# KCJAKE -- It was a cold winter...



## KCJAKE (Jun 17, 2011)

Too cold for this backflow device located in a processing plant that did not have heat in this particular room where the device was located:

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## Tommy plumber (Feb 19, 2010)

That's a cool picture. I guess you snapped it when you were there to replace the device. I read in a science book that nothing can contain the pressure when water freezes and turns into ice. It (water) expands 10% when it freezes and will burst anything. That's amazing.


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## Seanfixesjohns (May 1, 2011)

Holly canoli that's amazing how that froze


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## Redwood (Sep 8, 2008)

Tommy plumber said:


> I read in a science book that nothing can contain the pressure when water freezes and turns into ice. It (water) expands 10% when it freezes and will burst anything. That's amazing.


Yes, water molecules when they freeze do so in a hexagonal shape which takes up more room than when they are in their liquid state...

Water cannot compress and if whatever the water is in cannot absorb that expansion it will break....


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## Tommy plumber (Feb 19, 2010)

Redwood said:


> Yes, water molecules when they freeze do so in a hexagonal shape which takes up more room than when they are in their liquid state...
> 
> Water cannot compress and if whatever the water is in cannot absorb that expansion it will break....


 




Why don't manufacturers put freeze plugs in those devices like engines? Duuuh...

Oh wait I know, they want them to freeze and break so they have to be replaced...:yes:


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## Redwood (Sep 8, 2008)

Considering engines tend to operate in the 14-22 psi range a thin freeze plug in the side of an engine block is okay...

They do sometimes corrode out but most of the time they are fine for the life of the engine...

However, they are no guarantee that if the engine block does freeze that it isn't going to crack. You're crossing fingers on that one....

Considering the pressures you may see on water supplies especially if there are large variations in the terrain elevations or, if the backflow device is on a system where fire engines are pumping a fire suppression system such as sprinklers or, standpipes, a freeze plug wouldn't stand a chance...

Water Freezing can generate pressures as high as 40,000 psi....
Most stuff breaks well before that!


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## Tommy plumber (Feb 19, 2010)

Thank you sir. Now that you mention it, I can remember buying radiator caps that were 15 psi or 16 psi. As you point out nowhere near the pressure that a city water line could be exposed to. Especially when fire fighters connect a pumper truck to a fire standpipe.


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