I'm going to try to give blogs as regularly as possible. Todays blog will be about a job near Piedmont Oklahoma where I spent the afternoon at a customers home trying to solve a freezing pipes issue they had had for several years. The north end of their attic held the water heater, every time the temperatures dipped below freezing the lines would eventually freeze up. There had been multiple attempts to figure out the problem by people who in my opinion were much more qualified than myself, but nearly as inquisitive or determined. I crawled on my hands and knees under ducting on the rafters to the very far corner where the water lines came in and started following them. I made it about 20 feet and they went under the rafter and disappeared. My first thought was maybe that's where they go down. But after 20 years of doing diagnostics in the automotive world I've learned to NEVER think what others would think, if it seems that simple it never is. I dug out the insulation and was able to get my hand under the runner and feel the pipes that's when I realized they just kept going. From above all I could see was the decking of the roof, but if that were true I would have been reaching my hand outside. I took my phone and reached under the runner and started taking pictures. It turns out there was a large add-on during the building process, there was no access, no vent nothing. They just tied the new addition roof to the existing roof and left a large empty attic with no access. I took my temperature probe and put it in there through the small hole and the temperature was 17 degrees! The rest of the attic was 36! I sent pictures and called the homeowner and told them what I found, and explained that the lack of airflow was definitely causing the bulk of the issue. I asked permission to cut a man size hole in the old decking for access and airflow. I made my way through decking and shingles to reveal a 25'x 30' additional attic that was freezing cold. The contractor had run plumbing electric everything and apparently just never made an access when they added the roof. I was able to wrap the lines with heat tape and insulation and plug them in an existing outlet and put up a light for a little extra heat. Within 30 minutes the temperature in that side of the attic had leveled out with the rest of the attic and the problem was solved! I hope you enjoyed this blog and found it useful! If you have run into any similar problems and need help I service the Piedmont to Tuttle from Edmond to Mustang and Yukon and all the towns around! Give me a call or text!
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