Thursday, February 3, 2011

An Ounce Of Prevention

An ounce of prevention would have saved me from a big headache this morning. I knew it was going to freeze last night but I didn't check the forecast so I thought it was going to be 28 degrees or so. That usually doesn't make my pipe freeze. I threw a towel over the pipe just in case and filled some gallons of water in case it did freeze and I didn't have water in the morning.

Well, I didn't have water this morning so I fed and watered the dogs like usual and then went out to the RV. As I passed the water tank I noticed this...


That's a big crack. The wind had blown the towel off of half of the pipe and it was completely frozen and cracked for approximately 2 feet. I went in the RV and called my boss to tell him I would be late. Then I thought about what to do. It was 18 degrees outside and the RV was freezing cold too. I didn't want to do any plumbing in that weather and wasn't sure PVC glue would even work in the cold. Luckily I added a screw release component to the pipe and the crack stopped there. After that there is a shut-off valve. The valve was frozen but I thought that if I could get that closed then at least I wouldn't lose my precious water supply.

What did I do next? I took advantage of my good excuse and went back to bed. I was wearing 6 layers on top including a jacket plus 2 layers on the bottom and 2 pairs of socks plus there was a flannel sheet, down comforter and blanket on the bed. The space heater was going too. I was still freezing. I managed to get a little bit of sleep and then got up because I was still cold. I haven't turned on my RV furnace in 2 years but I was desperate so I turned it on and it worked! I was so happy but now I will need to get more propane on Saturday before the furnace uses it all and my propane fridge stops working.

So, after taking a nap and warming up the RV, I braved the cold again and hooked my blow dryer up to an extension cord and thawed the valve. After a few minutes it was shut so I got ready for work and worked a half of day. When I got to work I found out that 3 other coworkers had frozen or broken pipes too. Then I got on Facebook and saw that most of my Tucson friends had plumbing problems. People were asking me if I was going to hire a plumber and I said no, I did the plumbing so I can fix it. I don't even want to think about what a plumber would charge. It was a totally preventable problem. I just didn't expect it to get that cold. Other people suggested that I leave my water dripping but they don't know the strange set up that I have out here. Even if I caught the water in a bucket to re-use, the water pump would wake us all up every 3 minutes. It is very noisy. Next time I need to wrap the pipe well. It isn't that hard. It's only 3 feet of pipe.

Anyway, the water in the RV seems to be having problems too. I haven't figured out the problem yet. The cold water was working this morning but not the hot. This evening neither was working. I looked at the forecast and it will be 65 on Saturday. I'm going to have to do without a shower until then. I forgot to take my gallon jug to work today but I will bring them tomorrow. The main thing that I need is water for the dogs.

Oh and I cut 4 inches off of my hair. I have been running out of hot water at the end of my showers so I figured cutting my hair would make it faster to wash and rinse. Now that I don't have hot water for showers maybe I should shave my head...haha.

2 comments:

Dave said...

I saw the weather reports for Tucson and I thought about you. Hard to believe it is as cold there as it is here in New York. [I also saw that it was warmer in Anchorage, Alaska, than it was in Houston, Texas, so go figure!] Are you really going to do the BALD thing?

Then again, we won't see 65 degree temps until late March or April.

You did not post your mortgage progress for January with all the doggie and rental property updates. Inquiring minds need to know.....

Daizy said...

Dave, my mortgage progress was boring last month but I keep meaning to post it and then more bad stuff happens!