Off to a great start

[stetto]

SH*%@>)**&T!

Got down to -30 last night. ONE stupid pipe froze. Just one.

The most important one in the house. The feed to the master bath toilet....

I so don't want to tear that wall out.

I've had a hair dryer on it for an hour, nuthin'.

I'm going to have to tear the wall out, aren't I.

Happy %&^$in' new year...

[zrct02]

yep.

[Frazz]

   I cant help myself Stetto.  I know you fish.  You probably have some corks laying around......   


Seriously, you may have to get to the pipe.  When it thaws it might leak anyway if its frozen that hard.  And I dont know your weather up there, but prolly not going to warm up for a while to let it thaw from the house heat.

[balsum fractus]

can you lay some electrical heating staps along the pipe???

Is it copper or plastic?? If it is copper, you can run a propane torch on it. Don't worry the solder will not melt.....

[stetto]

Whew! The freeze must have been pretty close to the outlet. It took me over an hour (yeah, I'm that belligerant) holding Mama's hairdryer to the pipe where it comes in, but water finally started to flow.

We have company coming today...

Now I'm going to be flushing the %&#$??)(* thing every 15 minutes to make sure it stays open.

If we can survive the winter I'll tear out the wall or go in from outside (under the deck) next spring and try to beef up the insulation or do the heat tape thing...

I'm just glad it wasn't the main....

Thanks for all that heartwarming support fellas!

[balsum fractus]

Glad you got the problem fixed for now... now you know what you need to do next summer...

[Frazz]

I was thinking about your freezup lately.   Any way of say.. sticking a oil dipstick heater in alongside the wall?  What kind of wall u talking about anyway.  Is it a cement wall on the outside of the house?  And how thick is it?     Been home kinda sick last few days and had time to ponder.

[stetto]

Hope you feel better soon Ron.

The house where the water line froze is 6" wood framed, but the area on the outside is under the back yard deck, right where an addition ties into the original structure. A cold wind can be felt downstairs where this tie-in is, and frost forms a full foot from the inside corner--NOT good for my team.

I'll be tearing up the decking to get at the spot in the Spring to tighten all this up. There are other issues down there, so the tear-out was a plan anyway.

For now, we flush early and often...

[Frazz]

So how is the ole terlet workin for ya now stetto?  And did the plumbers bill hold close to what he said? 

[stetto]

So far so good, Ron. Of course the temps have been "temperate" since. We just had a rain/sleet/ice/snow/blizzard over the weekend, and the temps are about to nosedive again.

Silly me, instead of tearing the walls apart and finding the offending breach in the wall I've been working on my recording studio...Finally roughing in electric and will have a 36" insulated steel door in the hole soon...Terrin's all for it, because I can get started on her office after I make room for all the junk stored in there...

'Sposed to be 20 below again Thursday night. I think I'll leave the handle down on the terlit....