Sunday, January 8, 2017

Ice Ice Baby

well, for those of you who think I live in sub-tropical Louisiana check out these recent temps!

Friday night it got down to 22 and last night it was 24. We unhooked the water to the camper, something we do anyway because of the big leak in the bathroom area.  Frank drained all the grey water and the piping.  All the lights were on to at least try to give it some heat.

The house was its own separate problem. Remember we have no sinks or faucets or anything to run water with.  So our normal way of dealing with these hard freezes wasn't going to happen.

So Frank turned the water off and drained the pipes.  Which meant we had no toilet.  Like the dark ages.

This morning when he turned the water on again, he went around the outside turning on all the spigots.  All but one poured water.  That corner of the house was frozen.  This is what happens when pipes burst.  By draining the water out of the pipes, you allow the remaining water to freeze and expand in airspace, thus preventing the broken pipe.

That man was so smart to do that!  To unfreeze it. He simply put the small space heater in the INSIDE of the house in that corner.  In half an hour was unfrozen and was running water again!

To show you how cold it got, this is my fish pond frozen over.  It was beautiful.  The ice formed a star pattern!  Pretty cool, it was.    The ice got to about an inch and a half thickness by mid-day today.

Predictions are for 30 degrees tonight for just 2 or 3 hours and by Wednesday we will be back to a 75 degree high!











5 comments:

  1. A place to hang your hat - or rather your clothes! I am ready for some warmth too. I live not to far from the beach in the panhandle of Florida and awoke to 27 degree temps this morning and the area temperature was supposed to be 22 and below freezing lasted more than 8 hours. But I can enjoy 70 degree temps! I will wait until midweek and laugh because it will still be cold in a lot of the US. I refused to move north so I could avoid bitter cold and I do a pretty good job. Small doses are okay.

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  2. It was very cold this weekend, but we did not get the snow that east of Cleveland and the east coast received. This morning it was 13 when I went for my walk. The high today is predicted to be 30 and that will be like a heat wave in northeast Ohio! I have to be careful of the pipes in the lower level bathroom when it gets this cold. I open the doors to the vanities and make sure the register is fully open to get a bit more heat in that bathroom. The pipes run along the outside wall and I guess I didn't get enough insulation behind the pipes. The pipe did freeze, but I had no bursts thank goodness. It sounds like slowly things are getting done. You won't know how to act when you finally get to move into the house!

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  3. Renee taught Chris a new skill while he practiced a old skill! She taught him how to fix a broken pipe while practicing army belly crawl under her house. She was inside giving directions thru the pipe hole. Absolutely Priceless! Stay DRY & WARM.

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  4. To bad your fireplace isn't working yet - you could camp out in front of it - nothing like a fire to take the chill off. I'll bet the dogs didn't want to go out this morning. Pee and run!

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