Tom MacIntyre wrote:

On Mon, 17 Jan 2005 18:27:48 GMT, Ken Weitzel
wrote:



Dave VanHorn wrote:

Come and visit Winnipeg. -29 now (mid afternoon; with -34 forecast
for tonight. And that doesn't include the windchill... with
it it will drop to the mid -40's :


Just for grins, how do you handle your plumbing to keep it from freezing?


Hi...

A few of the luckier of us have indoor plumbing nowdays...
Whatever will they think of next?

Seriously, it's no problem... I froze my water line
where it enters the house once many many years ago;
but 'twas my own fault, and easily cured. Finished
the basement, put R40 insulation on the outer walls.
Left the water line (where it exits the meter) tight
against the concrete wall so it was insulated from any
house heat.

One of my neighbors is in the Caribbean as we speak;
I go over daily and empty his mail box; go inside and
turn on one of the cold water taps, flush the toilet
a couple of times, make sure the furnace is still
holding the temperature up, and done. No problem.

Come on up and visit


I lived in a mini-home for awhile, and we needed both heat tape and
thick insulation for the water pipe behind the skirting where it left
the ground and entered the house. It froze several times on us, and
once frozen, was quite troublesome to thaw. Had it been a metal pipe
it would've been easier, I suppose.


Hi Tom...

Metal may well have been easier to thaw; just wave a
torch back and forth on it for a while. BIG downside
to metal, though. If it ever freezes solid, it's
going to burst the pipe, and then you have huge
problems to deal with.

Plastic on the other hand has enough give to it that it
doesn't burst.

Ken