The Conservative Cave
Interests => Around the House & In the Garage => Topic started by: compaqxp on January 24, 2011, 05:56:05 PM
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I woke up this morning to a house much colder then the 65 I have it set to all the time, I went to try and restart the furnace with success. I went outside to find the lock on my oil tank busted and the tank drained, the second time someone stole my oil. This happens all the time here and I thought I'd done enough to keep it from happening to me...I was wrong.
Now lets enter a new world of problems, I went to turn on the water and nothing came out anywhere in the house, meaning the pipe are frozen. :thatsright:
I've been riping this apart to visually inspect the pies and nothing appears to have ruptured yet, to be on the safe side I thawed the pipe around the main valve and shut it off just in case.
The oil company won't deliver until Wednesday and I don't want this to get worse. It's -15 right now and it's set to get colder. I've spent all day running around getting stuff and try to call a plumber but their all busy.
How screwed am I and what can I do about this? Anyone have advise?
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Get heat to the pipes. I don't know if you have a crawl space or a basement, but either way use space heaters and get it warmed up.
Good luck.
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When it gets below 10 degrees, we try and leave faucets dripping. As for thawing them out after the fact, we warm the house up as much as possible. A small salamander in the crawl space helps sometimes.
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Run down to Home Depot or Lowes and buy all the "pipe heat strips" they have. Wrap pipes and plug them in...get some part of them thawed so you can turn the water back on and start letting the faucets drip. Move on to the others.
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Can you or did you get some fuel oil in 5 gallon jugs...that should get the furnace going.
Outside of that get a small heater or possibly even a lead light and keep that at the pressure switch on the tank,then keep a faucet running as already suggested.
Be safe with any heater or heat source though.
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Can you or did you get some fuel oil in 5 gallon jugs...that should get the furnace going.
Outside of that get a small heater or possibly even a lead light and keep that at the pressure switch on the tank,then keep a faucet running as already suggested.
Be safe with any heater or heat source though.
He's a liberal, why worry? :-)
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We wound up with a frozen kitchen pipe last winter. We were very lucky it didn't rupture. What I did was put the space heater we have along with a fan blowing warm air into the kitchen sink cabinet. It thawed pretty well. (Texas had a week of 10 degree or below weather last winter which wreaked havoc throughout the town) With it difficult for us to tell where your pipe is frozen, it's difficult to tell how to correct the problem. Are you on a well or public water?
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I set up some heaters and I've paid someone to get me some oil as they have a big tank for it on their truck.
Run down to Home Depot or Lowes and buy all the "pipe heat strips" they have. Wrap pipes and plug them in...get some part of them thawed so you can turn the water back on and start letting the faucets drip. Move on to the others.
I'll look into those and possibly drive to town if I can. Thanks.
We wound up with a frozen kitchen pipe last winter. We were very lucky it didn't rupture. What I did was put the space heater we have along with a fan blowing warm air into the kitchen sink cabinet. It thawed pretty well. (Texas had a week of 10 degree or below weather last winter which wreaked havoc throughout the town) With it difficult for us to tell where your pipe is frozen, it's difficult to tell how to correct the problem. Are you on a well or public water?
My water comes from a well.
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I set up some heaters and I've paid someone to get me some oil as they have a big tank for it on their truck.
I'll look into those and possibly drive to town if I can. Thanks.
My water comes from a well.
If it is a deep well with the pump at the bottom there will be a gray box near the gauge at the tank.
It is connected with a short piece of 1/8 pipe and that freezes easily and will prevent the pressure switch from working.
If it is a shallow well with an external pump it will be on the pump itself and may be connected by nylon tubing,either way make sure that is thawed.
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My water comes from a well.
You may want to check and see if the well hasn't frozen. Somebody on here had that happen to them last winter.
Found it: http://www.conservativecave.com/index.php/topic,38977.0.html
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He's a liberal, why worry? :-)
Ehh...was almost -30 with frozen pipes at the tank here this morning so a moment of compassion. :p
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He's a liberal, why worry? :-)
Awww, come on, Thundley...... it's OK to be nice to some Liberals. Spread the love, ya know!! :tongue:
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Ehh...was almost -30 with frozen pipes at the tank here this morning so a moment of compassion. :p
I was being compassionate. I didn't recommend pouring fuel oil in his crawl space and lighting it on fire.
Our cold water pipe to the tub/shower had froze Friday, so I was stuck with taking a bath after running water and letting it cool down some.
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Run down to Home Depot or Lowes and buy all the "pipe heat strips" they have. Wrap pipes and plug them in...get some part of them thawed so you can turn the water back on and start letting the faucets drip. Move on to the others.
+1
I'd also pick up some motion sensor activated flood lights to install all around your oil tank, and the drive from your normal parking lots to it. Wow... I've never even heard of oil tank thefts being a problem. That's really terrible.
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Aw geez Compaq, that so sucks. I haven't any advice, I live in a place where we are fortunate not to have to deal with issues like that, because it never gets that cold. Seen a window AC unit get stolen in the summer time. I would definitely figure out a way to protect your oil in the future. That ain't right.
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Right now I've got a large Kerosene heater going a friend bought out to me and that has warmed up the basement considerably. The house is nearing 130 years old so the basement isn't much of anything, but most of the stuff is in it.
If it is a deep well with the pump at the bottom there will be a gray box near the gauge at the tank.
It is connected with a short piece of 1/8 pipe and that freezes easily and will prevent the pressure switch from working.
It's a deep well so I'll go check that now.
+1
I'd also pick up some motion sensor activated flood lights to install all around your oil tank, and the drive from your normal parking lots to it. Wow... I've never even heard of oil tank thefts being a problem. That's really terrible.
I think I will and possibly install a camera. Most times it's 25 to 50 gallons here and there that gets stolen. Having a tank drained is very uncommon. It was about 1/2 full maybe a bit more.
It's a major problem here, almost everyone gets oil stolen at some point or another, and thanks to people doing it at 3am they rarely get caught.
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Aw geez Compaq, that so sucks. I haven't any advice, I live in a place where we are fortunate not to have to deal with issues like that, because it never gets that cold. Seen a window AC unit get stolen in the summer time. I would definitely figure out a way to protect your oil in the future. That ain't right.
Here's a theft story from Texas for you. During the last hurricane a home owner was running a generator to keep some fans running to stay cool. Some scum bags wanted a generator on the cheap so they went into the garage in the middle of the night and started his lawn mower to he wouldn't hear the generator shut down and took the generator.
When the home owner woke up because he got hot he realized the fans were out and naturally assumed his generator ran out of gas but ... he could still 'hear' it. When he got outside he realized what happened.
That SUX!
KC
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And .... pipes freeze?! Really??
:-)
Sorry, I had to go there.
KC
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Here's a theft story from Texas for you. During the last hurricane a home owner was running a generator to keep some fans running to stay cool. Some scum bags wanted a generator on the cheap so they went into the garage in the middle of the night and started his lawn mower to he wouldn't hear the generator shut down and took the generator.
When the home owner woke up because he got hot he realized the fans were out and naturally assumed his generator ran out of gas but ... he could still 'hear' it. When he got outside he realized what happened.
:o I was half expecting the thief to have been overcome with CO poisoning before making off with the generator... but that really bites! Innovative thinking though, albeit he should still be staked to the rail lines :censored:
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And .... pipes freeze?! Really??
:-)
Sorry, I had to go there.
KC
Heh. Well, I know a whole bit of looting during hurricane season. I suppose it is the same in the cold, but it just seems different.
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When I was working Cable TV in St Paul, MN., we had a tornado blow through. Lost electricity in some areas so, due to the nature of the cable system, we installed generators up on the power supply boxes mounted on the utility poles, chained and locked. I maintained the cable system that took care of the schools, the city offices, and some of the State offices, called the "I-Net". I got a call from one of the schools in an affected area. I figured no problem, the generator just ran out of gas. I went and got some gas and proceeded to the pole that the power supply was on that fed the school. I got there and looked and no generator. I got out of the truck, certain that I had put a generator there and looked around. The soil was soft enough that I could discern two distinct marks from where a ladder had been placed. I also found the lock, cut. ****ers not only took the generator, but the chain that locked it to the pole and the extension cord that went to the power supply !!
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After a long night I have more or less fixed the issue. All of the house has water back except the kitchen sink which I'm working on.
What can I do to prevent this in the future?
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After a long night I have more or less fixed the issue. All of the house has water back except the kitchen sink which I'm working on.
What can I do to prevent this in the future?
Move to a more equatorial latitude.
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Move to a more equatorial latitude.
Sit on the fuel tank with a shotgun in your lap. I've had so much stolen from me in the last year it ain't even funny. I've only reported 6 robberies out of a dozen or more. The lady at the sheriffs department says that if I come out there one more time, people are going to think we have a thing going.
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Sit on the fuel tank with a shotgun in your lap. I've had so much stolen from me in the last year it ain't even funny. I've only reported 6 robberies out of a dozen or more. The lady at the sheriffs department says that if I come out there one more time, people are going to think we have a thing going.
Build an ground isolated mesh cage around fuel tanks and run some mains voltage through it.
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Build an ground isolated mesh cage around fuel tanks and run some mains voltage through it.
Oh it wasn't just fuel oil....my woodshop...junk metal...good parts... the copper pipes from under the old home place... 100' welding leads... 3-4 thousand dollars worth of 3/4" and 1" drive name brand impact sockets etc. etc.....all sorts of hand tools.
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After a long night I have more or less fixed the issue. All of the house has water back except the kitchen sink which I'm working on.
What can I do to prevent this in the future?
Depends on what the problem actually was. More insulation??
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Move to a more equatorial latitude.
That'll only happen when hell freezes over
Never mind it already has. :)
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OK I'll give you some advice although I doubt you will listen since your a lib! I am a HVAC service tech so have lots of experience with these issues.
First and foremost you live in the north right? I gets cold there so have a backup plan cause everything breaks! Wood Stove, electric and kerosene heaters. I have them all ready to go.
Next you mention you have a basement. PUT THE TANK IN IT! Its been below zero here for days and all I been doing is thawing out oil lines of people that I have been telling for years to get the tank inside or in a heated shed. They never listen!
Then since you won't listen MOVE!
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Oh yeah I forgot. That guy with the tank in his truck is most likly the guy who stole your oil!
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Get a well heat light to drop down your well, next trip to Home Depot. It will keep the mechanism from freezing. We actually had to do that when we lived in North Carolina!
I had the heat tapes on my pipes in my old house, in the crawl space. They kept them from freezing there, instead they froze in the walls. Stupid builder put the washing machine pipes in a NW facing wall. I kept a space heater plugged in most of the winter to prevent it as much as possible.
If you can figure out where a pipe is frozen and get it before it has burst, I've had neighbors use a hair dryer on them. It slowly melts the block and might keeping them from popping open.
Good luck on the pipes...it's a common occurrence down here, because so many of our builders just don't think it's ever going to get that cold down here.... :thatsright:
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Good luck on the pipes...it's a common occurrence down here, because so many of our builders just don't think it's ever going to get that cold down here.... :thatsright:
I was actually going to add, that it really does seem to be more prevalent down south than up here in the bitter north. I suppose building standards really are different.
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I was actually going to add, that it really does seem to be more prevalent down south than up here in the bitter north. I suppose building standards really are different.
You have no idea!!!
When I moved here over 25 years ago, there were no building codes in the county! We found out the hard way, on our brand new house... :bawl: That was the one that I had so many problems with the pipes. The water waste pipe to the street was not big enough, laundry room sink and washing machine pipes were on NW wall, kitchen sink and refrigerator water pipe were on N wall, exterior foundation drains were ABOVE the basement floor, heat pump wasn't large enough for the first floor and basement, thermostat for heat/AC was on the wall of the warmest room in the house due to southern exposure and in front of a window, wires in the walls that went to nothing, and on and on and on. We spent almost 2/3's of the original price 5 yrs later trying to correct all the mistakes. We should have just moved, as it was impossible to recover costs and still have a comparative appreciation, even after 15 more years.
Even in the house I'm in now, that was built 4 years ago, I have 1 toilet on a S wall , and powder room sink and toilet are on W wall. :thatsright: Both have heated rooms below though, so I guess they will be ok. :(
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I was gonna say set the house on fire, but if it's the well, that won't work.
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I've seen a frozen pipe problem fixed with a little help from an arc welder hooked up to the kitchen faucet and at the well where it dropped into the floor in the garage.
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I've seen a frozen pipe problem fixed with a little help from an arc welder hooked up to the kitchen faucet and at the well where it dropped into the floor in the garage.
Electricity CAN be one's friend!! :-)
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I've seen a frozen pipe problem fixed with a little help from an arc welder hooked up to the kitchen faucet and at the well where it dropped into the floor in the garage.
What would happen if some of those water lines were old enough that they had soldered joints?
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What would happen if some of those water lines were old enough that they had soldered joints?
As long as they didn't get over 400- 500°F, they'd be fine. Most plumbing solder has a much higher melting point than that, around 700°F
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You give it 10-20 second bursts of juice so it doesn't really get hot enough to melt anything.