The city is under a "boil water advisory" now due to the low pressure, but fortunately I have a month's supply of water put up for me and the hounds so I've got plenty--enough for us and to spare a few gallons for friends in need. I'll replenish the stock this coming week. Good to rotate out some of the older gallons anyhow.
The cats are back outside, much to the dogs' contentment. Now they have something to bark out the windows at again. I've been getting Belle somewhat acclimated to them by having her come in and lay by the cat cage. She was usually ok, as were the cats (usually), but any time Murphy even came in the room they immediately hissed and snarled. They know his heart, it seems.
Speaking of which, I just figured out how I keep getting dog hair on me every time I sit on my couch.
You can always opt to drink a more distilled beverage such as beer, while the water crisis is on.
ReplyDeleteBeer isn't distilled.....
ReplyDeleteMurph, since what you are experiencing isn't "cold" as such, you might be able to keep the pipes under your house from freezing (assuming the underside isn't too open to the breeze) with a few light bulbs. 100 watts is a lot of heat when it isn't too cold. (note, use incandescent, not LED)
Alternatively, heat tape is pretty cheap, and you can put it along the pipes inside the insulation.
The entire underside of the house is open--the house is raised off the ground pursuant to post-Katrina flood plans and it's all open and exposed save for the lattice I put on the back yard section to keep the dogs in. Take a mobile home and put it up on blocks two and a half feet off the ground. Run pipes beneath. That's a typical New Orleans house, esp. in the flood zones. Heat tape or insulation is a possibility but I don't want it wrecked by the next flooding episode such as we had this past summer.
ReplyDeleteDO use closed cell insulation. Doesn't soak up water:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.grainger.com/category/pipe-insulation/insulation/plumbing/ecatalog/N-r6bZ1yz86ca
Hey Murphy;
ReplyDeleteYou turning into the crazy cat guy of your parish? And yes the cats know Murphy....
"B" is onto something,you may want to check into it. I am sure that you will get another cold snap...We have had several on them lately....Durn climate change...or whatever they call it now.
OK, do I mock you or do you mock me because CHRISTMAS IN FLIPPIN COLD DETROIT!? And even in WV 20 was warm at one point.
ReplyDeleteI'm still wondering why our church pipes burst in just one area. Yes, they are on the outside wall, but all that separates them from the heated interior is sheetrock. And they are seperated from the outside by brick.
About your church's pipes... Is there an outside electrical outlet nearby, or a hose bib, or a vent of some kind? ...something nearby that penetrates the brick?
DeleteI had that problem with just one pipe at my house just as you described - nothing but sheet-rock between it and the heated interior and insulation, sheeting, and brick between it and the outside. Yet that one pipe still froze whenever the temps got below one digit.
I found out what was causing it. An external electrical outlet about five feet away was admitting enough cold air through the brick and into that void space to freeze that one pipe.
I used a can of "Great Stuff", which is a spray foam insulation, and sealed up that outlet box and all the gaps around it.
No more frozen pipe.
Oh! Thanks - I will explore that area. No outlets as far as I know, but maybe a crack - after a decade we prolly have settled.
DeleteHey Murphy;
ReplyDeleteYou turning into the crazy cat guy of the Parish, and yes the cats know Murphy. "B" may be onto something, you may want to check it out. I am sure that you will get another cold snap down in Naworleans. We have had several here, durn climate change or whatever the progs call it now...
LOL, Murph kills cats for fun... He's NOT changing...
ReplyDeleteSorry the cold weather hit you so hard down there. It wasn't all that pleasant up here, and we are supposed to be better prepared in the mountains. But long periods of weather in the teens and even sub zero is not something anyone here was really ready for.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you and dogs were stocked up on water. Makes it a little easier.
You did a nice thing keeping the cats inside. They probably won't thank you for it though.
ReplyDeleteMy bet is he just stopped caring
ReplyDeleteI know that look on Murph's face. That's the canine equivalent of "yeah, and?" Our Scooter (RIP, still miss ya Bubba!) used to give me that look whenever I'd catch him on my parents' bed, which was the one place in the house he wasn't allowed. Murph, like Scooter, doesn't care anymore.
ReplyDelete