For those who are unfamiliar with North Texas, the extreme temperature changes can come as a surprise. While Texas is often associated with hot weather, the events of 2021 highlighted the fact that Texas can also face very cold conditions rapidly, as seen in national news coverage. Common Winter Plumbing Myths often suggest that Texas doesn’t face severe cold, but the reality can be quite different.

For those who are unfamiliar with North Texas, the extreme temperature changes can come as a surprise. While Texas is often associated with hot weather, the events of 2021 highlighted the fact that Texas can also face very cold conditions rapidly, as seen in national news coverage. Common Winter Plumbing Myths often suggest that Texas doesn’t face severe cold, but the reality can be quite different.

In this article, we will address and debunk prevalent misunderstandings that individuals may have in their plumbing in the winter season.

1. I need to drip all my faucets when temperatures are below freezing.

To prevent frozen pipes in cold temperatures, it is recommended to drip some faucets. While there is truth to this advice, it is not necessary to drip every faucet in your home.

Leaving faucets dripping helps to continuously replace the cold water from the pipes located underground.

For those who are unfamiliar with North Texas, the extreme temperature changes can come as a surprise. While Texas is often associated with hot weather, the events of 2021 highlighted the fact that Texas can also face very cold conditions rapidly, as seen in national news coverage. Common Winter Plumbing Myths often suggest that Texas doesn’t face severe cold, but the reality can be quite different.

Dripping all the faucets in your home is not necessary and leads to water wastage. The interior wall pipes are already insulated and kept warm by your house’s furnace. It’s the pipes running through the exposed exterior walls that need protection.

Hence, if the temperature is expected to fall below freezing make sure to open the cabinet doors beneath all faucets located on the exterior walls and allow them to drip slowly by opening both the hot and cold handles. It is important to ensure flowing into both the hot and cold pipes. Dealing with a single-handle faucet may be a bit challenging, but with some experimentation, you will be able to determine the right position.

If your house has a drafty crawl space built on a beam foundation, you need to pay extra attention to the pipes running through this area as they are at risk of freezing. While you might experience more leaks from faucets in this scenario, the most effective remedy is to adequately insulate and protect the crawl space to prevent it from dropping freezing temperatures in the winter. Winter Plumbing Myths often suggest quick fixes, but proper insulation is the key to preventing winter plumbing issues.

2. I don’t need to worry about “frost-proof” faucets because they are designed not to freeze.

Their name, “frost-proof” faucets are not entirely immune to freezing temperatures and these faucets are the most common victims of winter damage, requiring more repairs than any other type of frozen plumbing issue. The term “frost-proof” can be quite deceiving, as it implies a level of protection that doesn.

The typical situation involves a frost-proof faucet freezing and breaking internally where it remains undetected until the faucet is opened. Often, individuals are unaware of the problem until they attempt to use the faucet in the spring and discover that a damaged frost-proof faucet has caused a leak inside the wall, leading to flooding in their home. This is one of the common Winter Plumbing Myths, where people believe frost-proof faucets are foolproof, leading to unexpected plumbing issues.

The term “frost-proof” describes a unique design feature of certain outdoor faucets. Unlike traditional faucets, which shut off the water supply near the exterior handle, frost-proof faucets have a longer stem that cuts off the water flow further back, within the warmth of the interior wall. This design aims to eliminate the presence of water in areas where freezing temperatures could occur.

If water is a connected hose or improper installation, the risk of bursting increases significantly, as the pressure from the freezing water has no outlet to release.

Have discussed in detail the methods for safeguarding outdoor, frost-resistant faucets from freezing and the specific process of their freezing in a separate blog post. Therefore, we will not delve deeply into this topic here. In summary:

3. Tankless water heaters can’t freeze because they are designed to protect themselves.

Before the temperature drops below freezing, remove any hoses and attachments from your outdoor garden faucet to prevent damage. Protect your exterior faucets from the cold by covering them with a foam faucet cover or a similar insulating material. While it’s true that tankless water heaters have built-in safeguards to prevent freezing, it’s not entirely accurate to say they can’t freeze at all. In reality, modern tankless water heaters are equipped with features such as electric heating elements and specialized programming that help prevent freezing, but they are not completely impervious to freezing temperatures.

We have included this concept on our list due to two significant points that have been ignored. The initial point is that tankless water heaters are unable to safeguard the plumbing pipes that are linked to the unit.

Many times tankless water heaters are installed in vulnerable, unheated areas like attics, garages, and exterior walls. This is also known as outside of the building envelope. It is especially common to see exterior tankless cabinets recessed into the brick walls of newer homes built in Frisco and McKinney neighborhoods. While the tankless unit may protect itself from freezing, a freeze can easily still occur in the pipes directly under that unit.

The second misconception is that gas-fired tankless water heaters are reliable because gas service is more reliable than electric service.

Tankless water heaters rely on both electricity and gas service to run, unlike tank-style gas water heaters. If the electricity goes out to the home and there is no battery or generator backup for the tankless, then it will simply not work to heat water or protect itself from freezing.

4. A frozen pipe always results in a burst water pipe leak.

If you turn on your faucet in the morning after a deep freeze and find that water doesn’t come out, then the pipes have probably frozen. This may result in a leak, but not necessarily.

A lot depends on what type of piping you have. There are two main materials for water pipes in homes throughout Dallas Fort Worth: copper and PEX. Copper was used from the 1960s up until the mid-2000s when it was gradually replaced with PEX (cross-linked polyethylene), a type of plastic pipe.

Copper can not expand much before it splits. PEX, on the other hand, can expand up to 3 times its size without splitting and then relax back into its manufactured shape. While it certainly is possible to get a freeze break in PEX (especially at the fittings), it is much less likely than copper.

Even copper often will freeze without breaking. To back that up, there are even specialty plumbing tools designed to freeze pipes on purpose to make repairs to water lines without shutting down the system.

It depends on how much of the pipe froze and how much pressure got trapped by the expanding ice. You won’t know whether the pipe burst or not until it thaws out. That is why it is very important to either shut off the water entirely or carefully monitor the frozen area as it starts to thaw. If one or more frozen areas have split the pipe, it won’t start leaking until the ice melts again.

5. Drain pipes can’t freeze.

Many people think the PVC drain pipes will not freeze during the winter because the only time they have water running through them is when someone uses a faucet.

What they don’t factor in is the existence of p-traps. These are u-shaped bends installed in the drain of every faucet, tub, and shower that allow water to collect without fully draining out. The purpose behind these p-traps is so that every fixture has a liquid seal that prevents nasty sewer gas from the septic or city sewer system from coming up into the house.

If you’ve ever smelled a foul, sour smell in a bathroom that hasn’t been used in a while, it is probably because one or more of the p-traps in that bathroom have evaporated dry to the point where it is letting sewer gas into the house.

Because water sits in these p-traps all the time, they will certainly freeze if they aren’t properly insulated. Fortunately, the majority of p-traps are either under the slab and are kept warm or under the cabinets and are kept at room temperature.

However, if the house has a pier and beam foundation with a drafty crawlspace, this puts the p-traps at risk as well as the water lines. There are also p-traps in the wall behind clothes washing machines. If the wall was poorly insulated, there is the possibility these could freeze solid.

If you need to run a load of laundry directly after a deep freeze and your clothes washer is on the exterior wall, pay close attention to when it starts a drain cycle to make sure it’s not backing up.

What’s Next?

If you want to learn more about how to properly prepare for freezing temperatures in DFW, check out our Frozen page for a bunch of great tips!

If you would like to learn more about how freezing weather affects gas systems and gas appliances, we have a recent blog article on that topic, including Winter Plumbing Myths. We are an award-winning gas line plumber in the north DFW area, and our reputation for integrity, craftsmanship, and upfront pricing speaks for itself.

To find out pricing and schedule availability, give us a call today at 469-361-2700

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