It's Cold !

[3930dave]

Yep, cold and water can be a PITA.

Dan - fyi for you guys down South - what I used years ago on a problematic-hard-to-heat wall in a custom home was heating wire for copper pipe. Back then, we saw lots of -40 temps, and my Mom had a problem with one specific wall.

The wire is designed to be wrapped around copper pipe, and is thermostatically controlled. Can be buried in a wall. Haven't looked for it in years, but it still may be around. Won't do you much good on plastic pipe though.

Drives some people crazy to do it, but a good thing to do in areas that aren't used to real cold is leave the cold water tap running overnight - you don't need much, just a trickle. If the house is occupied during the day, normal water use may keep the pipes open, but it is often the +/-8 hours overnight when pipes freeze. If a house has limited (by Canadian standards) insulation, leave the water trickling throughout the cold snap. Any cost for water is minor compared to repairing burst pipes.

Rgds, D.

 

[vtsnowedin]

Plowing the main roads is one thing, anything beyond that is a waste of funds. Maybe a sand application at intersections and hills at best if anything else is need.

You would think so and that drivers should be responsible to have their cars well equiped and know how to drive them in the snow or stay home but the real world has people trying to get to work on time with the car they have in the drive. On a system wide basis that means for every hour you have snow or ice on the road you get crashes and the average fender bender today costs about $3000. For that $3000 you can salt a hundred miles of road or brine treat about twenty.
Here is a factoid from Ask.com.

A 2008 report by the Automobile Association of America states that according to the Federal Highway Administration, the per-person cost of traffic fatalities in 2005 dollars is $3.2 million and $68,170 for injuries. AAA estimates the cost of traffic crashes to be $166.7 billion. Costs include medical, emergency services, police services, property damage, lost productivity, and quality of life. Read AAA executive summary (PDF).

 

[Turbys_1700]

We got down to 8 degrees here in NC on Tues and Wed morning...
I was sitting fat and happy in the house until we lost power for a couple of hours...
First time ever my water froze down at the spring house...
That two hours without heat did me in...
Good thing about living down here is that that type of cold is short lived...
Got up to mid 40's Thursday and all is well...

 

[Gunny]

Around here, whenever we have a mild winter, there's always a bunch complaining that the bugs will be a lot worse during the summer. (You know, some people have to gripe about anything and everything)

So, I guess one of the good things about this snap is that we shouldn't have too many bugs this summer!

 

[Ken]

Remember this when your car goes into the shop for new muffler and pipes plus brake rotors all around and they raise your taxes to pay for a double fleet of trucks and the drivers to drive them.

Before Christmas 3 years ago we were in Western New York at a Dairy cattle auction and contracted to haul a load of cattle to Kansas. Driving toward Chicago the weather had turned bad and wind snow blowing we decided to detour toward Columbus Ohio and head for St Lewis, Mo. to miss the snow storm. It caught us at Ind./Ill state
line and following a snow plow and in line of 18 whl'r trucks going 5MPH or less. amazed that the little cars would pass us doing 50+ MPH and could not see 30 feet. then off the road or into a vehicle already crashed causing more damage. Some drivers haven't a brain inside their head. We stopped at a truck stop and a interstate type bus had stalled because the brakes had frozen guess never had drained the air tank.
people in the little cars lined up to go to the rest rooms were bitching about the line. No thought to be glad there was a rest room available.
Never considered maybe there was a highway slow down. The only thought was them.
The damage to there cars were more than replaceable parts.
ken

 

[charlz]

Around here, whenever we have a mild winter, there's always a bunch complaining that the bugs will be a lot worse during the summer. (You know, some people have to gripe about anything and everything)

So, I guess one of the good things about this snap is that we shouldn't have too many bugs this summer!

I was just thinking the same thing! All the gardeners should be rejoicing

 

[dave1949]

I was just thinking the same thing! All the gardeners should be rejoicing

The moose are happy too. New Hampshire and S. Maine have had a big moose herd loss from ticks. One moose can have many thousands of ticks. They weaken the moose and cause them to rub against trees so much they lose their fur, which is not good in winter. Mild winters have allowed the tick population to explode in these parts.

 

[cqaigy2]

I remember a particular cold season where i had to leave my water tap going to keep it from freezing, it did pretty well until a particularly cold night. I woke up and saw ice had cascaded over the side of the sink like a frozen waterfall with a frozen pond on the floor. There was a stalactite of ice from the faucet to the sink. The whole works was frozen back up into the pipes. I wished i'd taken a picture, but that wasn't what was crossing my mind when i saw the mess.:laughing:

 

[dmccarty]

Yep, cold and water can be a PITA.

Dan - fyi for you guys down South - what I used years ago on a problematic-hard-to-heat wall in a custom home was heating wire for copper pipe. Back then, we saw lots of -40 temps, and my Mom had a problem with one specific wall.

The wire is designed to be wrapped around copper pipe, and is thermostatically controlled. Can be buried in a wall. Haven't looked for it in years, but it still may be around. Won't do you much good on plastic pipe though.

Drives some people crazy to do it, but a good thing to do in areas that aren't used to real cold is leave the cold water tap running overnight - you don't need much, just a trickle. If the house is occupied during the day, normal water use may keep the pipes open, but it is often the +/-8 hours overnight when pipes freeze. If a house has limited (by Canadian standards) insulation, leave the water trickling throughout the cold snap. Any cost for water is minor compared to repairing burst pipes.

Rgds, D.

Years ago, when we had a overnight low of 9 degrees I did drip some water and we had no problems. This year, THE FORECAST for the first cold night was for 9 and we went to 6. We had no problems even though I did not drip a water line. I actually started a drip on the second night but figured it was not needed since it was going to be warmer. Of course, it was the second night that got us. The forecast for the second night was for a low of 15 but we hit 10/11. Our wood stove just could not keep up with this deep cold lasting a few days. We really need a second stove but we can't justify the expense since this deep, long, lasting cold only lasts a few days at a time and the current stove will keep the house at 74ish.

Ironically, I think the solution to the frozen pipe issue is to fix the freeze less faucet that froze. :shocked: The plumber told us that if the freeze less faucet froze, he would have to tear out the drywall to replace the faucet. :shocked: Well, the faucet froze 9 years ago and we have not fixed it because, we do not use it much, did not want to spend the money, nor tear up the wall. I figured once we do get the frozen freeze less faucet fixed, we would install a door that would allow us easy access to that wall in the future. I am pretty sure that the freeze less faucet is in the same internal wall where the water supply line enters the house. Hopefully, we can either insulate the water supply line and/or put in a heater. Most likely just having a door that would allow more heated air into the wall would keep the line from freezing. I hope.

Even more ironically, our house has quite a bit of insulation. We have more than the recommended amount in the attic and we have 2x6 walls with R19 as well as 1 inch of rigid insulation for another 5-7 R value. That supply line just happens to come into the house at a point where the cold can just sneak in a get the line. I suspect the outdoor faucet and the exterior door are allowing the cold air to get to the supply line and the water was freezing where the pipe comes up from below grade.

Yet more irony, I bought a pipe heater for the well house on Tuesday night. The well house is heated by CFLs and did just fine. But I decided that a pipe heater in the well house was worth the money for a backup to my lights, which are backed up by more lights than I think I need, for this deep cold. When the water stopped flowing, I figured it was the well house that froze but the well house was 40-45. Figured for $30 it was worth putting in the pipe heater just in case. $30 is nothing compared to a frozen well house.

Later,
Dan

 

[3930dave]

I remember a particular cold season where i had to leave my water tap going to keep it from freezing, it did pretty well until a particularly cold night. I woke up and saw ice had cascaded over the side of the sink like a frozen waterfall with a frozen pond on the floor. There was a stalactite of ice from the faucet to the sink. The whole works was frozen back up into the pipes. I wished i'd taken a picture, but that wasn't what was crossing my mind when i saw the mess.:laughing:

Now, that's cold ! :shocked:

Forgot to stoke up the fire, before going to bed ? Yikes !

Rgds, D.