Like clockwork, the thaw brought a new round of problems across North Texas: ruptured water pipes and failing water heaters.
Taylor Small said she was working from her Oak Lawn apartment on Monday when her building’s fire alarm sounded. “Initially thought: oh there’s a fire. Let me get my cat,” she said. “But then I went downstairs, and it was a pipe burst.”
She captured cell phone video showing water leaking through patios and cascading off balconies. She believes the emergency involved both a fire suppression system and burst pipes in a vacant unit. Fortunately, no one was injured, and her unit was not damaged.
“It was a good bonding time for all of us neighbors,” Small said. “Cooked each other dinner later and everything was fine.”
Master plumber David Butler with Milestone Electric, A/C and Plumbing said apartment residents should keep thermostats at 70 degrees to help avoid bursts in fire systems, which cannot be trickled like faucets. His team has been busy responding to broken pipes and leaking or burst water heaters.
“When it gets this cold, it seems water heaters tend to fail more frequently,” Butler said. “We’ve got a lot of water heaters and tankless water heaters that are starting to leak and burst.”
Butler said North Texas avoided even more damage because there were no widespread power outages during the freeze. He noted that temperatures remained below freezing for roughly 60 hours.
Still, risks remain. “The biggest mistake a lot of people make is like yesterday, when the sun came out and suddenly it looks like it’s warm again, people turn their faucets off and stop trickling the water,” he said.
He recommends continuing precautions for the next few nights, especially for homes with faucets on exterior walls.
“If you’ve got any faucets on exterior walls inside the house, I would still leave them trickling at least the next day or two until about 8 or 10 o’clock the next morning,” Butler said.
He also advises walking around the home and listening for running water or checking for low water pressure.
“If you notice a problem, shut off your water immediately,” he said, adding that residents can call the water department or fire station for help.
According to the city of Dallas, Dallas Water Utilities has responded to more than 350 cold-weather calls since Friday, Jan. 23. As of 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, 207 of those were due to burst pipes. Crews also confirmed 23 main-water breaks and had completed 17 of those repairs as of Tuesday afternoon. Work continues on the remaining breaks.
Great Job Maria Guerrero & the Team @ NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth for sharing this story.
