It's cold.
REALLY cold*.
Like, a week ago when I saw the forecasts, I started praying that our pipes wouldn't freeze, because they freeze with much warmer temperatures than the -10 that was in the forecasts. They tend to freeze when wind chills get into the single digits, so, with the actual temperature below zero, I wasn't optimistic.
Earlier this winter, we left water dripping around the house, and the cold water pipes froze for a couple days. This time around, we were careful to leave the cold water dripping, to avoid that. Yesterday, the hot water pipes froze. Alas, neither is immune.
Around 4am last night, the hot water pipes thawed, and now BOTH hot and cold water are dripping from every faucet. Except the bathtub. Because the bathtub drain is frozen, even though we put salt water down the drain hoping to avoid this. My favorite part: the air coming up from the bathtub drain is so cold that water near the drain on the surface of the bathtub has turned to ice.
In case you worry, our house stays a comfortable temperature. I won't be turning into an Joannasicle anytime soon. But, I might get stinky, since I can't take a shower until the bathtub drain thaws!**
I <3 old houses, really.
*This is coming from the girl who grew up in Georgia & Hawaii. My readers from Montana & Alaska are probably not particularly sympathetic.
** Just kidding! We have loving family & friends who have offered for us to come over should we need a shower. And, yes, I've taken them up on the offer at least once.
3 comments:
We live in Maine and got up to -24 degrees this morning. We also live in a mobile home so an electric heat tape is a must. Had you thought of using one of these on your pipes? They are woderful. We plug in around November and unplug aroud April. They don't raise your electric bill much and save all the hassle of frozen pipes.
Oh, we have heat tape on at least some of the pipes, and it was turned on. Awesome, I know.
I think the solution to this is new siding & insulation on the west side of the house (there are holes in our siding where the wind can get in, and the wind comes from the west, and most the plumbing is on that wall), and that's a big expensive project that may or may not happen this summer.
The wind chill here was in the -24 range, but not the air temperature! Wow! Maybe I shouldn't complain TOO much!
We are freezing here too, but not our pipes thankfully. I was also going to suggest heat tape, but I guess I don't need to. :)
My biggest complaint is trying to keep the animals watered. It is almost a full time job in this weather. So happy it is going to start warming tomorrow!
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