quote:

Originally posted by AdagioM:
A friend who lives in a mid-century (guessing?) ranch home has frozen pipes as of yesterday.

I don't know if your friend can try to heat the pipes with a blow dryer to try to melt the blockage. Even if the blockage is down the pipe a ways, sometimes heating the metal of the pipe is enough to get the ice block to free up. Then the faucets need to be dripping to keep it from happening again.

If the friend can't get the blockage melted, the main water supply valve needs to get shut off, and all the faucets opened up to drain the system as much as possible. If that doesn't happen, the ice block will continue to grow and because ice has a greater volume than the corresponding amount of water, the pipe will split. The problem will manifest itself when it gets warmer and the ice melts on its own. If the water main hasn't been shut off, the water will start spraying all over inside the wall.

Don't ask me how I know this.

So three days of being cozy in the house, and I am ready for it to warm up a little so I can go outside….

quote:

Originally posted by wtg:

quote:

Originally posted by AdagioM:
A friend who lives in a mid-century (guessing?) ranch home has frozen pipes as of yesterday.

I don't know if your friend can try to heat the pipes with a blow dryer to try to melt the blockage. Even if the blockage is down the pipe a ways, sometimes heating the metal of the pipe is enough to get the ice block to free up. Then the faucets need to be dripping to keep it from happening again.

If the friend can't get the blockage melted, the main water supply valve needs to get shut off, and all the faucets opened up to drain the system as much as possible. If that doesn't happen, the ice block will continue to grow and because ice has a greater volume than the corresponding amount of water, the pipe will split. The problem will manifest itself when it gets warmer and the ice melts on its own. If the water main hasn't been shut off, the water will start spraying all over inside the wall.

Don't ask me how I know this.

I passed this info on. Thank you!

I turned on the kitchen faucet and zero water pressure. Since I had been running water five minutes earlier, I knew it couldn't be frozen pipes; that doesn't happen that fast. Looked out the front window and can see public works trucks down the street...broken water main...

Oh wow - that’s not good.

The public works crew did a great job. Water was back on in an hour. Fastest repair I can recall, especially given the cold weather. A main broke about four blocks down last week and it took them seven hours. But that was in the middle of the night, and it wasn't nearly as cold. And it didn't affect us.

I went over and thanked them for taking care of us. I need to go over to Costco and buy a bunch of grab-n-go snacks and energy bars and drop them off at public works. They are a great group. I would have brought hot coffee from Dunkin' this morning to the crew on our street, except by the time they'd have gotten it, it would have been iced.

Wow, wtg, how fortunate that it was resolved so quickly!!

We have our kitchen tap dripping, the prop company recommended it.

I will be very glad when this cold weather passes, it just makes me nervous. I've had a hard time falling asleep the last two nights because I'm afraid something will happen or go wrong. Like, if the power goes out, we're really screwed...

I maybe worry too much...

Yes, last night the house was making some terrible creaks - it does that when it gets cold, but i couldn’t sleep, my brain was going a million miles an hour so I was up in the living room from 12:30am to 4 pm watching stupid videos on YouTube. . It was -30 degrees this morning. Not sure it will get above zero today. But supposed to get above freezing by the weekend, it will be a welcome relief.

quote:

terrible creaks - it does that when it gets cold

That's one of the things I hate!!

It was -30 on the thermometer this morning. The forecast is for a high of 17 above for tomorrow, but my reaction at this point is "promises, promises." They keep lowering the forecast high because this cold trough doesn't seem to want to budge. Now they are saying it will move on "very slowly."

We're supposed to get a lot of snow the next few days and then back to highs in the 40s next week. Can't wait. Mr. Pique and I are like, "well that was fun. now can we return to our regularly scheduled programming?"

House is in good shape. Much warmer than last year when it got this cold. Not sure why. We did lose the use of one toilet, but after careful examination of the crawlspace, which is in the 60s, it appears it is just a broken intake valve and not a frozen pipe keeping water from entering the tank. We can get the parts when it warms up.

I cancelled my eye appointment in Missoula for today. None of the cars will start at 30 below, and besides, the road report map shows black ice for the majority of the interstate route. We need to get studded snows for the new cars.

pique, it's definitely smart to stay home when it's that cold!! Yikes!

People have had to have their EVs towed to charging stations.

quote:

On Monday, dozens of Tesla owners were seen desperately trying to power up their cars at a Tesla supercharging station in Oak Brook, Illinois, Fox 32 reported. One driver, Tyler Beard, told the outlet he'd been trying to charge the EV since Sunday afternoon.

He said his Tesla was "still on zero percent" despite spending more than six hours at the supercharger.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/auto...with-evs/ar-AA1n3cLb

And a sidebar:

quote:

Last week Hertz said it was selling tens of thousands of Teslas — about a third of its total — partly due to the cost of repairs.

I guess I must be getting used to this weather. I took the dog out a little while ago and thought "Gee, it doesn't feel that bad out here. Myabe I should go for a walk after lunch." Came back in to check the temp to see if it was as balmy as I thought. It's 1 degree out there, with a wind chill of -17.

I think I'll skip the walk and have a cup of hot coffee instead....

We are currently awaiting the freezing rain/ice storm. Due in the next hour. The second of this one-two polar punch. Should warm up to 40 tomorrow, but not sure how long it will take to thaw everything out with the warmer rain.

Growing up, this was the weather my dad would say "get your skis, no one will be on the slopes!" and off we would go...

I learned the value of covering up skin and dressing in layers. And enjoyed short lift-lines!