How does the water inside pipes get so cold?

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You know when it's cold outside and you take a shower and the first 10 seconds of water is freezing cold? Does the area in between the sheetrock really get that cold when the house is 70 degrees?
 
Originally Posted By: motor_oil_madman
You know when it's cold outside and you take a shower and the first 10 seconds of water is freezing cold? Does the area in between the sheetrock really get that cold when the house is 70 degrees?


You are in Houston.

Don't be surprised if your house has no insulation. Really.
 
If the house has a crawl space, then water plumbing is in the cold, If not insulated well they will get pretty cold if no hot water is flowing through them for a long time.
 
Originally Posted By: bdcardinal
Cal me crazy and wasteful but I don't get in the shower until the water is hot.



Takes my shower about 3 minutes to warm up. There's a lot of piping from the HWH in basement up to the shower.

I'm crazy like you.
 
If your water comes from a surface source vs a well source, it is pretty cold to stary with when the weather is cold outside.
 
I thought you were crazy long before reading this....

Just messing with ya
smile.gif
 
My old house was two sheets of sheetrock, and about 3" of airgap...the water could be freezing cold (or frozen) or scalding depending on what was going on.

Funny, only woke up this morning recollecting a thermodynamics assignment where we had to work out heat transfer difference between lagged and unlagged pipes...1/4" (yes not your size), and typically lagging actually increases heat transfer with run of the mill pipe insulation.
 
Originally Posted By: bdcardinal
Cal me crazy and wasteful but I don't get in the shower until the water is hot.


Wasteful or not, your way is the only way to go.
 
Well that water that isn't moving will at some point get down to ambient temperature. Since most of us run around 98.6 degrees F, 70 would seem pretty cold.
 
Originally Posted By: motor_oil_madman
I'm just talking about the pipes in between the water heater and shower. So 18ft or So?

creative version: lots off pool noodles + couple shine in the dark spray-paint cans

the right version: pipe insulation from your home improvement store
 
Regulate the water coming out of your shower to 70 degrees and then step into the shower (with 70 degree water) nuff said.
 
Originally Posted By: motor_oil_madman
You know when it's cold outside and you take a shower and the first 10 seconds of water is freezing cold? Does the area in between the sheetrock really get that cold when the house is 70 degrees?


Yes and yes.

We have a "newer" (11 year old) construction home and very well sealed/insulated.
However the piping is run through the attic in many places without much concern for freezing or insulating, well first we are in a temperate area but we still can get some drastic rare cold nights into the teens.

Anyway, yes, the water is cold in our master BR during the winter, borderline frozen pipes one or 2 times in the last 11 years. we also turn our heat down to 60 at night.
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No big deal as the piping is all PEX which doesnt crack and dont misread my post, the builder didnt just throw piping on top on the insulation without effort to insulate the pipe, im just confirming your post, YUP, it starts out cold! *L*
 
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Originally Posted By: ZeeOSix
If the house has a crawl space, then water plumbing is in the cold, If not insulated well they will get pretty cold if no hot water is flowing through them for a long time.


I lived in a Reno duplex where the water heater was in the garage, as far as it could be from the bathroom on the other end of the unit. It took forever for the water to run hot. It made a big difference when I got underneath and insulated the hot water pipes.
 
Took me 64 years to learn to run the hot water til it's hot. Shut the water off and let the cold water that got pushed up the pipe to the shower head drain out. Then turn back on to get hot water from the shower head, no cold shock anymore....
 
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