We made it through my birthday without the traditional freezing of the pipes, but 2010 is a new year with troubles of its own.
We woke up Friday to dry taps in the tub, and only cold water in the kitchen and bathroom sinks. We’re hardy, pioneering stock so we didn’t panic. We heated water on the stove for dishes, and to thaw the chicken waterer. No baths, but we got by. We figured if the pipes didn’t thaw by Saturday, we’d take baths at Grandma’s house nearby. It would work out fine since there’s a huge family gathering at their house anyway. We’re all going to be there – most of the 14 siblings plus offspring and spouses. We’ll just bring some clean clothes and towels. One of their bathrooms is under construction so they only have one right now, but we’re all family. We can make it work.
By Friday night, the hot water in the tub had begun a slow trickle – hurrah! But we had a new problem: the drain had frozen. Water was coming in, but none was going out. This was a problem. We couldn’t take baths like that. We couldn’t even leave the water dripping overnight to keep it from freezing again – the tub would fill and overflow.
There was no way around it. I had to go outside and do the hair dryer thing under the house. The temperature was 20 degrees and falling, so I bundled up. I headed out with a hair dryer and an extension cord, impressing upon the children that if they loved me someone would be out to take my place in 10 minutes.
When I got down there, I was greeted by a rushing geyser. The cold supply to the washer had burst. I found the cutoff valve (my very smart hubby built cutoff valves into every part of every pipe where we might need them!) and took care of that. No laundry until we fix it or until hubby is back in town. Good thing we were caught up on laundry.
I got back to my original purpose, thawing the bathtub drain. Two children joined me (they do love me!) and the process went surprisingly quickly. We had an open drain in less than 10 minutes. Hurrah! Baths!
Somehow, nobody took a bath last night. Not one. What were they thinking? I’m afraid to peer too deeply into those recesses.
Somebody who shall remain nameless swears that she left both the warm and cold water dripping, but this morning the hot was frozen again. Worse yet, when I went under the house, I found another burst pipe. This one was right at the first elbow coming from the water heater. I had to shut off the supply to the water heater. No hot water til we fix it or til hubby is back in town.
Now we were back to plan A, right? Baths at Grandma’s? No. I called Grandma, and all of their water is frozen. They have no hot or cold running anywhere in the house. They are using a 55 gallon drum of water they brought home last night. They have 7 children living at home, plus – remember this part? – a houseful of company today.
Now we’re up to Plan C: Heat water on the stove for baths and dishes. Small people can bathe in an 18 gallon rubbermaid tote to conserve hot water. Hair might get washed in cold water in the sink.
Country living at its best.
We have been leaving our hot and cold water on in almost every sink in our house. Nevertheless, it has all frozen 4 nights in the past couple weeks. The unnamed person may really have turned on both.
Mary Jo,
I think you’re right. I’m mostly just ribbing her. I think I tend to be too conservative when we leave the water running, and some of the children have learned from me that “all it takes is a steady drip.” This isn’t necessarily true when the temp dips into the low teens.
Our married daughter in Mckinney too woke up with frozen pipes. I never knew Texas would get that cold!! Kind of slaps the whole global warming thing in the face.
Right there with you. We are cutting off some of our water and draining the lines at night. This AM husband turn the water back on and went back to bed for a little while. By the time he went to take a shower the line was frozen. Second time in a week to stand in the shower with a hairdryer! Thankfully, no busted pipes yet. We haven’t thawed enough to find them. :0
We are in Alabama! The only time this week it got above freezing is during our snowstorm, so then it melted our pretty snow.
Berean Wife
We live in the SA area hill country too, and we also have frozen pipes for the first time since moving here (4 years). We thought we had prepared, but clearly not enough for this much cold.
Oh my! I’m so thankful to not have frozen or busted pipes. I thought for sure TX would not have this problem. I’m in East TN and so far we’ve not had those problems. Coldest it’s been in years, but just a lot of snow so far. Tricia’s right…what about global warming?! lol
We turn of the main water and drain all pipes in the house, but hubby went out this morning at 9:30 and turned the water back on. Within an hour we had frozen pipes … and later when the water unfroze we realized we had two busted spots… and yes, in Texas. I am near Beaumont and we are supposed to get 18 degrees tonight. Yikes! I have had enough of this already. Thank God for summer!! Anyway, we are not getting to clean around here… I have dishes to do… but I am going to wait until morning … yuk… I just don’t want to venture outside to haul water in and heat it on the stove… brrrrr cold out there! I had to go out today and drag up a wagon of firewood and that was enough for me!
We are supposed to get a high of 44 tomorrow, though. Someone that still doesn’t excite me… still cold!
I am so glad I live in AZ. It was 70 in the afternoon this week. What is cold water?
I am sorry for your woes… they did remind me of my time in Ecuador, Peru and Colombia where people take baths by using heated water from the stove and using buckets. I hope everything gets fixed soon.
OK, dumb question from the Canadian. I get that prolonged cold isn’t normal in the southern US, but if it happens regularly enough that you were pleased to have skipped your annual birthday freezing of the pipes, then why don’t basements become the norm there? Only reason I can think of is the cost, but how much damage and lost time is caused by having to defrost pipes, run hair dryers and make pipe repairs? How can you go away in the winter even for a few day and leave your house wondering if every pipe in the place have burst by the time you get back? Just wondering.
Jenn,
Weather like this is truly unusual where we live. Average winter temps are in the 60′s during the day and 40′s at night. Unprotected plumbing is rather common here, but most people do have insulation on their pipes to help with those extra cold nights that dip below freezing. The first couple of years we didn’t have that because we built our own house and haven’t finished many small details.
But in spite of several “soft” freezes, this year was the first time any of our pipes have burst.
My point is, frozen pipes only occasionally happen here and then it’s a brief inconvenience. Broken pipes are, I think, truly rare – like temps in the teens!
Sorry to hear of your trouble! Is there any way to insulate the pipes so that you have less problems this way?? I am not sure how it works, but here in north central PA, it was ten below last night, and somehow ours didn’t freeze!! We don’t have a basement, either…Maybe the pipes are used to it?? hmmmmm. Showers for church today?? Oh well, at least you started the hair rinse thing a while ago!! (ie didn’t need to shampoo;)
wow! I’m so sorry! I’m very impressed though – you seem to have handled all that very well (I dont think I would have).
To Jenn in Canada from Jenn in Texas
Where I live we don’t have basements because it is considered “swampland” and we have lots of bayous. Basements would flood all the time. Talk about a headache! I’m not sure they would have that problem at Kim’s house, because she lives a fair bit away from me, but here it is even more unusual to have this cold weather than where she lives! It’s okay, you don’t understand why we don’t have basements, and I don’t understand how you use things like chains on your tires.
Thanks for the info. I’m glad to hear the problem is so rare that the odd inconvenience is the better option. Funny, I don’t think of there being swampy areas in Texas. Guess I’ve just never been to those parts.
Jenn in Texas – FYI chains are illegal in all provinces in Canada as far as I know, because they destroy the pavement. Our roads are normally ashphalt which is somewhat flexible, and not cement which would heave and crack in the winter. I’ve heard of tire chains but never even seen a set. I think in my grandparents era they may have been used, but now you’d be fined. I don’t even think anyone sells them here because you can’t use them. I always assumed they were used by folks in the northern US where they get snow regularly, but perhaps not enough to justify getting snow tires, which is what most people here do. There are still lots of people here who think they’ll be fine driving around on all season tires in the winter. They’re the same folks who are stunned when they wind up in a ditch or slide into your trunk when you are able to stop on ice and they can’t. But that’s a whole different conversation!
Hope you all warm up soon. We’re having “warm” day here by January standards. It’s up to 24F! Woo Hoo! Guess everything’s relative – it’s better than the -40 we had a few weeks ago.
There is a product used in RVs very often called heat tape. You wrap your pipes with it and insulation. You could wrap them and only plug in the heat tape when you see there is going to be a cold snap.
Yes, we’re looking into heat tape – but it’s not cheap for a whole house of plumbing. We certainly need to come up with a better solution than we have now.