Still cold.\u00a0\u00a0 Still damp.\u00a0\u00a0 Still windy.\u00a0\u00a0 26F when I went to bed, and likely still pretty close to that at the start of today.\u00a0 It did get above freezing, at least in the sun, for a bit yesterday.<\/p>\n
We had some frozen pipes.\u00a0\u00a0 Namely the cold water supply to the on-demand water heater, which we moved from inside the house, to outside when we replaced our tank water heater.\u00a0 All the lines were insulated at install, but for whatever reason, 8 inches of galvanized pipe coming out of the house and a valve were not insulated.\u00a0\u00a0 The bypass valves at the heater unit were also not insulated.\u00a0 Predictably, that is what froze.\u00a0\u00a0 It took a while to slowly thaw, using an incandescent light bulb applied to the big valve and cold water line, and then later adding a ceramic ‘personal’ heater under the pipes and the unit, but we escaped without damage to the pipes or the heater itself.<\/p>\n
Some lessons were learned.\u00a0 I forgot about the hot water heater.\u00a0\u00a0 I forgot it was hanging out in the wind on the side of the house, and I didn’t even check to see if the pipes were insulated.\u00a0 When my wife thought of it, I was already in my jammies ready for bed, and didn’t go out to check in the 17F wind.\u00a0 I decided to go to bed and let fate take its course.\u00a0 LAZY!\u00a0 Of course I woke up to no hot water.\u00a0\u00a0 I don’t know if the additional insulation would have kept the pipe from freezing.\u00a0\u00a0 I don’t know if the “skirt” I’d planned to build to enclose the lower half of the unit and cover the pipes would have been enough.\u00a0\u00a0 The combination probably would have been, especially if I put a lamp bulb in there to raise the ambient temp.<\/p>\n
So ‘prepper fail’ for sure.\u00a0\u00a0 If the job of installing the heater had been properly finished, likely no issues.\u00a0 If I’d checked, no issues.\u00a0 We got lucky.\u00a0\u00a0 Now, I did have the propane fired on-demand water heater we’ve been using for the outdoor shower at the BOL I could have plumbed in if the heater got damaged.\u00a0 Or I could have used one of the two used on-demand heaters I’ve got stored in the attic at my rent house, or even the used on-demand heater I’ve got stored at the BOL, because if the heater got damaged, there would likely be a lot of people with damaged heaters and zero in stock to buy.\u00a0\u00a0 That happened last time.\u00a0\u00a0 I didn’t want to be in that position, so I bought the used one at the BOL as a spare.\u00a0 NOT breaking the heater would be the best option by far.\u00a0 And I didn’t take the steps I should have taken.<\/p>\n
I also have most of my plumbing supplies and tools at the BOL.\u00a0\u00a0 I would be hard pressed to do more than very basic stuff here, and probably wouldn’t have the fittings.\u00a0 I certainly wouldn’t be in a position to help other neighbors like last year.\u00a0 Now my neighbors at the BOL- them I could help, and I let two of them know where the stuff was and how to get to it if needed.\u00a0 It’s clear\u00a0 that managing stores and logistics for this house and the BOL, making decisions about what and how much to stack at each location, is going to involve duplication and some compromise.\u00a0 I need to get more serious about equipping the BOL with its own set of tools and supplies.\u00a0 Can’t compromise the place we live most of the time, and don’t want to be moving stuff back and forth all the time.<\/p>\n
That goes for food, water, meds, household supplies, etc.\u00a0\u00a0 I really need to make a place for a lot more stuff to be transferred and stored up there.\u00a0 That is why I bought the shelving units from the circus estate.\u00a0 Need to execute on the plan…<\/p>\n
The biggest difference between this cold snap and the last one is that we didn’t lose power.\u00a0 That makes all the difference.\u00a0\u00a0 Also, it’s going to be a much shorter event.\u00a0 Probably.\u00a0\u00a0 Touch wood.<\/p>\n
Today I’ll be in last minute present wrapping and food preparing mode.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Then we’ll open most of the gifts tonight.\u00a0\u00a0 Some will be tomorrow morning.\u00a0\u00a0 We’ll eat Christmas dinner here, then head to the BOL later Christmas day (probably.)\u00a0 Or we might just stay here, and mom will see the BOL next visit.\u00a0\u00a0 Don’t really know.\u00a0\u00a0 I might end up driving up by myself to unload my tower, and check on everything.\u00a0\u00a0 It’s all kinda fluid at the moment.<\/p>\n
Enjoy the days.\u00a0\u00a0 I hope you get some good preps from the jolly fat man.<\/p>\n
nick<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Still cold.\u00a0\u00a0 Still damp.\u00a0\u00a0 Still windy.\u00a0\u00a0 26F when I went to bed, and likely still pretty close to that at the start of today.\u00a0 It did get above freezing, at least in the sun, for a bit yesterday.<\/p>\n
We had some frozen pipes.\u00a0\u00a0 Namely the cold water supply to the on-demand water heater, which we moved from inside the house, to outside when we replaced our tank water heater.\u00a0 All the lines were insulated at install,<\/p>\n