Monday, December 20, 2004
A Winter Tale
When I rinsed the coffee stir spoon at the kitchen sink, I splashed a
few drops of water on my hands. Our well water is cool here in Otter
Creek township but these few drops seemed cooler than usual. I ran a
little more into my hands and marvelled that it was so cold. I sipped
a pot of coffee and watched the morning news on cable for the 5
minutes I could stand and read the local newspaper. When I turned on
the faucet to rinse my coffee cup, nothing came out. The hot water
works and the other faucets hot and cold in the house all worked.
I looked under the sink and then under the house. The new satellite TV
cables run through a louvred opening to the crawl space and they are
thick so that the louvres will not shut on the north side of the house
and a cold wind blows in just below the kitchen sink.
There's a large Rubber Maid tub of lawn chemicals on the west side of
the garage and I used it to shield the opening and came inside to try
to figure out the next step and knowing that the last thing I wanted
to do was to crawl under the house.
A friend suggested that we turn all cold faucets on drip, turn the
frozen one on full blast and to run the hot water next to it. Also
open the kitchen cabinet so that the room heat could surround the
pipes, she said and that the cold water might resume its flow in 24
hours. I could see the logic in her plan; prevent a system wide freeze
by letting the water flow and to try to bring some heat to the frozen
pipe. It worked within 15 minutes.
Life is good.
few drops of water on my hands. Our well water is cool here in Otter
Creek township but these few drops seemed cooler than usual. I ran a
little more into my hands and marvelled that it was so cold. I sipped
a pot of coffee and watched the morning news on cable for the 5
minutes I could stand and read the local newspaper. When I turned on
the faucet to rinse my coffee cup, nothing came out. The hot water
works and the other faucets hot and cold in the house all worked.
I looked under the sink and then under the house. The new satellite TV
cables run through a louvred opening to the crawl space and they are
thick so that the louvres will not shut on the north side of the house
and a cold wind blows in just below the kitchen sink.
There's a large Rubber Maid tub of lawn chemicals on the west side of
the garage and I used it to shield the opening and came inside to try
to figure out the next step and knowing that the last thing I wanted
to do was to crawl under the house.
A friend suggested that we turn all cold faucets on drip, turn the
frozen one on full blast and to run the hot water next to it. Also
open the kitchen cabinet so that the room heat could surround the
pipes, she said and that the cold water might resume its flow in 24
hours. I could see the logic in her plan; prevent a system wide freeze
by letting the water flow and to try to bring some heat to the frozen
pipe. It worked within 15 minutes.
Life is good.
