Frozen Pipes
Jan 16
Posted: under Anecdotes.
Tags: frozen pipes, plumbing
I learned an important lesson today. When you replace the filter cartridge in a whole-house water filter, make sure you flush the lines to all faucets in the house. I change the cartridge in my InstaPure water filter every 3 months, on the 15th day of January, April, July, and October. So I changed it yesterday because it was the 15th, without regard to the fact that we were experiencing near-record low temperatures for this area at the time. Then came the critical mistake. I didn’t run water through all the faucets after changing the filter. When changing the filter you introduce air and impurities into your pipes. This increases the chances under extreme cold temperatures of forming ice crystals in the pipes. So this morning I found that my failure resulted in freezing the hot water pipes between the kitchen and bath. We still had hot water to the kitchen, but not to the bathroom. The kitchen was fine because we washed the dishes after the change. We had cold water to the bathroom because the toilet was flushed a few times last night.
I spent 3 ½ hours thawing pipes this morning since the freeze was inside the wall of the southeast corner of the house. I already knew not to try to thaw them too quickly as they might burst. Patience was necessary to avoid the expense of new plumbing. But as it was getting late, (I had already called in to work to explain that I would be late) and my patience was wavering, I prayed for God to speed up the process a bit. Within about 5 minutes the water was flowing. Why did I wait so long to pray?? I know better than that. I guess that’s two important lessons today.
Tracy Henness
