ice migrating up into the pipe forcing it apart.
My bride and I went to work with mops, towels and brooms and managed to clear all of the water from our tile floors but bedroom carpet is toast.

Waited until 8 before calling my plumber and leaving a message. Despite being out of town he was back to me in an hour and on scene and hour after that... now that is service! He plugged the burst pipe and got the water back on to the house returning Monday to replace the parts that he lacked on Sunday.

Called the insurance company and they promised their Restoration company would be back to me in an hour and on scene in no more than 4. After 3 hours of hearing nothingI called the company direct and they said "Sorry we don't have anyone available we are all backed up due to the fires in Denver". Seriously? {I live in central Arizona about 90 miles north of Phoenix}.

My plumber had recommended a local company and one phone call had them on scene and working their butts off in an hour. Four days of 14 industrial fans, a commercial dehumidifier/heater all running 24/7 is getting the job done. Almost everything is dried out, the baseboards and drywall have been removed and they should be able to start replacing them both by tomorrow afternoon.

We have been in a local hotel for 3 nights as the house was unlivable and hope to move back tomorrow. Other then the $1,000 deductible which I will have to eat the insurance company should cover all of the damages and our hotel room and meals out.

A serious PITA but hey, nobody died.

 

[URIT]

Wow. Not a pleasant way to start the new year. I hope things get better for you as the year matures.

 

[Neversink n Klapperthal]

had the same situation years ago. Got the big fan with the flattened nozzle to slip under the carpet,and before long it was dry. That was about 15 years ago and the carpet is still looking great with no odors

 

[max]

Several years ago, a pipe in the condo above our daughter's unit burst and the water came flooding down. Fortunately our daughter had just had surgery and was staying with us.

I got a very early call from the people above wanting to know where the water shutoff was. I new that was not good and got dressed and went over. Part of the ceiling had collapsed and there was water everywhere. It was still running down the walls in the hallway.

We got a restoration company out quick and the insurance adjusters as well. Our damages were about 35K if I remember. State Farm had the unit above insured as well as the condo building. However, it still was a mark against my daughter with our insurance company and I never understood that.Our final cost was just the deductible.

She just had surgery again, is staying with us and it is very cold. We had the walls reinsulated and I hope there is no problem again.

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

Burst Hot Water Tanks and frozen spigots are very "Normal Emergencies" in an apartment complex! The worst I had was an empty apartment with an open window and -13 with wind. Ended up flooding 4 units. My regular carpet cleaner was out of town, his replacement would just hang up when we called. We ended up using Service Master's disaster crew. We also ended up firing our regular carpet cleaner and using Service Master!

On the original clean up, the property manager was there from 7 until 10, I was there from 10 until 5 AM. The first bill from Service master was about $2000 more than new carpet, revised bill ran right at the cost of new carpet.

It is important that you disconnect the hose when it is freezing out!

Ivan

 

[arjay]

Servpro will be at my house to put the dining room back together tomorrow. A baseboard heater sprung a leak a few days before Christmas and such a mess!!

 

[bigwheelzip]

Sorry to read of the flood, and hope it's nothing but a bad memory soon.

Good time for a PSA about installing the frost proof hose connections.

How to Install a Frost-Proof Hose Spigot | Ask This Old House - YouTube

Sent from my motorola one 5G using Tapatalk

 

[Tom S.]

Frost free faucet and a winter cover would have prevented this.

 

[Nevada Ed]

That is one "Thing" that I hope no home owner has to go through.

It is a royal pain.

I always undo my hose lines early each year when we hit 33* .
If I need to water I re-hook the hoses up and unhook when done.

I don't have elec. pipe heating systems but they are a great idea for those in "Real" winter areas.

The only other real problem is if your heating system goes down.

Electricity and gas or propane can usually get fixed inside of 6-8 hours...
if you can get a tech. to come out.

 

[jeffrefrig]

Well, live & learn. Plumbing kinda sucks because you can't properly solder if you have even a little leak thru the shut-off valve(s). You have a good outlook. "Nobody Died." And insurance is a necessary evil, even for renters. If you wanna really get picky, you can claim the cost of the electricity to run the fans & humidifier/heaters, or try to, on your insurance. (I live in Pittsburgh. Believe me, I know or have dealt with people who will try to claim everything inside the house associated with the burst pipe!)

 

[30-30remchester]

"Nobody Died." [/QUOTE]

That brings back less than fond memories. Worked on drill rigs all across the West. 24/7/365 no such thing as a Sunday or holiday. As a tool pusher those middle of the night phone calls were dreaded. Many times, the first words on the other end of the line were "At least we didn't kill anybody".

As for burst frozen pipes, I have dealt with many over the decades. Actually, had a 4" mud pump line freeze up, while running, of all places in Holbrook, Arizona. Living in the country all my life, we had wells. After learning the hard way, if I leave for overnight, I shut off the pump as I leave the house. In the winter we even drain the pressure tank. In the night when I can't sleep, I design things in my mind. One of the things I design is a house that could easily drained of water and sewer. Talking to plumbers it is easy to do during original construction, but nobody has ever asked to have their homes plumbed that way. I know, I need a real hobby.

 

[Mike SC Hunter]

Sad for you. But a question. If the outside spigot froze and burst. How did the water get in the house?

 

[Mike SC Hunter]

In the winter time here I keep a 100 watt bulb on in my insulated pump house.

 

[hsguy]

Always disconnect any hose on an outside spigot. I installed shut-off valves on both my outdoor spigots and close them when the weather is predicted to be below freezing. Another thing I do when away from home for a few days is shut off the water supply. As far as a spigot being outside, the pipe will freeze inside the house, the ice will expand and split the pipe and once it thaws will gush water. I saw this innumerable times especially with commercial and industrial sprinkler systems. The cold weather was a challenge but I dreaded being on duty when the weather warmed up. 20-25 dispatches were not uncommon during our 24 hour duty days.

 

[Capt Steve]

Some clarifications…

Frost free faucet and a winter cover would have prevented this.

View attachment 551925

View attachment 551924

I had one out of two (the frost free faucet) and the hose was disconnected weeks ago. When the ice expanded it pulled the pipe right out of the faucet assembly and water went everywhere… as in down inside the walls, over the plate and through the drywall and base boards.

Fortunately we were home, had we been gone it would still be running as the house is almost 40 yards from the street. Yep, could have been worse.

 

[LVSteve]

I use those faucet covers even here in Vegas. As for insulation in the walls around the pipes, who knows. If the state of the insulation in my attic is any clue, then it's doubtful.

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

In the summer of 1983 my brother bought an apartment complex and broke off dad's company. At Christmas it was around 30 below Zero. The week after it got in the 60's. Our complex was fine!

The damage in dad's flagship complex (210 units) took 158 sheets of drywall to patch all the holes I knocked in walls to get to busted pies! All caused by tenants going home for Christmas and turning off the heat. I used 100' of 5/8 soft copper and almost 500' of 1/2" copper pipe, and about 2 five gallon buckets of fittings!

We brought in help from another complex to get done faster.

My brother paid off our two new pick ups and gave ourselves $1000 bonuses for 4 long days work!

Ivan

 

[Model 19 6"]

No pipes have burst yet, but furnace quit Sunday. Had guy here Monday we decided to replace. He told us he would have one Tuesday have not heard back.

 

[9mmPatriot]

Winland Electronics

 

[DWalt]

I had a similar experience last February during the big freeze in Texas. In my case, it was the copper tubing going to the refrigerator ice maker that ran through the attic which split. It did a great amouht of damage to the ceiling and walls, also to the wood parquet floor which had to be replaced. Even after insurance, it set me back about $2500 out of pocket.