Winter Tips for Plumbing

[Griff]

@ molasar: I've seen it done. It may account in part for my current sobriety. I wasted three years at a technical school after high school. The machine trades guys had hot, cold, and lager at their kitchen sink.

[Molasar]

Originally Posted by Griff

@ molasar: I've seen it done. It may account in part for my current sobriety. I wasted three years at a technical school after high school. The machine trades guys had hot, cold, and lager at their kitchen sink.

is that house for sale by any chance?
I could easily put a new slow-running tap on it for Guinness

and for the record I don't suffer from sobriety, except allowing generous 'bottle to throttle' time for driving. :halo:

[busterb]

I've heard that you can stick a short 2x4 into toilet and ice will climb and keep bowl from freezing.

[Molasar]

Originally Posted by busterb

I've heard that you can stick a short 2x4 into toilet and ice will climb and keep bowl from freezing.

presumably a softwood.
a bit of random hardwood timber eg. oak teak or mahogany wouldn't have enough 'give' to absorb the pressure of the enclosing ice (which could still crack the pan/bowl under the pressure) whereas a bit of pine would be better.
a common sense thought that may be total BS but makes sense to me.
I guess something like a hollow plastic or foam-filled stress ball (that floats half above and half below the water line) would do the same.
best not give it to the kids to play with afterwards though. yeuch

[footfootfoot]

85% of the houses around here were built in the early 1800s and are uninsulated.

The foundations are dry stacked stone or mortared with sand and lime. The people living in the houses have trouble paying for heat AND food and certainly can't afford to parge their entire foundation inside and out.

Your argument is invalid.

[xoxoxoBruce]

And 38% don't own the joint.

[tw]

Originally Posted by footfootfoot

85% of the houses around here were built in the early 1800s and are uninsulated.

Then insulate it. Or, even better, get a kid to insulate it. 1800 vintage foundations can be plastered and fixed. Living in a home with defects does not justify those defect. Eliminating such problems are easy and often inexpensive. Pipes freeze when a defect is ignored.

Just because that makes you angry does not mean it is wrong or is an attack. It is a simple reality that applies to any old house that exists in a 21st Century modern society. Moving pipes to not freeze and installing insulation is now so easy that even teenagers can do it. You can get angry or you can eliminate the problem with trivial solutions.

If a frost line is 4 feet, then water pipes were buried more than 4 feet. Or that line is reburied deeper. How often are street mains freezing? Never. Because proper and standard workmanship is used.

Obviously that is not an attack. But some get angry (emotional) rather than realize a problem need not exist. The solution is so easy that you should be saying, "Good idea." Or should be asking for better ways to elminate a problem that need not exist. That is a logical response.

The house is historic because "George Washington slept here". Heat is turned down every night. That 1700s house has minimal changes (because it is historic) They did maintenance using proper workmanship. So its water pipes do not freeze.

Simple solutions never justified such an emotional outburst.

[footfootfoot]

Ed Zachary.

[footfootfoot]

Oh my god.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Ed Zachary.

[Griff]

Somebody needs to spend time with the working poor. That is coming through across threads.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by Griff

Somebody needs to spend time with the working poor.

They would kill his smug ass in an hour.

[orthodoc]

If even teenagers can rebury pipes more than four feet deep from main to interior valve, surely you can, tw. Come now, do the adult thing and show these non-teenagers (and teenagers) how it's done.

Or live on the income of those who work three jobs and are still precarious, and see how much money and energy you have left at the end of the day (more likely, night) to rebury those pipes. Or just spend time with those who are more dedicated, energetic, and resourceful than you, but who still face challenges they aren't responsible for. It might move you toward becoming an adult.

[tw]

Originally Posted by orthodoc

If even teenagers can rebury pipes more than four feet deep from main to interior valve, surely you can, tw. Come now, do the adult thing and show these non-teenagers (and teenagers) how it's done.

Silly me. I tought that if someone missing one arm can do it, then anyone else can.

[sexobon]

Like wow man, that’s what Lieutenant Gerard said to Dr. Richard Kimble, déjà vu!