North Texas "cold snap"

[dave1949]

At 6:00 AM this morning, I had one thermometer that said 7.5 and another one that read 5.9. I'm not sure which is the most accurate, but I think it's safe to say it's very cold. Brrrr! So far, no freezing problems, but I'm ready for some warmer weather. I have no intention of operating my tractor, and that's probably a good thing. I'd bet the diesel fuel in it is like jello. I think I bought it over a month ago and had it sitting in cans until Christmas. It was probably formulated for above freezing for sure.

Our low this morning was 11*F, guess you should start going north for the winter PS Bring your shovel.
Dave.

 

[jinman]

Our low this morning was 11*F, guess you should start going north for the winter PS Bring your shovel.
Dave.

Oh Dave...this cold weather just makes me appreciate how our normal weather is even more. I think I can handle this cold snap rather than what you have all winter long. By mid-week here, it's supposed to be back in the 50s during the daytime and no colder than the mid-30s at night. That's shirtsleeve weather compared to now.

 

[Western]

If any of you have ever hunted in Alaska, you'll know that cold temps in the winter don't do anything to the bug population in the summer!!!! The might not be very big, but there sure is allot of them.

Eddie

Good point..

Deer where out early yesterday.. 1:30 in the afternoon, guess they know this routine.

I have one line that is froze, the cold line in the kitchen. I hope it is a "soft" freeze, I had made some decaf last night and I guess I turned the water all the way off out of habit. Considering all the possibilities, I can deal with 1 ok..

Actually, though the temps are low, we got out of this pretty good. Just imagine if it came will allot of moisture!!

 

[EddieWalker]

I have frozen water lines this morning. It's the third day of freezing temps and I guess it's building up. I've never had this problem before, so it's all new to me. Obviously, I need to get my pipes insulated better. My water line coming in, goes to my water,which is in an uninsulated room on the side of my house. Then all of my water lines go from there, into the house. Where they are exposes, I wraped them with insulatation, which I thought would be fine. Obviosly it's not. I'm sitting here wondering how much more is it going to take to protect those lines. I have a terrible feeling that this is just a hint of what winter in Texas is going to be like in the future. Heck, it's just the beginning of winter and February is the month when it normallly gets cold.

Eddie

 

[Bird]

Well, I hope both of you do have frozen lines that will thaw without bursting. Usually, plenty of insulation is all we need in Texas, although some do use the heat tape. I've not used the heat tape myself, but during our RV days, I sure did keep a good hair dryer for thawing water lines. Some of the hair dryers put out a lot of hot air without bursting lines like a torch can do.

 

[mikim]

My water froze this am. Got it thawed in one place so we had water to use inside, went to town and came home to a gusher outside -- guess it all thawed out while we were gone. Now it's back to town to buy repair parts. At least pvc is easy to fix.

 

[EddieWalker]

Water is flowing again here, but I was sure nevous about ruptures. I

've had five phone calls from clients about fixing their ruptured water lines, and I'm busy with my own issues. I feel like crap not being able to be everywhere, for everyone right now.

This really is new to me and I'm feeling very uncomfortable about what is happening with the lines. I don't know if PVC glue works in 20 degree temps.

I've told every call that I'm busy with issues already and to call a licensed plumber.

Eddie

 

[Bird]

When it warmed up to 26 today I tried turning on the heat again in the shop and it's been running as smoothly and quietly as ever, so I guess I was luckier than some of you.

And yep, PVC is easy to repair if it's where you can get to it easily and if you're not working in a muddy hole in the ground. Many years ago I had a fellow working for me who lived in town, but had several acres in the country with a little cheap mobile home that he had completely re-plumbed with PVC. But then he failed to drain the lines once because he wasn't expecting the freeze we had. He told me that PVC shattered throughout the place, so he had to completely re-plumb it again.

 

[Egon]

Heat gun Eddie.

 

[jinman]

Eddie, a heatlamp or small portable electric heater will do wonders in that little room. Even at 5.9 degrees this morning, I have not had one problem because I use those small heaters where needed, and I also have a healthy dose of good luck.

 

[dave1949]

FYI
There is a cold temperature version of PVC pipe cement. They probably don't carry it in your area I am thinking.
Dave.

 

[dave1949]

Oh Dave...this cold weather just makes me appreciate how our normal weather is even more. I think I can handle this cold snap rather than what you have all winter long. By mid-week here, it's supposed to be back in the 50s during the daytime and no colder than the mid-30s at night. That's shirtsleeve weather compared to now.

Hey, if it makes you feel any better, it was 22* just before sundown about 5 hours ago, its 2* now. Crystal clear skies all day and the wind has dropped to just about dead calm. Perfect conditions for a chilly night.

I do hope you get back to normal soon. It is always a pain to deal with weird weather. We would be just as uncomfortable as you are now if we had a week of 90* weather.
Dave.

 

[Western]

Ok this was dumb.
The pipe this morning was hardly froze and opened without a hitch. Around noon I shut all the water off till evening, well the wife and I where watching the Cowboys whoop the snot out of the ,,oh what was their name.. oh yeah the Eagles, I had left the kitchen water off since it was being used pretty frequently. After the game we were at the fireplace and the wife said "geez" 10 pm and it's already 19 degrees" so I said "yeah, I better turn the water back on in the kitchen" well wouldn't you know it..both lines froze man this isn't a time for a "dumb moment", tomorrow I take the crew to Houston for 2 days, if the waters broke I will be in HOT water..

Eddie I have had good luck with exposed pipes using a heat lamp. When I lived in Colorado, the former homeowner had a set up like you described, water main came into the shop and tee'd of in about 10 different directions, I used an electric heater but ended up with the heat lamps since they used infrared type heat a little more effectively directed towards the pipes versus the 1000 watt coil heater I had..

 

[Uncle Doug]

Only 24 last night, we must be in a warming trend. No water issues other that the kitchen sink will not drain. I have another P trap under the house that must be froze. High today mid 40's should fix it on it's own as long as it's not broken.

Went an ran the tractor and RVT this morning and everything looks good with them.

I am officially on vacation for the next 2 weeks. I am ready for some warmer weather.

 

[EddieWalker]

12 degrees this morning and Steph wants to get some pictures, so we're off for a morning walk. Lake Marabou had ice over half of it yesterday afternoon, when we went down there to take a look. Now that we've had all night to freeze, we're curious to see what it looks like before the temps warm up.

Eddie

 

[jinman]

I didn't check any pipes in my cabin all day yesterday. Just before dark, I decided to walk down there and make a quick check of my heaters. When I got to the door on the side of the cabin, I saw frozen ice under the bottom of the door. Uh-oh! I opened the door to see all along one wall there was ice frozen on the floor. I scanned where I knew the pipes are and didn't see anything. Then, I saw it. Where I had left water dripping in the kitchen sink, the sinks were full and overflowing onto the floor. Sheesh! I had left the driping faucet because my cutoff valve is starting to fail and will not shut the water off completely. I didn't think about it, but the water just runs out a gray water pipe behind the cabin. Only the commode goes to the septic system. I walked behind the cabin to see a huge block of ice at the end of the drain and completely blocking it. All this is hidden from my view at the house. So my drain froze up and my dripping faucet partially flooded my cabin floor. The good thing is that I have vinyl and indoor/outdoor carpet over a treated plywood floor, so when the water thaws in the cabin, there won't be any damage to speak of. I tightened my cutoff some more and I think I got it shut off, but to be safe, I just went ahead and turned off all the faucets and shower. Everything above the floor was thawed anyhow. Only the floor itself was cold enough to freeze water.

I did get out yesterday and took some pictures of our 100% iced over lake and ponds. In the last photo, in the very near foreground, there is some snow on the bank around our slew. That snow is still there from Christmas Eve. It hasn't all thawed yet.

One more thing...Our Kawasaki Mule has the original battery from December 2004 when I bought it. The Mule was a bit sluggish turning over, but fired off and ran perfectly with the temperature hovering around 10 degrees. I was impressed since the Mule sits outdoors 24/7.

 

[Western]

Whew, got lucky again, at least now I know where I am vulnerable.

Jinman, could you get some of the ice out before it thaws? my decrease some of the melt damage. Is that a private corp. lake? all yours or do you share with neighbors? Looks nice.

 

[EddieWalker]

Great pictures Jim. I'm really surprised that you still have snow from Christmas Eve!!!

Steph and I took a walk this morning. It was 12 degrees when we left the house. Lake Marabou is about 80% frozen over. I tried to stand on the ice, but it broke. I guess it was about 3/4 of an inch thick. In another area, I was able to stand on it, but it was cracking and that sound is very scary!!!

We worked our way back to the house and Alissa Pond. The water was completely frozen over there. I hope my fish will be OK, but don't really know since this has never happened before. My ducks are walking around on the ice, and just sitting there. I though them out a bunch of corn and catfish food, but I'm not sure what they are drinking.

I was able to stand on the ice near the dock, and since it was so close to the house, I tried to walk out a bit to get a picture. I was only a foot or two away from the dock when the ice started cracking real loud. Since I was so close to the house, I stayed where I was longer then I should have. Now the ducks have open water to drink!!!

Steph got it on video, and I'm uploading it to youtube while typing this. I'll link to it on youtube when it's ready.

Eddie

 

[EddieWalker]

Me breaking through the ice.

YouTube - Eddie falling through the ice Jan 10.MOV

The ducks walking on the ice.

YouTube - Ducks walking across frozen, Alissa Pond Jan 10.MOV

Eddie

 

[jinman]

Eddie, I got a laugh watching you break through the ice, but I really enjoyed watching the ducks waddle across Alissa Pond much more. I considered throwing some corn out in the middle of my frozen ponds and then putting up a game camera to see what would be brave enough to go out there. Luckily for the critters, I'm out of corn, so my little "cruel" experiment will have to wait until another time.

Western, we share our lake with three other landowners who have frontage, and there is a "public" access point for landowners in our subdivision. Our deeded land actually extends out under the water so that if the lake ever drys up, the land is already owned. Since it is a soil conservation lake, in 100 years, it may be mostly dry land from silting in.