The folly of outdoor pipes

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Q. I rent an office in Manhattan, and it’s always freezing. Two weeks ago a heating pipe froze, and we had to close the office because of water damage. The landlord wants to just patch up the outside wall where the frozen pipe comes through. There’s only about 5 inches between the buildings, and the pipe comes from a lower floor through that outside space and then into our office. What should we do to stop the landlord from doing this to us? Our insurance company and our attorney want an investigation, but the landlord has already started bringing in materials to repair the wall. It doesn’t make sense.

A. It’s like those infomercials in which the announcer says, “How many times has this happened to you?” Common sense should dictate that the landlord stop, consider the loss of rent he may face, the expense of further repairs, a lawsuit for damages, even the loss of a tenant if you’re frustrated enough, and try to rectify the problem for good. Common sense also tells us that a pipe on the outside, in cold weather, is going to freeze.

What isn’t so common knowledge is that hot water freezes faster than cold water. Why would that happen, you ask? Because the molecules in hot water are farther apart, and the surface area of a hot-water molecule is, therefore, subjected to more expedient surface chill. Cold water is denser and has a slight advantage, slowing the influence of cold air on tightly packed molecules. Whoever installed a hot-water pipe on an exterior wall, even between buildings, took a shortcut rather than drilling through building components, all the while thinking that hot water would protect itself from freezing, I suppose. I doubt that the installation was done by a licensed plumber, since I don’t know of any licensed plumber who would pull a pipe outside and then back into a building. They don’t shy away from cutting and drilling to get pipes through any material.

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