Yeah, and you know what?
I'm a bit embarrassed, but I'm
gonna show this to you anyway.
This is video of the pipe from my house
after the 2021 freeze and you can see
a little jet stream of water leaking.
Ohh spraying right out.
Yeah, of the backflow
valve there. I'm told it's the most
vulnerable part of your house.
So what did I do wrong?
What can you do?
Right Richard sod with Nicks
plumbing here to show us how.
So what do we need to do?
We first are going to turn it off, OK?
And then we're going to drain
it. All right? Turn that on.
That's how you turn that off.
And then the top valve here,
pull this piece off and this is how
we're going to drain this brass piece.
And for our purposes,
you're going to let it go to zero,
no more water.
But we're going to go ahead
and turn this off. Now let's
say it's for
TPP. Perfect. That's right. That it's.
We're going to tighten it
up after it quit dripping,
put this on so you don't lose it.
And then for added protection,
OK, take a towel and wrap
this brass piece again.
And then take a trash bag and go ahead.
And so that way it will not get wet,
it will stay dry, and it'll be for
added protection and just cinch
it up. Alrighty. And this is a
little bit old school, absolutely.
But it works, right? Absolutely. All righty.
And the important thing is, after the
freeze is left, you gotta put this,
take it all off and expose it again.
You must, absolutely, because this has to be
exposed to the atmosphere.
And when you turn the water back on,
show real quick what happens, OK, when
you turn it back on. This is normal.
Don't freak out. That's right.
Water kind of sprays out from
the top there. You're going
to get water from the bell. Very
good. All right.
Now, I'm betting you've got
questions about pipes at your house.
Please text them to us at 7135261111.
Richard is going to be with us all afternoon.
We're going to be back in our later
newscast to answer your questions.
So we'd like to hear what you want to
know about guys. Hey, you know what?
Nobody wants to deal with the leaking pipe.
I can vouch for that.
And many of you have been sending
us questions about what to do.
With your pipes are very popular one
has been whether or not you should
turn the water off to your house.
Joining us now is Richard
Sod with Nick's plumbing.
He is with us all this afternoon
to answer your questions.
And this is kind of a yes no situation huh?
Well it is and and what I would
tell you is if you're going out
of town absolutely turn it off.
Show us how we show you how to do that.
Because you want that piece
of mind because you're
riser and you should have a
shut off valve on the riser.
So you're going to pull this
perpendicular to the pipe and
then we're going to drain the
system through the hose build.
Then what you're going to want to do
is go inside and turn on your faucets,
kitchen faucet, bathtub,
showers so everything can drain properly.
Get them out of the horizontal piping and
the vertical piping the best that we can.
And our photographer was asking do you
want to do the hot and the cold? You
want to do the hot and the cold?
Yes, do both and drain it.
And then you've got that Peace
of Mind when you go out of town.
Alright. Thank you very much Richard.
I know many of you have questions as well.
Go ahead and text them to
7135261111 and we will do
our best to answer them.
And 11 news at 6 and also in our KHOU
11 plus channel available on Roku.
Guys, hey, you know lots of you have
been sending us questions throughout the
afternoon about how to protect your pipes.
We were actually in the backyard of a
plumber right now at Richard Sod with
Nicks plumbing has been our expert
answering questions got a lot lately.
About water heaters,
folks want to know,
including Tim from Sugarland,
should you drain your water heater?
That answer is no. It has a pilot,
even though you drain the House.
And let's say we turn off
the water to the home.
That water in the tank is going
to stay there and it'll stay.
That pilot will keep it warm.
OK. Alright, so Tim,
don't worry about that.
Now you have a tankless water heater.
We're looking up at it here.
I do because you got the latest
greatest cause you're a plumber.
But it's outside.
It's all exposed.
Do you have anything to worry about here?
Nothing to worry about
here unless we lose power.
These systems come with heat
strips already included.
So as long as we have power,
we're in good shape.
Now if we lose power,
we've got issues.
So what you want?
Do in that case it's come turn
these valves off right here.
Open up these ports and let this
drain OK and that will fix that issue
alright. And real quickly.
Folks have also been asking about
exposed pipes underneath the home often
like in the heights and older homes.
Do you need to do anything about that?
Should you worry?
When they did the install of that
piping underneath your home they should
have insulated it at the same time.
That would be code.
But what I would do is go get a visual check.
Eyes on it yes.
And if you don't see this right
then you need to call.
Somebody fairly quickly and get
this done prior to the phrase.
All right, Richard, thank you very much.
Thanks for helping us out
all afternoon on this.
So you've got some great tips.
We're going to do some more on
KHOU 11 plus and our digital pages.
So stay tuned for that.
If you haven't heard the answer to
your question yet, guys, great.
Hey, guys, you know that we've got
a really big cold snap coming in
just a couple of days and a lot of
folks are worried about their pipes
because we know what bad things
can happen when they leak or burst.
So thankfully, we've got our.
Expert here,
Richard sod with Nick's plumbing.
He's been helping to answer a bunch of
the questions you all have been sending us.
A lot of them are really good ones so
folks can know what to do ahead of time,
get a little Peace of Mind.
So let's just get started.
I'm just going to start from
top to bottom first.
If you drain the water from your house,
including the hot water,
should you drain your water heater?
If you have a tank, that answer is no.
That water will hold into that tank
and once you turn the water back on,
everything is going to work just
the same as when you turned it off.
OK? Because it's got that pilot,
that little gas pilot underneath it,
keeping everything warm and toasty.
That's correct. Alrighty.
When you shut off water to your house
in advance of the freeze and drain,
both the cold and hot taps,
hot taps in the house,
could it damage your water heater
if you're away for several days?
The answer is no, that water is not going
to evaporate out of the tank that fast.
OK? And you know you were saying
to me earlier, if you're gone
for an extended period of time,
say a month or so, what's your pro tip?
Then? What I would do is if you are
going to be going over a month,
I would take it and turn it to vacation
mode and it's going to keep it.
Not but not on and off as often, right?
Right. So you're saving yourself.
Saving. Yes,
a couple of pennies there.
And who doesn't appreciate that?
All right, So what if your water is
provided to you by a water well?
Are there certain precautions
you should perform for that?
Make sure everything is very insulated.
OK, I know that first hand.
All righty. So double protection
if you're out in water.
Well, country. All right.
One viewer says I have the red and
blue Pex pipes in my entire house.
So I need to turn off the main
outside shutoff valve and wrap it.
Do I need to drain the inside sinks?
In bathrooms
you need to treat that just like
any other piping structure.
Make sure that it's insulated
where it needs to be insulated,
and then if you would like for the Peace
of Mind to turn that off, that is fine.
You're not going to hurt anything.
And you were advising earlier.
If you are at home during this
potential two day Ish freeze,
you think you should be all right.
Around turning it off or leaving it on?
Yeah, yeah. So if you're in your
home during this period of time,
which you're thinking,
as long as we don't lose power,
you're gonna be fine.
If you're really worried about it,
you can pull the attic stairs
down and let the heat permeate
into the attic as well. OK
for those in a lot of homes
do obviously mostly have
these pipes up in the attic.
If you're leaving town,
you're suggestion would be
turn it off and drain and drain it down
because you're not there.
You're not. Thing and everything and.
That's exactly right.
That could be bad. And that could be
bad when you come home, alrighty.
So this is always the tricky one when
letting your water run hot and cold,
should you let your water
run to prevent freezing?
Should you have that drip,
drip, drip. That
is a tricky 1.
The city's gonna tell you no, OK.
And I would tell you that
if you're gonna be home and
we have power, I wouldn't.
OK. Yeah. And that is at this moment,
what we're anticipating, right?
OK. All righty.
And Emma is asking steps to
take to drain a hot water tank.
And the bottom line is Emma.
You don't have to, right? Correct.
OK, I'm feeling like I'm getting to be a pro.
Like a junior license?
Yes, a junior plumbers assistant here.
Alright, a couple more.
I have a small room addition with a bathroom
and sink separate from the main house.
Pipes are exposed under the
room under that addition.
What's the best way to insulate?
Those pipes should have been
insulated when they were installed,
but if not, you are going to have to
get up underneath there and insulate
them yourself or call somebody,
OK and it should again look like this. All
right. So you should see something
like that in those exposed pipes.
That's right. Next few.
I don't have any irrigation system,
just a hose hooked to the outside faucet.
I can't undo either of my
two hoses from their faucets.
Can I just wrap the faucets
with the hose attached?
Absolutely. That's good to know.
Just make sure that your hose
bib is off because some people
take the hose bib, leave it on,
and they have an attachment at the end
of the hose that has the shutoff on it.
You know the sprayer, right?
But make sure your hose is off.
Make sure the hose is drained,
wrap it with a towel and then.
Let's say use some plastic on it,
like one that you get at
Kroger shopping bags,
bag and wrap it and tape
it. OK alrighty. Should we
turn on the water sprinklers
after the water caught off,
drained after the water water
cut off to drain the system?
So should you turn your? That
answer is no, because we turned off
the backflow preventer so there is
0 pressure and it won't do anything
good to know. OK, what do you do
when your house is lifted up and
PVC pipe runs under? The house.
Do you have just have water run in the
sinks or how should you treat that?
If you have PVC pipes running under
your house, that's a tricky one.
Ask Steve. Go ahead.
That's a tricky one.
OK, they should have the lowest point.
Outside would be a hose bib
that's going to be below.
Those pipes that are underneath the home OK,
hopefully they have that so
they can turn that on and drain
everything underneath the house OK.
If they do not have that,
then they need to get one put in, OK.
So they can drain that house down.
OK, alrighty.
I hope that answers your question.
Steve B, can you use swimming tubes
for pipes to prevent freezing?
And they're talking
about those noodles. Yes,
talking about the noodles
very similar to this. Now,
the noodles aren't going to be cut like this,
but you can slit it and use it
and then tape it and it will hold.
Now can I tell you is it's as
good as this or better? I can't.
But if that's all you have because
you can't buy this, then use that.
Better than. Nothing alright, absolutely.
Do I need to turn my water off
during a freeze or let it drip?
I would say no. OK,
we chatted about that already.
Is it necessary to turn the
water off and drain your pipes?
Can you leave your same question?
I think we've answered that,
which is don't need to, don't need to do
the drip. Correct, because
it's not going to be that bad that
as long as we don't lose the power.
Alrighty. And last quick question
is how do I protect a pool,
pipes and equipment.
This was this was an easy one too.
I like it is. Which is leave it running.
OK yeah. All right. Just and that's
what I'm going to do with mine.
OK. If it's good enough
for Richard the plumber,
it should be good enough for you.
Alright. Thanks a bunch for
answering all the questions.
Our viewers really appreciate it.
Always, always nerve wracking when we hit,
you know what is for us a hard
freeze for a couple of days.
So thanks so
much. We appreciate it. Thank you. Alright.