We had a frigid start to the new year here in Appalachia!
Monday night the temperatures were below zero & wind chills were 20-35 below.
Of course I had visitors who decided to arrive/visit exactly on the coldest day (that particular day on record) in 10 or 20 years!
We woke up Tuesday morning with no water (and I couldn't find my glasses right away, not having time, or water, to make coffee, which made finding my glasses all the more difficult, but that's another story, lol...) Yes, we had frozen pipe DESPITE having every faucet dripping all night & the heat full crank.
So I spent most of Tuesday in dire fear of all my pipes busting under the trailer which raised the specter of back breaking crawling under the trailer for days on end & hundreds of dollars fixing pipes! No way!
Fortunately, I was able to pinpoint the exact location of the frozen pipe relatively quick. My guest said there was water at 7 a.m., but when I woke up at 10 a.m. no faucet had water. I felt the main line going into the trailer which felt loose! So I knew it hadn't frozen underground. But when I felt that same main line at the point where it left the ground & went about 2 feet into the trailer floor, it felt stiff! That was where it was frozen. So there I was unwrapping the duct tape, then the wrapping/insulation/cover around the pipes, then thawing it out around the heat tape with a hair dryer & extension cord. Hair dryer did the trick! Five minutes SLURP! WHOOSH! water flowing! Every faucet inside the trailer running water! Hip hip horray!
But my job wasn't done yet. Oh no. Because I had to make 100% sure no other pipes were frozen. And that meant checking the only remaining pipe: The one going to the outside garden hose faucet.
Again, despite being covered with wrap & a vinyl insulating cover for the outside faucet, that pipe was frozen!
So I spent the rest of the day unwrapping that pipe to get the hair dryer to it. But that didn't work, as I was working in 5 degree temperature & that pipe was longer, so as soon as I warmed up a section, it'd get cold again & refused to thaw out. Stubborn pipe!
So then I had the idea to throw together an small enclosure using three foam solar reflectors (normally used on a car dashboard) & some extra insulation. I was able to make a kind of box with this material around the frozen pipe that would keep heat in. I put the hair dryer into this smaller enclosed space (making sure the air flow was good so no overheating) and ran extension cord to the inside. From the warm inside of the trailer was able to turn it on and off in 15 minute intervals & a couple hours later it was totally unthawed, despite the sun going down & colder!
Of course, no writing has gotten done the last couple of days. How unfortunate. I decided it was more important to stay home yesterday & make sure every pipe was un-thawed than to attend the playwrights meeting (though I badly wanted to go see my fellow playwrights/scene writers!) But I knew if I didn't un-thaw every pipe, with those low temps, could run the risk of the freeze spreading or pipes busting. The quicker to un-thaw the better to keep pipe from busting leaking. Glad to say today I see no leaks so must've done something right!
Of course, it all makes for a crazy blog post about HOW this particular writer slash jack-of-all-trades gets it done around the house, or more infamously: "Get 'er done," as some folks say.
I'll try to take some photos of the enclosure I threw together, etc... to give you an idea... Should be warm enough tomorrow to snap a few pics without losing any fingers!
Are you in our Eastern region or Midwest? Do you have any exciting cold snap stories? Share them in the comments!
Monday night the temperatures were below zero & wind chills were 20-35 below.
Of course I had visitors who decided to arrive/visit exactly on the coldest day (that particular day on record) in 10 or 20 years!
We woke up Tuesday morning with no water (and I couldn't find my glasses right away, not having time, or water, to make coffee, which made finding my glasses all the more difficult, but that's another story, lol...) Yes, we had frozen pipe DESPITE having every faucet dripping all night & the heat full crank.
So I spent most of Tuesday in dire fear of all my pipes busting under the trailer which raised the specter of back breaking crawling under the trailer for days on end & hundreds of dollars fixing pipes! No way!
Fortunately, I was able to pinpoint the exact location of the frozen pipe relatively quick. My guest said there was water at 7 a.m., but when I woke up at 10 a.m. no faucet had water. I felt the main line going into the trailer which felt loose! So I knew it hadn't frozen underground. But when I felt that same main line at the point where it left the ground & went about 2 feet into the trailer floor, it felt stiff! That was where it was frozen. So there I was unwrapping the duct tape, then the wrapping/insulation/cover around the pipes, then thawing it out around the heat tape with a hair dryer & extension cord. Hair dryer did the trick! Five minutes SLURP! WHOOSH! water flowing! Every faucet inside the trailer running water! Hip hip horray!
But my job wasn't done yet. Oh no. Because I had to make 100% sure no other pipes were frozen. And that meant checking the only remaining pipe: The one going to the outside garden hose faucet.
Again, despite being covered with wrap & a vinyl insulating cover for the outside faucet, that pipe was frozen!
So I spent the rest of the day unwrapping that pipe to get the hair dryer to it. But that didn't work, as I was working in 5 degree temperature & that pipe was longer, so as soon as I warmed up a section, it'd get cold again & refused to thaw out. Stubborn pipe!
So then I had the idea to throw together an small enclosure using three foam solar reflectors (normally used on a car dashboard) & some extra insulation. I was able to make a kind of box with this material around the frozen pipe that would keep heat in. I put the hair dryer into this smaller enclosed space (making sure the air flow was good so no overheating) and ran extension cord to the inside. From the warm inside of the trailer was able to turn it on and off in 15 minute intervals & a couple hours later it was totally unthawed, despite the sun going down & colder!
Of course, no writing has gotten done the last couple of days. How unfortunate. I decided it was more important to stay home yesterday & make sure every pipe was un-thawed than to attend the playwrights meeting (though I badly wanted to go see my fellow playwrights/scene writers!) But I knew if I didn't un-thaw every pipe, with those low temps, could run the risk of the freeze spreading or pipes busting. The quicker to un-thaw the better to keep pipe from busting leaking. Glad to say today I see no leaks so must've done something right!
Of course, it all makes for a crazy blog post about HOW this particular writer slash jack-of-all-trades gets it done around the house, or more infamously: "Get 'er done," as some folks say.
I'll try to take some photos of the enclosure I threw together, etc... to give you an idea... Should be warm enough tomorrow to snap a few pics without losing any fingers!
Are you in our Eastern region or Midwest? Do you have any exciting cold snap stories? Share them in the comments!
CLICK PIC! Theodore Webb: Poet, novelist, short story author, playwright. Webb is the author of the Dystopian fiction short novels, "Lifeline,” “Crucible,” “Colossus” and “Inferno,” the first books in “The STARLING Series,"available for ALL DEVICES, smartphone, Kindle, PC, MAC, via Amazon.com. All 4 books are also available as 1 volume, "The STARLING Connection." Webb's short stories are online, including "Desperate Engine" (Amazon) & "Family Hour" (Smashwords). For locally printed paper copies of Webb's books, contact the author directly via email: twebb4502@gmail.com.
