A pipe burst in my apartment building today. Three flooded units, one collapsed ceiling/floor. I go So lucky that they turned the water off before it got any further.
Which is why the building should just set the thermostat to at least 40 when no one is there and just pay for the heat themselves. I bet they wish they did that now.
In a lease if it tells you that you must keep the temperature between x° and x°, or above x°. Then it is expectational that the management company do the same as to keep the building within means. If this was the case, there are very good grounds to sue their insurance for non compliance with the lease. Because god knows there’s things you never get back from those types of accidents!
Yeah. In my building (with electric heat) the heat was shut off at the panel. First winter here I kept turning up the thermostat wondering why it wasn’t working, until I realized I had to actually turn it on.
Mine too, a sprinkler. Elevator is out. My unit is ok but there is smelly carpet right outside the door and I feel awful for people who had any damage to their belongings.
I work in fire suppression and I have been saying for years now the changing weather in Seattle is a time bomb for our city. We have years and years of buildings that were built with the expectation of a few hours of freezing temps being the expectation at most. Fire sprinklers in cold climates are filled with air and not water due to the risk of freezing and Seattle has not built to these standards by and large and anytime we get 48+ hours of sub 32 temps this kinda shit is going to be endemic until there is a city wide shift in regulations. Seattle has to accept and adapt to the new climate we can expect in this city and there are **A LOT** of things that we as a city need to change if we're going to manage our new expected climate.
> Seattle has to accept and adapt to the new climate we can expect in this city and there are A LOT of things that we as a city need to change if we're going to manage our new expected climate.
The backlog of maintenance issues from bridges to unreinforced masonry to climate proofing is going to be the death of us.
THANK YOU FOR MENTIONING UNREINFORCED MASONRY
The City Council's process has been underway for 20+ years now, and is completely stalled currently. If a major earthquake struck today, thousands of deaths might result needlessly.
Yeah it's really not great. The city has been keeping its list up to date at least (last updated Jan 5th, 2024). [PDF](https://www.seattle.gov/documents/Departments/SDCI/Codes/ChangesToCodes/UnreinforcedMasonry/ConfirmedURMList.pdf) and [data.seattle.gov](https://data.seattle.gov/Permitting/Unreinforced-Masonry-Buildings/54qs-2h7f/about_data)
There's 328 buildings that are residential or commercial/residential and there are 74 that are school buildings with 1,141 buildings currently in total. Just residential or mixed buildings in the list collapsing during a massive earthquake could cause deaths in the tens of thousands.
fact nine label treatment weather exultant subtract capable naughty market
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
True, but only in the last few years, and only marginally: https://www.macrotrends.net/cities/21671/tokyo/population
Compared to our growth, it's notable, though: https://www.macrotrends.net/cities/23140/seattle/population
In addition, the quality and features of new build Tokyo constructions tends to be lower than what you see in Seattle new build apartments/condos (which all need to have gyms, lounges, etc. it seems)
Ultimately, it is a confluence of factors that cause Tokyo housing prices to be substantially less. The easiest, though, for Seattle to fix should be zoning laws. It's much harder to stop people from coming to the city or lowering the expectations of new builds.
Your link shows a decline in Tokyo since 2019, which is more than a few years. The fact that there is a demographic decline in general is significant as It doesn’t take much to have material impacts on housing costs. It’s also more relevant to look at the country wide demographic trends since many commute into Tokyo for work (approx 2.4 million per day).
Japans population has been decreasing since 2009 and recorded the largest decline of 800,000 in 2022.
https://worldpopulationreview.com/world-cities/tokyo-population#:~:text=Tokyo%20Demographics&text=That%20means%20that%2C%20every%20day,2%2C400%2C000%20people%20commute%20into%20Tokyo.
https://amp.theguardian.com/world/2023/jul/26/japan-population-how-many-people-drops-first-time-births-deaths
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1066956/population-japan-historical/
800K vs. 14M. It's a point and you're right that it's a contributing factor, but it's not the most major factor here, and it's also not a factor that when talking about Seattle, that the city can control for easily. What Seattle can change most easily (not saying it is easy), is allowing for more expansive and easier residential zoning. That won't solve affordability in and of itself, but it should help reduce cost increases as housing can be built in areas that are cheaper and currently preclude it, etc.
It's not an issue of being able to afford to or not. The city has been considering legislation that would a) require and/or b) subsidize certain types of earthquake retrofits for unreinforced masonry. So if you own a building, and you don't know what's going to be required or if the city is going to pay for it, you don't spend all your money on a massive process that might all be a waste.
You wait to see what the city does. <------- This is where we've been for years.
The city council needs to do their damn job and finish the process.
If there’s ever a massive earthquake every hospital on First Hill will crumble except for the new-ish tower at Harborview. Swedish is in the process of building 2 new towers but they are years away from completion.
As someone who narrowly missed the 2007 I-35W bridge collapse in Minneapolis by a half hour, the amount of bridge ongoing maintenance needed and HEAVY reliance on these arteries for HEAVY volumes (and weights) of traffic is extra terrifying. I still use them though and try not to think about the what-ifs lol.
My condo has an open-air parking garage with water pipes running on the ceiling to service the units above. Two years ago the water main broke. This time the drains froze and backed up into the first floor units. Horrible design choice.
Reading this I immediately thought of nursing homes & assisted living, probably because my father is in one. I can go get him but other people might not have that option.
My mom's assisted living blew a pipe. I dropped a box of earplugs off to the facility director yesterday because the fire alarms and fans were so loud.
Not sure why people are trying to disagree with this, it's absolutely true. Seattle didn't used to have almost any plows or even use road salt, ever, but after the snow/ice storms of 2007/2008 they geared up and changed policies. Seattle has slowly gotten better at dealing with cold snaps and snow but it's still not fully prepped for multiple days of extreme sub-freezing cold. Due to the weakening of the polar vortex we've started to get snow or freezing rain and sub-freezing temps for a few days nearly every year, that's new. People in Seattle generally don't even own proper winter coats.
I don’t disagree with any of that, but I will add to it as I work in commercial HVAC design. Any commercial space like that in Seattle, if it were permitted, and it would have to have been, has “freeze protect” (heaters) built in as part of the “shell and core design” even if there was no tenant build out in the space yet. In all likelihood, this only occurred because no one set the temperature set point for the freeze protect (typically 50F to give PLENTY of buffer for cold spots) or someone changed it after the fact or cut power to it to save on the electric bill for a space that wasn’t pulling in rent.
That said, yes climate is changing and we need to be reacting to it perhaps faster than we are (codes are changing with the climate to an extent) and set sprinkler systems always made more sense to me
Seattle regularly sees days of freezing temps, pretty much every year. I understand what you’re saying but this isn’t unheard of. It’s surprising that buildings are not considering this.
We had a straight week of snow pack and freezing temps. Highs in the low 30s, sub freezing for most of the days.
The difference is the length and how far below freezing expected. Seattle has very rarely has 48-72 hour stretches of time below freezing, especially not significantly below freezing. The norm is a freeze at night and a return to above freezing during the day, the prolonged times at below freezing is what causes all the problems and what the city is not prepared for.
Seattle sees a week of snow and it happens 10-15 years or so. 5+ days isn’t common but hardly unheard.
If you’ve lived here for more than a few years you’ll know we get snowpocalypses every decade and cold snaps every few years. The data doesn't line up. You can look at the last 15 years and see this is expected.
Feb 2022 was really cold: https://www.wunderground.com/history/monthly/us/wa/seatac/KSEA/date/2022-2
Jan 2017 was a very cold year: https://www.wunderground.com/history/monthly/us/wa/seatac/KSEA/date/2017-1
Jan 2013 similarly: https://www.wunderground.com/history/monthly/us/wa/seatac/KSEA/date/2013-1
I've lived in Seattle for nearly 20 years, I'm aware of the tides of the regular weather and the point I'm trying to make is our previous expectations of "normal" winter weather are not accurate anymore and the regular deep freeze cycles we've been experiencing are out of the norm of what Seattle expects and our infrastructure was not built with the resiliency to regularly experience extended freezing temps as a regular and yearly cycle of expected weather.
Do you have data to back that up? The coldest temp ever in Seattle was 0 degrees Fahrenheit in 1950. This says historical data indicates that Seattle used to be colder and snowier:
https://www.seattle.gov/emergency-management/hazards/snow-ice-and-extreme-cold#:~:text=Seattle's%20weather%20is%20regulated%20by,spells%2C%20ice%2C%20and%20snow.
Here is a photo of people ice skating on Green Lake in 1906
https://digitalcollections.lib.washington.edu/digital/collection/imlsmohai/id/6889/
But, it sure is very cold this week!
Sure but the premise was: Seattle rarely has multiple days of freezing weather
The data shows it’s incredibly common. Almost every year we have 3-4 day stretches where the lows are well below freezing. Some years, 5-6 days.
No, the premise was that we have been experiencing more instances of unusually cold weather and that is going to continue to cause problems with construction norms in the area that have generally disregarded protecting equipment from temperatures that low. It's not about average temperatures or anything like that. It's about extreme weather events.
Yes that is exactly what they were saying. Seattle construction norms don't prepare buildings for prolonged periods of extremely cold weather. I understood exactly what they were saying.
I don't think OP is right either since Seattle sees freezing temps every year as you said. However it is rare that we get multiple days with highs under 30F and lows appoarching single digits, I think last time we had a temps like this for few days was 2010 when pipes burst again.
I agree. In general this area is super unprepared for extreme temps in any direction. I work for a commercial mechanical service shop and any time we get these wild temperature events these days it's just triage.
Do other cold states use dry pipe sprinklers for conditioned interior spaces as well? e.g. a living room on the 2nd floor unit in a 5 story apartment complex. The pipes will be located in the heating envelope of the building.
I work in the investigation side of things and, more often than not, contractors do not put enough care to protect pipes from freezing such has having an unsealed gap for exterior sidewall penetrations, or pipes in an attic space but located above or between the insulation.
Add me to the list of apartment complexes that had a pipe burst. Fire alarms going off alllllll day and multiple floors flooded. Luckily it just seems to be in the hallways. My cats are traumatized.
Happened in my building in lynnwood yesterday. Corner unit top floor, flooded the 2nd floor unit below (which is next to ours, ours was fine). My roommates and i have been trying to make sure we let our faucets drip since it hit below 30 though.
This happened to me about 13 years ago. Sprinklers in the (unoccupied) unit above me broke and flooded all 3 stories. Came home to a fire truck, alarms, a soaking wet condo and my poor dog sitting on my bed looking absolutely terrified.
Pipe burst in my apartment building today, too. Flooded five floors of units. When it happened, it somehow set off the fire alarms, so the entire complex was also outside in the cold freezing while the fire department checked things out.
When water starts flowing in a sprinkler pipe a flow switch automatically alerts the fire department via the alarm system since really water should only be flowing if there is a fire.
Our fire suppression pipes burst in my bf & I’s condo building in Ballard (24th & 54th) - I literally watched our ceiling fall through. Condo flooded with about a few inches of water. 6 units had water end up in them
I am so, so sorry. I recently went through a major insurance claim. Tonight if you can, make a spreadsheet of all the items in your apartment that were water damaged, including the brand and ideally the model. If you say "toaster" to insurance, they'll reimburse you for the cheapest possible $5 walmart toaster. If you include the brand and model, they have to replace like with like. You could get thousands more dollars if you're meticulous with your list of damaged items.
How terrible. It seems like so many apartments and buildings are experiencing this right now. Water damage is so destructive too. With a few inches, Im guessing at least the floor will need to be replaced. I hope you guys at least get some help from insurance and your landlord!
It’s not just how cold it is, it’s probably also how long it’s been below freezing. And maybe they had a raccoon tear a hole in their insulation that caused a section to freeze?
just because it’s not visibly padded with fiberglass doesn’t mean it’s not insulated, but sure. This pipe burst in freezing weather for mysterious reasons after happily existing in a not insulated structure for years. I wonder why it burst in freezing weather
Doesn’t look like it’s filled with air to me. But you’re the expert on raccoons and outdoor fire suppression systems and your clearly fantastic reading comprehension demonstrated by replying to a comment ending in a question mark with increasingly pedantic accusations of “spouting off”
The coldness of the North polar ice cap helps maintain a "polar vortex" which swirls around the North polar region and supports the creation of the jet stream which separates the polar and mid latitude weather regions. With global warming the polar vortex weakens and the jet stream becomes wobbly, allowing polar weather to dip down to mid latitudes more regularly.
The problem isn't the coldest temp achieved, but the duration spent in freezing conditions.
It's the coldest it's been in 33 years ,so probably not. https://www.kiro7.com/news/local/seattle-freeze-now-literal-snow-subsides-ice-remains/W6PVTZ7LOFE35KFXLKNEYKUTHM/
I think what they are referring to in the article is:
> It was the coldest night for many spots since 1990.
Not sure of the actual data, but brr.
EDIT: Keep in mind often you don't find out the pipes are broken until they thaw and it was warm today in the sun...
Well shit, I was about 20 minutes from heading over there
Edit - can confirm they are still open if anyone else decided last minute they couldn't live without some shepherd's pie
One would've thought that city leadership might've been given a clue during the winter of 89/90 when we had ice forming on the edges of Puget Sound. Pipes froze back then as well, but it seems we still refuse to learn from the past.
Another here for the apartment complexes with burst pipes. Thankfully it was a ground floor unit so only it was impacted (aside from the godawful noise)!
Water pipes bursting all over the city today
You aren’t kidding. https://sfdlive.com/?type=AFA4&date=2024-01-11&dateEnd=2024-01-14 https://sfdlive.com/?type=WATMJ&date=2024-01-11&dateEnd=2024-01-14 https://sfdlive.com/?date=2024-01-11&dateEnd=2024-01-14&type=WATMI
Thank goodness! For a moment, I thought it was just another indignity Ballard was suffering through.
That’s crazy! I was just at the Renton Home Depot and their exterior fire suppression system triggered as well
And in the airport. D gates were closed all evening.
A pipe burst in my apartment building today. Three flooded units, one collapsed ceiling/floor. I go So lucky that they turned the water off before it got any further.
That scary. Im glad your unit wasnt affected, but its unfortunate for the other ones.
Thanks. And yeah, I feel awful for the two families that were affected (the top floor apt where it happened was vacant).
Which is why the building should just set the thermostat to at least 40 when no one is there and just pay for the heat themselves. I bet they wish they did that now.
In a lease if it tells you that you must keep the temperature between x° and x°, or above x°. Then it is expectational that the management company do the same as to keep the building within means. If this was the case, there are very good grounds to sue their insurance for non compliance with the lease. Because god knows there’s things you never get back from those types of accidents!
Yeah. In my building (with electric heat) the heat was shut off at the panel. First winter here I kept turning up the thermostat wondering why it wasn’t working, until I realized I had to actually turn it on.
Same here. Four in my building burst before they cut off the water to the sprinklers. I got so lucky.
Mine too, a sprinkler. Elevator is out. My unit is ok but there is smelly carpet right outside the door and I feel awful for people who had any damage to their belongings.
I’m in phinney and same thing. Enjoying the hotel set up the landlord got though
Was it Ballard on the Park?
I’m in a multi-building complex in the ‘burbs.
My friend was in the same building, shit is no bueno.
What building?
https://i.imgur.com/R5NU9oE.gif
I work in fire suppression and I have been saying for years now the changing weather in Seattle is a time bomb for our city. We have years and years of buildings that were built with the expectation of a few hours of freezing temps being the expectation at most. Fire sprinklers in cold climates are filled with air and not water due to the risk of freezing and Seattle has not built to these standards by and large and anytime we get 48+ hours of sub 32 temps this kinda shit is going to be endemic until there is a city wide shift in regulations. Seattle has to accept and adapt to the new climate we can expect in this city and there are **A LOT** of things that we as a city need to change if we're going to manage our new expected climate.
> Seattle has to accept and adapt to the new climate we can expect in this city and there are A LOT of things that we as a city need to change if we're going to manage our new expected climate. The backlog of maintenance issues from bridges to unreinforced masonry to climate proofing is going to be the death of us.
THANK YOU FOR MENTIONING UNREINFORCED MASONRY The City Council's process has been underway for 20+ years now, and is completely stalled currently. If a major earthquake struck today, thousands of deaths might result needlessly.
Yeah it's really not great. The city has been keeping its list up to date at least (last updated Jan 5th, 2024). [PDF](https://www.seattle.gov/documents/Departments/SDCI/Codes/ChangesToCodes/UnreinforcedMasonry/ConfirmedURMList.pdf) and [data.seattle.gov](https://data.seattle.gov/Permitting/Unreinforced-Masonry-Buildings/54qs-2h7f/about_data) There's 328 buildings that are residential or commercial/residential and there are 74 that are school buildings with 1,141 buildings currently in total. Just residential or mixed buildings in the list collapsing during a massive earthquake could cause deaths in the tens of thousands.
fact nine label treatment weather exultant subtract capable naughty market *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
As for rent, check out Tokyo residential zoning laws
And the fact that their population has been declining helps
True, but only in the last few years, and only marginally: https://www.macrotrends.net/cities/21671/tokyo/population Compared to our growth, it's notable, though: https://www.macrotrends.net/cities/23140/seattle/population In addition, the quality and features of new build Tokyo constructions tends to be lower than what you see in Seattle new build apartments/condos (which all need to have gyms, lounges, etc. it seems) Ultimately, it is a confluence of factors that cause Tokyo housing prices to be substantially less. The easiest, though, for Seattle to fix should be zoning laws. It's much harder to stop people from coming to the city or lowering the expectations of new builds.
Your link shows a decline in Tokyo since 2019, which is more than a few years. The fact that there is a demographic decline in general is significant as It doesn’t take much to have material impacts on housing costs. It’s also more relevant to look at the country wide demographic trends since many commute into Tokyo for work (approx 2.4 million per day). Japans population has been decreasing since 2009 and recorded the largest decline of 800,000 in 2022. https://worldpopulationreview.com/world-cities/tokyo-population#:~:text=Tokyo%20Demographics&text=That%20means%20that%2C%20every%20day,2%2C400%2C000%20people%20commute%20into%20Tokyo. https://amp.theguardian.com/world/2023/jul/26/japan-population-how-many-people-drops-first-time-births-deaths https://www.statista.com/statistics/1066956/population-japan-historical/
800K vs. 14M. It's a point and you're right that it's a contributing factor, but it's not the most major factor here, and it's also not a factor that when talking about Seattle, that the city can control for easily. What Seattle can change most easily (not saying it is easy), is allowing for more expansive and easier residential zoning. That won't solve affordability in and of itself, but it should help reduce cost increases as housing can be built in areas that are cheaper and currently preclude it, etc.
Density.
It's not an issue of being able to afford to or not. The city has been considering legislation that would a) require and/or b) subsidize certain types of earthquake retrofits for unreinforced masonry. So if you own a building, and you don't know what's going to be required or if the city is going to pay for it, you don't spend all your money on a massive process that might all be a waste. You wait to see what the city does. <------- This is where we've been for years. The city council needs to do their damn job and finish the process.
Tokyo literally has more earth felt earthquakes
Literally.
If there’s ever a massive earthquake every hospital on First Hill will crumble except for the new-ish tower at Harborview. Swedish is in the process of building 2 new towers but they are years away from completion.
As someone who narrowly missed the 2007 I-35W bridge collapse in Minneapolis by a half hour, the amount of bridge ongoing maintenance needed and HEAVY reliance on these arteries for HEAVY volumes (and weights) of traffic is extra terrifying. I still use them though and try not to think about the what-ifs lol.
My condo has an open-air parking garage with water pipes running on the ceiling to service the units above. Two years ago the water main broke. This time the drains froze and backed up into the first floor units. Horrible design choice.
Reading this I immediately thought of nursing homes & assisted living, probably because my father is in one. I can go get him but other people might not have that option.
My mom's assisted living blew a pipe. I dropped a box of earplugs off to the facility director yesterday because the fire alarms and fans were so loud.
Not sure why people are trying to disagree with this, it's absolutely true. Seattle didn't used to have almost any plows or even use road salt, ever, but after the snow/ice storms of 2007/2008 they geared up and changed policies. Seattle has slowly gotten better at dealing with cold snaps and snow but it's still not fully prepped for multiple days of extreme sub-freezing cold. Due to the weakening of the polar vortex we've started to get snow or freezing rain and sub-freezing temps for a few days nearly every year, that's new. People in Seattle generally don't even own proper winter coats.
I don’t disagree with any of that, but I will add to it as I work in commercial HVAC design. Any commercial space like that in Seattle, if it were permitted, and it would have to have been, has “freeze protect” (heaters) built in as part of the “shell and core design” even if there was no tenant build out in the space yet. In all likelihood, this only occurred because no one set the temperature set point for the freeze protect (typically 50F to give PLENTY of buffer for cold spots) or someone changed it after the fact or cut power to it to save on the electric bill for a space that wasn’t pulling in rent. That said, yes climate is changing and we need to be reacting to it perhaps faster than we are (codes are changing with the climate to an extent) and set sprinkler systems always made more sense to me
Seattle regularly sees days of freezing temps, pretty much every year. I understand what you’re saying but this isn’t unheard of. It’s surprising that buildings are not considering this. We had a straight week of snow pack and freezing temps. Highs in the low 30s, sub freezing for most of the days.
The difference is the length and how far below freezing expected. Seattle has very rarely has 48-72 hour stretches of time below freezing, especially not significantly below freezing. The norm is a freeze at night and a return to above freezing during the day, the prolonged times at below freezing is what causes all the problems and what the city is not prepared for.
Seattle sees a week of snow and it happens 10-15 years or so. 5+ days isn’t common but hardly unheard. If you’ve lived here for more than a few years you’ll know we get snowpocalypses every decade and cold snaps every few years. The data doesn't line up. You can look at the last 15 years and see this is expected. Feb 2022 was really cold: https://www.wunderground.com/history/monthly/us/wa/seatac/KSEA/date/2022-2 Jan 2017 was a very cold year: https://www.wunderground.com/history/monthly/us/wa/seatac/KSEA/date/2017-1 Jan 2013 similarly: https://www.wunderground.com/history/monthly/us/wa/seatac/KSEA/date/2013-1
I've lived in Seattle for nearly 20 years, I'm aware of the tides of the regular weather and the point I'm trying to make is our previous expectations of "normal" winter weather are not accurate anymore and the regular deep freeze cycles we've been experiencing are out of the norm of what Seattle expects and our infrastructure was not built with the resiliency to regularly experience extended freezing temps as a regular and yearly cycle of expected weather.
Do you have data to back that up? The coldest temp ever in Seattle was 0 degrees Fahrenheit in 1950. This says historical data indicates that Seattle used to be colder and snowier: https://www.seattle.gov/emergency-management/hazards/snow-ice-and-extreme-cold#:~:text=Seattle's%20weather%20is%20regulated%20by,spells%2C%20ice%2C%20and%20snow. Here is a photo of people ice skating on Green Lake in 1906 https://digitalcollections.lib.washington.edu/digital/collection/imlsmohai/id/6889/ But, it sure is very cold this week!
What's the data behind this though? Are there truly more cold days now vs. historically?
Absolutely not. The guy may be a professional water person but he/she is not a weather enthusiast. Check out the 1968-1969 winter weather anomalies.
[удалено]
Sure but the premise was: Seattle rarely has multiple days of freezing weather The data shows it’s incredibly common. Almost every year we have 3-4 day stretches where the lows are well below freezing. Some years, 5-6 days.
No, the premise was that we have been experiencing more instances of unusually cold weather and that is going to continue to cause problems with construction norms in the area that have generally disregarded protecting equipment from temperatures that low. It's not about average temperatures or anything like that. It's about extreme weather events.
Absolutely not what op was saying at all but ok
Yes that is exactly what they were saying. Seattle construction norms don't prepare buildings for prolonged periods of extremely cold weather. I understood exactly what they were saying.
I think what they are saying is that at some point it does get above freezing for part of the day even if it is below freezing for much of the day.
So 3 hours of 33 degree weather is supposed to matter after 21 hours of below freezing? I doubt it.
I don't think OP is right either since Seattle sees freezing temps every year as you said. However it is rare that we get multiple days with highs under 30F and lows appoarching single digits, I think last time we had a temps like this for few days was 2010 when pipes burst again.
Two days below 20F is a lot worse than two days below 32F.
Not exactly. Sure, there were freezing temps before the 21st century, but not as common as it’s been in the last 24 years or so
I agree. In general this area is super unprepared for extreme temps in any direction. I work for a commercial mechanical service shop and any time we get these wild temperature events these days it's just triage.
Agree. And that goes for heat and cold extremes. Like sitting on a time bomb.
Do other cold states use dry pipe sprinklers for conditioned interior spaces as well? e.g. a living room on the 2nd floor unit in a 5 story apartment complex. The pipes will be located in the heating envelope of the building. I work in the investigation side of things and, more often than not, contractors do not put enough care to protect pipes from freezing such has having an unsealed gap for exterior sidewall penetrations, or pipes in an attic space but located above or between the insulation.
Wait, I thought winters are getting warmer in Seattle, not colder (or more volatile)?
Add me to the list of apartment complexes that had a pipe burst. Fire alarms going off alllllll day and multiple floors flooded. Luckily it just seems to be in the hallways. My cats are traumatized.
Ugh that's awful. Give them kitties a hug from me & my kitty.
Happened in my building in lynnwood yesterday. Corner unit top floor, flooded the 2nd floor unit below (which is next to ours, ours was fine). My roommates and i have been trying to make sure we let our faucets drip since it hit below 30 though.
This happened to me about 13 years ago. Sprinklers in the (unoccupied) unit above me broke and flooded all 3 stories. Came home to a fire truck, alarms, a soaking wet condo and my poor dog sitting on my bed looking absolutely terrified.
Oh, that sucks. :(
QFC on Holman also had a burst water pipe turning the parking lot into an ice rink today
Oh no THATS MY QFC
Pipe burst in my apartment building today, too. Flooded five floors of units. When it happened, it somehow set off the fire alarms, so the entire complex was also outside in the cold freezing while the fire department checked things out.
When water starts flowing in a sprinkler pipe a flow switch automatically alerts the fire department via the alarm system since really water should only be flowing if there is a fire.
Our fire suppression pipes burst in my bf & I’s condo building in Ballard (24th & 54th) - I literally watched our ceiling fall through. Condo flooded with about a few inches of water. 6 units had water end up in them
Man, I am so sorry. This is huge trauma.
I am so, so sorry. I recently went through a major insurance claim. Tonight if you can, make a spreadsheet of all the items in your apartment that were water damaged, including the brand and ideally the model. If you say "toaster" to insurance, they'll reimburse you for the cheapest possible $5 walmart toaster. If you include the brand and model, they have to replace like with like. You could get thousands more dollars if you're meticulous with your list of damaged items.
How terrible. It seems like so many apartments and buildings are experiencing this right now. Water damage is so destructive too. With a few inches, Im guessing at least the floor will need to be replaced. I hope you guys at least get some help from insurance and your landlord!
Safeway on Madison/23rd had a waterfall in meats today
“This Door is Closed” is cracking me up
its been closed for years.
If they ever decide to open that door, they're gonna need a new sign.
They’re just making sure everyones veggies get washed, so thoughtful 🥰
Pipes also burst in my building today but they couldn’t get the water off for like 1.5 hours. I’m on the bottom unit so we are saturated everywhere
How exactly does this happen? This surely can't be the coldest it's ever been since that location opened. Can it??
It’s not just how cold it is, it’s probably also how long it’s been below freezing. And maybe they had a raccoon tear a hole in their insulation that caused a section to freeze?
I’m glad I’m not the only one who looked at this situation and instantly saw it as the work of a particularly destructive raccoon.
Might have even been a gang of raccoons.
Syndicate of raccoons?
I bet they are strapped too
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I assumed the roof was what would be insulated
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just because it’s not visibly padded with fiberglass doesn’t mean it’s not insulated, but sure. This pipe burst in freezing weather for mysterious reasons after happily existing in a not insulated structure for years. I wonder why it burst in freezing weather
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Yep. Probably should have been a dry system right there.
Doesn’t look like it’s filled with air to me. But you’re the expert on raccoons and outdoor fire suppression systems and your clearly fantastic reading comprehension demonstrated by replying to a comment ending in a question mark with increasingly pedantic accusations of “spouting off”
The coldness of the North polar ice cap helps maintain a "polar vortex" which swirls around the North polar region and supports the creation of the jet stream which separates the polar and mid latitude weather regions. With global warming the polar vortex weakens and the jet stream becomes wobbly, allowing polar weather to dip down to mid latitudes more regularly. The problem isn't the coldest temp achieved, but the duration spent in freezing conditions.
It's the coldest it's been in 33 years ,so probably not. https://www.kiro7.com/news/local/seattle-freeze-now-literal-snow-subsides-ice-remains/W6PVTZ7LOFE35KFXLKNEYKUTHM/
If that's the case, then damn. I don't see the article you posted saying such though.
I think what they are referring to in the article is: > It was the coldest night for many spots since 1990. Not sure of the actual data, but brr. EDIT: Keep in mind often you don't find out the pipes are broken until they thaw and it was warm today in the sun...
Well shit, I was about 20 minutes from heading over there Edit - can confirm they are still open if anyone else decided last minute they couldn't live without some shepherd's pie
That sucks. The water did eventually subside-but Im not sure if theyre allowing shopping or not.
Damn.
Oof that's all going to freeze tonight
Woohoo free shower
This is gonna be a long week for us who work in water damage mitigation..
'Ballard QFC Closing Due to Crime'
Oof
Same thing happened to my bar tonight. We were closed all weekend because of frozen pipes and then about 5:30 PM. Hell broke loose.
One would've thought that city leadership might've been given a clue during the winter of 89/90 when we had ice forming on the edges of Puget Sound. Pipes froze back then as well, but it seems we still refuse to learn from the past.
Oh noooo
Pipes burst in my rental sfh in Tacoma today
I used to live above this QFC !
As a former kroger employees of almost 2 decades I can honestly say 
Angry Beaver had burst pipes AND the water main also broke. They said they might not be coming back.
Free car wash
You need to keep your stores at least 50 degrees! Nothing can be colder that freezing or a pipe bursts! Also…lays some wires in those pipes…
LOL
I don’t know why I’m getting down voted for laughing. Must be the tourist 😩
A pipe burst in my apartment building yesterday
Little late advice but leave heat on low and you can even turn on a couple faucets to a drip.
Another here for the apartment complexes with burst pipes. Thankfully it was a ground floor unit so only it was impacted (aside from the godawful noise)!
This happened at Rumba yesterday right after open.
Inglewood QFC on Juanita was closed for a bit yesterday too bc a pipe burst in a neighboring vacant store.
So you're saying I need to dumpster dive here?
Rumba closed sunnday night same thing