# Frozen PEX pipe burst.



## The Dane (Feb 19, 2015)

This is the first time I see PEX burst because of frozen pipes. There was a house that lost heat with no one living in it. Toilet tanks were solid ice. There were copper in the mechanical room but PEX in the walls and stubbed out in copper. I thought PEX was pretty good at taking frost and I was hopeful that there might not be any burst pipes in the walls. There were 2 burst copper pipes and a cracked brass ball valve in the mechanical room. The kitchen had copper stubbed up through the floor and down about 10" in the ceiling before converting to PEX. When turning on the water we heard a leak in the ceiling under the kitchen sink and it turns out there were a burst PEX pipe both on the cold and on the hot line in the exact same spot basically. I'm thinking that PEX might be good at dealing with frost when it has enough pipe to expand but on short pieces like this it might not take frost too well. I also thought it was weird how the hot side has burst perpendicular to the pipe and not with the pipe like you normally see. 









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## Venomthirst (Jun 20, 2018)

Your probably right short pieces like that with no expansion room.. if it's really cold and they have a tap open a wee bit I know the pipe won't burst if it freezes because it'll allow for expansion but even if it freezes in two different spots it could spell trouble.. thank the lord our frozen pipes have hopefully come and gone so far for this year I did about 50 frozen pipe calls and about 30 of them the pipes were split


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## Tommy plumber (Feb 19, 2010)

Dane, how deep are water services buried in your location? Where are you, Minnesota?


Here in FL, our code states 1 foot minimum for water services. But we have some services that are exposed on the outside of the bldg. and then turn with a 90 and go into the exterior wall. Hard freezes are not all that common here.


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## The Dane (Feb 19, 2015)

Tommy plumber said:


> Dane, how deep are water services buried in your location? Where are you, Minnesota?
> 
> 
> Here in FL, our code states 1 foot minimum for water services. But we have some services that are exposed on the outside of the bldg. and then turn with a 90 and go into the exterior wall. Hard freezes are not all that common here.


I can never get used to hearing about things like water lines and water heaters outside the house. I believe the water service is a minimum of 7' below grade here. I have heard about frost as deep as 11' down. About 5 years ago here in town the city told people to run a constant drip to avoid freezing water service. It gets cold up here in north west MN. I think technically you are allowed to run water lines in an exterior wall if you take proper steps to protect it from freezing but normally no one would run a water line inside an exterior wall. It's around this time of the year I think about moving somewhere less cold. I'm getting tired of the snow and cold. Friday it heats up to a nice 25-30 degrees. Almost nice spring weather for around here.

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## Tango (Jan 13, 2018)

You guys must have a micro climate. It seems it colder where you are than up north where I am.


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## The Dane (Feb 19, 2015)

Tango said:


> You guys must have a micro climate. It seems it colder where you are than up north where I am.


Well north west Minnesota is technically further north than quebec city Canada.

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## Tango (Jan 13, 2018)

Not by much, like I said previously I think it's colder where you are because of the wind of the great lakes.


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## The Dane (Feb 19, 2015)

Tango said:


> Not by much, like I said previously I think it's colder where you are because of the wind of the great lakes.


You could be right. What ever it is I'm getting tired if it and honestly would not mind moving to a milder climate. Not some place hot just milder.

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## MACPLUMB777 (Jun 18, 2008)

Here in Houston.Texas it is going to get down to a very cold 
low to med 30's, come Monday night though Tuesday it will be down
into the low to mid 20's :biggrin:


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## Debo22 (Feb 15, 2015)

The Dane said:


> I can never get used to hearing about things like water lines and water heaters outside the house. I believe the water service is a minimum of 7' below grade here. I have heard about frost as deep as 11' down. About 5 years ago here in town the city told people to run a constant drip to avoid freezing water service. It gets cold up here in north west MN. I think technically you are allowed to run water lines in an exterior wall if you take proper steps to protect it from freezing but normally no one would run a water line inside an exterior wall. It's around this time of the year I think about moving somewhere less cold. I'm getting tired of the snow and cold. Friday it heats up to a nice 25-30 degrees. Almost nice spring weather for around here.
> 
> Sent from my BLN-L24 using Tapatalk


You guys don’t do re-pipes/re-routes like this?


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## Tango (Jan 13, 2018)

Debo22 said:


> You guys don’t do re-pipes/re-routes like this?


You guys have it so easy! Pipes in exterior walls, in attics or even outside. Then you guys have drain clean outs in the front yard! You don't really care about making a mess on the lawn and if the cable gets stuck all you have to do is dig 2 feet? OH my G.O.D! :vs_OMG::vs_OMG:


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## The Dane (Feb 19, 2015)

Debo22 said:


> You guys don’t do re-pipes/re-routes like this?


I concur with Tango, you guys have it easy. Except for the balancing heat most of the year (over 70 is too warm for me).

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## ECH (Jul 27, 2018)

Here in NC water service is min 12in. Pipe insulation in garages and attics. Not needed in crawl spaces though.

Not too bad.


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## Tango (Jan 13, 2018)

citywideplumbin said:


> What a great information shared here. Thanks all.


You have 3 days to post a proper intro because it reads like a spam.

https://www.plumbingzone.com/f3/.




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## justme (Jul 4, 2012)

pex needs at least 1' of pipe to be able to expand without busting from a freeze


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## ShtRnsdownhill (Jan 13, 2016)

citywideplumbin said:


> That's very reassuring - thanks! I appreciate everyone's help!


typical lib from kalifornia, just ignore the rules and do as they please...so wheres your intro?


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## Tango (Jan 13, 2018)

ShtRnsdownhill said:


> typical lib from kalifornia, just ignore the rules and do as they please...so wheres your intro?


I banned the spammer.

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