Replies

1. 
   UncleDunc | Mar 15, 2003 02:04am | #1

   My guess would be that they are typically lines that get little or no use, so nobody notices that they're frozen until they thaw enough to start leaking visibly.

1. 
   Schelling | Mar 15, 2003 01:02pm | #3

   The lines are in use and the plumber gets called not when there is a leak but when there is no water to the house.  Often it is the result of the pipe not being buried deep enough but under a driveway in a cold winter like this one, the frost can be five feet deep.

2. 
   jsvenson | Mar 15, 2003 04:21am | #2

   Don't forget, frost heave displaces the ground. As the displaced ground is thawing, it is "replacing"(opp. of displace?) It is that movement of the ground that can make the last straw that finally breaks the pipe.

   The ground thaws out faster than it freezes, cause it freezes from the top down only, but thaws out from both top down and bottom up. (unless you live in permafrost country)

   John Svenson, Builder, Remodeler, NE Ohio (Formerly posted as JRS)

   
   

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   Edited 3/14/2003 9:25:06 PM ET by Svenny

3. 
   Piffin | Mar 15, 2003 04:15pm | #4

   That phenomenon has been studied at one of the Universities here in Maine. I read the report but for the life of me, I can't remember how to find a link to it again.

   There is a thing called an ice lense that forms under ground at a certain level, let's say at 22" for sake of discussion. The ground thaws above that point and more rainb or thaw water runs down into the soil as far as that lens where it cn't go deeper, for the most part. But when you put that water in contavt with the ice, in that cold location, the new water freezes also, expandiung the size of the lense.

   This is what contributes to more frost heaves in the roads and posts being lifted out in the early spring too.

   .

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