This Midland, VA homeowner had the water pipes to their kitchen freeze almost every winter. Several times they had burst. A plumber had an ingenious idea to wrap the pipes in insulation the first time. This did NOT work of course.
Next, the plumber decided to install a shut off valve inside the house so the homeowner could shut off the water to the kitchen when it got below freezing outside.....lol Great solution right???
Solution
The following case study pictures show how Comfenergy solves frozen pipes once and for all. The bigges thing to learn from this is that water pipes need a source of heat (from the house) to keep from freezin....and need to be protected from the cold (outside the house).
Project Summary
Evaluator: Shayne Sandner
This Midland, VA homeowner had water lines to their kitchen freeze almost every winter. Frustrating to say the least.
The water lines run across the ceiling of this storage area on the back of the house. Many plumbers had tried to solve the problem to no avail.
Once Comfenergy removed the ceiling of the storage area, you could see the handy work of the plumber "wrapping" the water lines. This DOES NOT stop them from freezing as there is no heat source.
Here a Comfenergy team member begins to "box in" the water lines with 2" thick EPS SilverGlo foam boards. This keeps the cold away from the water lines.
Drilling a hole in the rim joist of the home allows the heat to flow from the basement of the home into this "box" that houses the water lines now.
They are all boxed in now....Just need to air seal the "box"
Finally air sealing the box for the water lines. The water lines can now communicate with the heat of the home, yet the cold air cannot get to the water lines.
