FEBRUARY 21, 2015
An arctic blast predicted for next week will not only
threaten to break a 101-year-old record for low temperature. It also is likely
to continue a staggering stretch of pipe-bursting cold.
Workers for the 340 or so plumbing companies in Pittsburgh
say they haven’t been this busy in memory, responding in the past 10 days to
countless emergency calls for frozen waterlines and pipes that have cracked and
broken.
“These last two weeks, I’ve never seen this many frozen
pipes,” said Bob Beall, owner of Mr. Rooter, one of the region’s largest
plumbing companies. “Every year, you get a busy month. We usually average about
1,500 calls a month. But we’ll probably get 1,000 this week alone.”
The culprit is the cold, a February that already is
averaging 11.5 degrees below normal with a forecast of more single-digit
temperatures expected to start Monday night. Since Feb. 11, Western
Pennsylvania has had four nights below zero. The warmest night was the 6-degree
mark on Feb. 18.
“Nine nights of single-digit or colder low temperatures,”
said John Dlugoenski, a meteorologist with AccuWeather in State College. “That
will do some damage to the pipes.”
While it might be a bit warmer this weekend, the National
Weather Service is predicting 4 to 6 inches of snow for Allegheny County today,
then bitter cold again Monday night. The record low of -2 set in 1914 will be
in reach.
“We’ve had busy days and busy months, but this is just
incredible,” said Mr. Beall, whose crew of 40 plumbers have been run ragged.
“I’d say it’s going to be a record [for emergency calls]. And then there’s the
problem with the snow coming in. Our biggest challenge is being mobile, just
getting around as the calls keep coming in.”
Golan Barak, owner of Barak Plumbing in Squirrel Hill for
almost 20 years, said his crew of six plumbers are spending a lot of time in
people’s basements, finding and fixing ice-clogged pipes.
“We didn’t sleep for four days last week,” said Mr. Barak,
who brought in help to answer the phone. “In past winters, we get about 20
calls a day. This has been at least 40 a day.
“Last year, there weren’t nearly this many burst pipes.
Heating problems with the boiler or furnace, we get those every winter. But
frozen pipes are really bad this year.”
Like most of Pittsburgh’s small plumbing companies, Mr.
Barak’s company focuses on residences. He said a typical frozen pipe will cost
a homeowner about $100 during business hours, $140 or so at night.
Most city neighborhoods are made up of older homes with
copper piping that often is routed through exterior walls rather than the
center of the structure. Then you add brutally cold wind blowing through broken
basement windows or cracks in foundations.
The plumbers come with torches, heaters and equipment that
pounds electric pulses through the pipes to break up the icy clogs. Residents
with plastic pipes usually are luckier, Mr. Barak said, because they won’t
explode like the copper does.
“But pipes are freezing regardless of type,” said Ernie
Fagnelli, owner of Fagnelli Plumbing, serving the county since 1963. “Copper or
plastic or galvanized. It’s really more of the insulation and how tight the
home is and where the pipes are in your home.
“Really, when was the last time you saw negative 15 degrees?
Just about every call is an emergency right now. It’s either no heat or a burst
pipe. We’re working until we can’t work any more and need some sleep.
“We’re probably getting 20 to 30 calls a day. Last winter
was a unique situation where we actually got more calls during a two- to
three-day period. Like a hundred calls a day for three days. This year, we
might be getting fewer calls a day, but the days just keep coming.”
Mario Fava, a plumber for 45 years, runs M Fava & Son
Plumbing and Heating located Uptown. His small company is tackling more than a
dozen calls a day.
“This is a good winter, very good. We’ve got a lot of work
to do,” he said. “There was one bad winter about 10 years ago, when we had that
big snowstorm. But this has just been terrible cold.
“And no one likes to go out in the cold, run back and forth
to the truck, and work in a basement where the furnace is out and it’s colder
in there than it is outside. I tell you, you’re glad to come home at the end of
the day.”
Another problem, Mr. Barak said, is that plumbing companies
can’t just take on extra workers when a cold snap hits. “You have to be
licensed and know what you’re doing,” he said. “I’d rather tell the customer,
‘I’m sorry, I don’t have enough guys,’ than send somebody who doesn’t know what
he’s doing.”
Most winters, he said, his company will handle 300 to 400
calls. Last winter, they got 700. This winter, they’ve had 1,400 and the worst
may be yet to come.
Another factor contributing to the growing number of
incidents might be the economy. Many homeowners, Mr. Barak said, haven’t been
maintaining their homes properly or don’t want to pay to keep the basement
warm.
According to Insure.com, water damage is the most common cause
of homeowners’ insurance claims. Many policies do not cover water damage caused
by floods but will help with burst pipes, presuming there is no evidence of
negligence by the homeowner.
The current wave of below-zero temperatures could bolster a
homeowner’s claim that the damage was beyond control. But Mr. Fagnelli isn’t so
sure this is the worst it’s ever been.
“I’ve been doing this since I can’t tell you, because it’s a
family business,” he said. “I actually remember more winters like this than
not. I think we’ve been fortunate lately with some mild winters. I haven’t seen
it like this for many, many years, but when I was younger, I remember this.”
Source: www.post-gazette.com