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Pipes continue to burst and flood
By adamg on Mon, 02/15/2016 - 4:25pm
It's been another busy day for firefighters as pipes across Boston freeze, burst and then pour water all over the place.
Elainy Mata shows us the scene at 73 Tremont St., where a pipe over a Citizens Bank ATM gave way this afternoon:
The atm section of Citizens bank had a pipe burst. 73 Tremont was evacuated soon after. #Suffolk pic.twitter.com/JRXcTJiAlY
— Elainy Mata (@mscelainyous) February 15, 2016
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Westin Waltham to the list. Lobby looked like a waterfall....
VA hospital in JP shut
Burst pipes.
This might turn into a big
This might turn into a big deal. The JP campus is definitely shut Tue/Wed but likely to be out of operation longer.
The latest word from Director
The latest word from Director's office is we'll be closed the rest of the week.
Somebody dropped the ball at the Bosotn VA Hospital
Somebody dropped the ball at the Boston VA Hospital from either Engineering or Building Management.
There was video footage on the local news stations, but they all seem to have disappeared.
Do anyone have any links to the flood footage?
Curious
Why don't building codes require that BOTH hot and cold water pipes in cold weather environments be insulated?
Half century event
First time since 1957. You don't build for extremes like this.
Well, pipe insulation
isn't THAT expensive.
It isn't that effective either
Houses in extreme cold climates solve this problem by not having plumbing in outside walls.
I had fun checking out the construction of my brother's Canadian house from the basement. It has the same split level floor plan with un/semi finished lower level as my BIL and SIL's house in the seacoast region of NH (where I'd been two weeks prior). In my brother's house, however, none of the plumbing is through the outside walls and is often paired with the runs of heat duct, it is insulated (as are the drain pipes). The walls of the house itself are much more heavily insulated in Alberta than in NH. My brother's house also has an automatic heater on the main inflow pipe, which is the only pipe that involves an outside wall.
The code doesn't mandate it,
The code doesn't mandate it, but we do include it as a standard in our specifications:
Most of the pipes bursting in commercial & apartment buildings are wet-system sprinkler pipes or wet-type sprinklers themselves being exposed to frigid air, whether it be from a door being held open for a long time or poorly insulated architectural enclosures, like exterior walls or chases. When sprinkler pipes are expected to be exposed to the atmospheric temperature/subject to freezing, we will install a dry-type system, which is what you see in attics, parking garages, stadiums, etc. The pipes themselves stay dry until a sprinkler activates, pressure changes, and the water flow is activated at the dry alarm valve. Keeping the pipes dry prevents the pipes from freezing. In some instances, we install "dry-type heads" on wet sprinkler systems, like in exterior soffits or balconies. These sprinklers have a lengthened pipe and a rod that holds the flapper shut, keeping wet piping on the "warm side" of the wall/enclosure until a sprinkler is activated.
Source: I'm a plumbing/fire protection engineer.
In the 1970's energy crisis,
In the 1970's energy crisis, people went bananas insulating everything. It looked like zero-heat homes with 8" thick walls were going to be the future. Sad that never happened.