Frozen pipes and new born puppies

[TexomaAv8r]

Record breaking cold weather in Texas, these things arnt supposed to happen here so I dont know what to expect.<br />Last night I had no running water in the bathroom and only the cold side worked in the kitchen. I surmised the pipes were frozen and inspected a little, couldnt see anything revealing excpet I spotted a litter of pups under my house in the crawl space...unaccessible unless you are a dog. They looked new, eyes closed as far as iI could tell and the mom standing near staring at me. She is obviously a stray.<br />This morning I went to the curb to shut the water off since I wasnt goingt o be home when or if it thaws and wasnt sure if I should expect a disaster. The meter box had standing water in it and I notified the city.<br />Anyway what can I expect tonight and this weekend as the temps climb back into the 50's? And assuming the pups made it through the night how would I coax them and mother out and to a shelter or safer homes. The mom is sort of wild I have seen her arround she is skittish.<br />A dog under the house explains my cats bizzar behavior lately.

 

[Scaaty]

Re: Frozen pipes and new born puppies

Toss a blanket or whatever needed for her to make a nest and stay warm. Pile of rags, newspapers. Keep out/block off all drafts. Leave food an water, and leave them alone. Just talk softly to her and provide shelter and warmth. And keep one of the pups.

 

[TexomaAv8r]

Re: Frozen pipes and new born puppies

Ill do those things for the dog then as soon as I can find them homes Ill make sure to completly seal off access to my crawl space before it becomes the prefered birthing room for all the strays....<br />Now about those pipes

 

[Ron G]

Re: Frozen pipes and new born puppies

Make sure the water is off,so if a pipe is busted it want flood you out,open the cabinet doors to all your fixtures.close the house vents you could put a heater under the house for a while just keep an eye on it,living in texas like that your water lines arent dug that deep but i dought the ground is frozen,theres probably a pipe near an open vent,hopefully nothings busted.what kind of pipes you got?copper,cpvc,galv??

 

[TexomaAv8r]

Re: Frozen pipes and new born puppies

it is a mixture of copper and PVC. There are some older galvanized or steel pipes under there too. It is an old house that has had some upgrades here and there. If I recall properly some of the piping I had looked at earlier this year was disconnected.

 

[Scaaty]

Re: Frozen pipes and new born puppies

You should be able to find which pipes are closest to the cold source. Like mentioned, open all cabinet doors to let warm air circulate to the pipes. You don't necessarily need a heater, just put a fan to blow in there. ANY air above 32 degrees will work. If you find the offending pipe, you can use electric pipe wrap on it now, and in the future too. Next cold snap, leave the water trickle over night. Running water will not freeze as fast as standing

 

[roscoe]

Re: Frozen pipes and new born puppies

Running water will in fact freeze. Seen plenty of folks that tried that trick, then we got a call the next day to replace cracked pipes.

 

[Paul Moir]

Re: Frozen pipes and new born puppies

Might be too late, but whenever you shut off your water, also shut off your water heater. If you do have a cracked pipe and it's lower than the water heater, it'll drain out & cook the elements. Probably not good for oil fired or gas heaters too.

 

[TexomaAv8r]

Re: Frozen pipes and new born puppies

Ok pipes thawed and I appear to have gotten lucky, no flooding or leaks anywhere! I will take a series of preventative measures including wrapping the few exposed pipes I have located, putting the bottom course of siding back on that I had removed this summer to gain access to other stuff.<br />The puppies appear ok, I've been feeding the mother and leaving fresh water for her. She picked a very inaccessible spot for them!

 

[deputydawg]

Re: Frozen pipes and new born puppies

My mother inlaws house the pipes freeze every time it gets below 20. So far the 20 years I have known her they have never had abroken pipe. Now when it gets cold she knows the exact spots where it freezes. 1 where the pipe follows the sill plate on the north side of the house and 1 under her kitchen sink along the west wall. She opens the sink cabinet door and puts a lamp with a heating lamp bulb aimed at the pipe. Then she leaves the fixtures dribble. Never freezes when she does this, even when it is below 0.<br /><br />I had a pipe where I used to live that would freeze. I would just put a lamp with a 300 watt bulb beside the pipe. When you first do this watch it for an hour or two to make sure the bulb doesn't heat the pipe too much on plastic. Some of those larger bulbs will have a hot spot like a magnifying glass on an ant.<br /><br />1 more trick I used a lot. I had a water supply for my horses, an automatic waterer. Beside that I had a hydrant. That waterer would freeze up just at and slightly below ground. I had a portable DC welder at the time. I would connect the ground to the hydrant, and the rod holder end to the pipe at the top of the waterer, then turn the welder on a low current. In a minute or less the water would start flowing.<br /><br />If your looking at a short term freeze a light bulb is a good cheap answer. <br /><br />I repaired a house once that a pipe in a wall froze and broke. The heater was on but the house was a vacant rental property. When it thawed enough for water to flow, the cold water coming in and the warm house made a mess. It looked like someone had set a lawn sprinkler in every ground floor room and turned it on. Ruined every wall inside ground floor.