Let the Water Run , slowly , and , IT won't freeze !?

I recall stopping at a moutain stream in colorado in mid winter . the water was running fast. I filled a plastic bottle and set it near the trucks heater two miles down the road it was frozen solid .
Guess it didnt know thatit should have been solid in the stream

Fordy ,

We're living in a 5th wheel and it's getting down to -20 F or more, without the windchill and we have't been running our water yet . Our's isn't skirted in either but it is enclosed like your's . We did put an extra heater in the compartment for safe measures . And then we have heat tape on the spout and hose . Workin' so far ! Although we do plan on skirting it this Monday as the floors are soooo cold !

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-Amy
~Helpmeet to my best friend~
~Keeper at home with 6 little blessings~

That's right. It takes 1BTU of energy to cool 1lb of water from 33 to 32 and 144BTU to turn 32F water into 32F ice. Put another way, it takes the same amount of energy to turn 176F water into 32F water than it takes to turn 32F water into ice. There's my useless knowledge contribution for tonight

I learn something new everytime I tune in to HT..lol..

I am not running my water at night (yet) but am afraid that the stock tanks will freeze over - supposed to be 26 F tonight where I live in Ga.

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Yep,last winter the air temp was -36 with a west wind at 10-12mph had all 3 faucets running pretty good and the water still froze up.Got it runnin some right now,it's -12 and the wind is pickin up to 15 or so.

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Recently I had to add some more insulation to my wellhouse, it was foam insulation from the can.

I also have 4 lamps in the wellhouse, so that if one bulb burns out, i still have 3 others making heat. One bulb is 100W incandescent, the others are 13W CFLs. If I can just keep the stinking deer mice out, then I will be happy.

Just insulated the door as well, which was simply 5/8" plywood. Found a scrap piece of celotex foamboard, cut in half it just covered 90 % of the door.

Winter is always work to keep things warm & tight. Ah well.

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All our pain and all our tears will be no more.....

I'm thinking that isn't the most efficient thing you could have. Those CFL's are good at giving out light, not heat, so I don't quite see the point to having them on? Wouldn't 3 60 watt regular bulbs be better, if you lose one you still have 120 watts of heat; your way if you lose the one, you'll only have 39 watts?

--->Paul

if you leave the water running , wont that burn up the well pump? My pipes are frozen now because i thought if the water ran all night my pump would burn up.

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"The Will of God will never take you to where the Grace of God will not protect you."

Sorry a double post.

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A pencil lead stream is not that much to make the pump run a lot.
It will run sure, but it has plenty of time to shut off and cool down.
Just think about how much water is used when say watering the yard, watering the garden, etc. the pump is running a whole lot more and still doesn't hurt it.
And I have been doing this now for some 40 years being living in the country and in WI. we get way colder so I have done the let the water running many many times over the years and not one time hurt the pump in any way.

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Thanks, I wasnt sure,. now im without water LOL

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"The Will of God will never take you to where the Grace of God will not protect you."

.................NO , you have a pressure tank of some size(??) , say 40 gallons . Now , that tank may hold 60% water and 40% air , so when full it is holding 24 gallons of water . As you allow a faucet too TRICKLE slowly , it may take two hours to slowly drain the water level in the tank until the pressure drops low enough for the pressure switch too turn the pump back on , the tank refills and you're good for another two hours of "Trickling" .
..................THe process is no different than watering your garden , the Pump is designed to pump water . So don't worry about it ! , fordy

Just one thing(or two! LOL) I will toss into this very interesting discussion. Depends on whether your pipes are on an outside wall or not as to what you need to do to keep them from freezing. AND Be sure and let some HOT WATER run too! I forgot this part and as we got down to Six Degrees a morning or so ago one of the not water pipes that leads into the wash machine froze as I only had the cold water tap running. I got a little heater blowing on the inside of this pipe plus a heat lamp on the outside of the wall and that thawed it in about an hour.

This is really a miserable cold spell for those of us in the Northwest! Think its about over now as it was up to 18 degrees early this morning! My dogs all have cabin fever! I let them all go out every two hours and we play some ball and Frisbee for a bit and back in we go!What Wimps we are here!

Yesterday I heard some funny noises coming from the pond, got around the trees and there was my little foster cattle dog Sugar whizing around on the ice! ROFL!!! She had a Cuz Ball and was hitting it with her paws and then going after it across the ice! Just cracked me up. Now that it's warming up I'll have to put a long- line on her so she can't try this anymore. I sure don't want to have to jump in after her!!!Stay warm everyone!

LQ

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"There is no such thing as bad weather, only inadequate clothing." D. Duck

Thanks FORDY!!! I never even thought about the pressure tank, that makes perfect sense. Now I shouldnt have frozen water pipes next time!!!

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"The Will of God will never take you to where the Grace of God will not protect you."

I've noticed NOBODY has even mentioned heat tape, why is that? It's advertised to keep pipes from freezing down to -50, and it only comes on when it's cold.

Because when pipes are in between walls, or just buried underground or in some places just don't have electricity runs close enough it is just not that easy to run tape around pipes. Easier to let the water run a little.

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I picked up a ceramic heater and placed it in the well house. Set the thermostat on the unit to about 40*F. Been there for 10 years and have never had frozen pipes. Got ---- old changing out that light bulb when the temps were in the teens.

Yeah I was always confused as to why we never had to worry about this in PA but we did in TX and AL. One winter TX we had no water because the above ground water meter/loop of pipe froze. I planted yams and a lot of dirt over the loop of pipe and that fixed it. Here when I got a minor outside tap leak redone and two more taps put in the plumbers tell me this new stuff- PEX? red stuff? won't bust- we'll see! One time our over the hill grey water line froze up and water backed up in the shower- that's when we found out we have a grey water line!

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