Repairing Freeze Damaged Plumbing -whole House.

matt832

Have a project house I've been working on, nearly done but market tanked so it sits. Anyway last winter the electronic ignition on the furnace did not kick in and the house froze in -10 weather. When I stopped by to check on things it was frozen solid, most likely in the teens temp wise inside. Since market has been so bad and I was busy on other things I let it sit.

At this point I'm tearing into walls and ceilings repairing what ever damage I can find, tracked down 3 or 4 blown off elbows and a number of split pipes. Question is how dependable is the rest of the hidden piping? If I pressurize it to 100psi with air and find no leaks will the rest hold? Hate to sell it and get a call back if something leaks in the future. What are the odds the sink and shower valves survived? The master bath has a two person shower with dual shower heads and 4 body sprays, all Delta. I would hate to have to replace those valves.

It would not be impossible to replumb with pex, though the entire 2 story house is finished basement and all, but there are chases to pull wiring and if needed plumbing.

Any thoughts?

mics_54

Sure..until it doesn't. Nobody can answer that.


The word miracle comes to mind.

You are in minnesota...don't you people drain your houses when they are vacant? It takes a long time for a house to freeze. Why would you leave the system charged when nobody is there? That's crazy. A temperature monitor is 200 bucks. It calls you if you have a power failure or a temperature alarm. You can even set one up with a cellular module.

Double-A

Replumb it. The amount of money you spend on repairing sheet rock and chasing leaks is going to far outweigh the cost of just replumbing.

__________________
"My clients’ wishes are the center of my attention." -- David Guido, a contractor in Woodstock, N.Y.
New York Times, July 20, 2006

BCConstruction

Fix all the leaks you cant find and do a wet test after you have done an air test but only take it upto 5bar to start and let it sit for 10 mins then check pressure then take it upto 10 bar for 20 or so min's and if ya really want to stress the system then take to 15bar for the next 20 mins. If you dont have any problems at those pressures then you should be fine. Even shark bite type fitting are good to over 15 bar so you will be fine if there's any of them in the system. The shower valve and bath vavle should be fine as it will expand the copper way before brass will expand and crack. But no promises.

matt832

Thanks for the input. Replumbing is something I considered, pex would not be too costly, just time consuming - plus I'd still have to open up the walls to pull it. Tracked down 5 or 6 blowouts and an equal number of blown off elbows. Got to replace the last 2 known blow outs the I'll know for sure. I know there are no definitiave answers as to the valves, but I can hope can't I?

XanadooLTD

sell the house as is.