Well...
Wind chill of single digits...
Heaters on in the kitchen/bathroom/mudroom kept the inside temp in the low 50's...
But it was all for naught:
Stepped out of the car and the yard had standing water. I knew what that meant. We had burst pipes. I looked under the house and there was water pouring out.
I called "R" from 2nd Family and he said the valve should have shut off all the water. I called a plumber (all closed Saturday/Sunday for Christmas) and left a message. "R" called back and suggested turning the valve on and off a few times, there could be debris or corrosion keeping it from completely shutting off. So I tried that, sticking my hand down in a tube filled with near freezing water, ha, and turned it as hard as I could. It slowed to a trickle and stopped. Phew. Crisis (temporarily) averted.
We don't need water at the house right away. We're not out there in the Winter and I'm only watering so we'll deal with the pipe later. We still have January and February to deal with potential arctic blasts. I can turn it on, water the plants on the porch and turn it back off.
In GOOD news...
So 14 last Thursday, 75 this Thursday.
Gotta love Houston weather!
We crawled under the house to check and I told "R" that I tried but I guess it wasn't good enough. He said "well, look at it this way, you only had a one foot section of pipe freeze, everything else, all the other pipes, including the pipes under your sinks, were OK so you did do something right. Replacing a one foot section instead of ALL of it is way better".
OK, I will accept that victory, ha!
Good to have someone point out the positive rather then the negative! However, I am sorry it happened at all!
ReplyDeleteI would have taken that too! Our count so far is up to 4 and we still have an issue at kitchen faucet. Finally turned water back on today after 3 days without. Waiting for crew to come assess our damage, insulation keeps blowing in the kitchen from the 4 sf hole in the ceiling. Here’s to a better 2023 with no once in a lifetime storms! Deb
ReplyDeleteOoh, darn. We have a warm crawlspace where the pipes are, so far so good. Seems like everyone else in town has had some kind of trouble with the pipes freezing, mostly due to the heat going out.
ReplyDeleteOnwards and upwards, and keeping my fingers crossed for you.
~Jo
The weather is crazy all over. It was -8 on Friday for a high and now this coming Friday is supposed to be a high of 60 degrees. Sorry to hear about the frozen pipe. A lot of people experienced that with this latest cold front. It sounds like the damage could have been a lot worse.
ReplyDeleteoh god, frozen pipes are such a nightmare. i'm glad yours was not too serious. we were -32 windchill yesterday and sunday it will be 61 degrees. unreal! a late merry xmas and a happy new year to you guys!
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear about your pipe freezing, but thank goodness; looking on the bright side that it wasn't any worse. Better days will come.
ReplyDeleteLooks like you done what you could do at the time.
At least the plants are looking good. They never would have made it if they where still on the porch.
Take care and have a wonderful evening.
At least nothing ran into house. That is a big plus as water lines broken in the sink or bathroom would be rather tragic. Maybe someone can check the valves to see if replacing them might help avoid this problem next time. Let's hope there is no next time, but insurance is a good thing. And, you saved the plants!
ReplyDeleteWhat an unpleasant surprise to find at the Farm. You did everything you could to protect them. Pipes under houses on blocks are just so vulnerable to the very low temps we had. At least it was only a small section.
ReplyDeleteGlad all of your plants survived so beautifully. That would have been heartbreaking to lose them.
I am sooo going to appreciate the 70’s that are coming!
I'm sorry, guys. That's a mess and expensive. Glad you were able to at least minimize the issue. We were frozen in - double digits, and have 40's expected this week. Crazy swings.
ReplyDeleteIn the future, can you turn off the water and drain the pipes? I know a number of people in my neighborhood had frozen pipes. I was fortunate to come through unscathed.
ReplyDeleteLove,
Janie