Temps got down around 5 degrees last night. The houses here are not engineered for that. I left an electric heater on a low setting in the garage to help protect the pipes and left a trickle of water in the kitchen faucet but the hot water lines to the kitchen faucet froze and both lines to the shower. I got then cleared after a couple of hours. Glad it was not worse. All of Elena’s family have had electrical outages, probably the rotating outages for the emergency systems. One sister has no water. Roads are covered with snow. he Sun is coming out but it is 7 degrees now and todays high will be 15 or 16 degrees, so if the snow melts I expect it will freeze to ice. We will be home for a while. We have not lost services so far that I can tell. Hope that continues but we should be fine. A couple more days and it should get warmer.
Happy Problematic Dead Old White Men Day, Gerbil Nation!
Good morning, Sven, and Mac!
Sven -- have fun pioneering at the Mt. Redoubt.
Mac -- glad you were able to get the pipes cleared. You have PEX, don’t you? It’s got some expansion capabilities, unlike copper. Tell everyone you know to stay off the roads until the ice melts. Nobody needs to get involved in an impromptu demolition derby.
So I had the bright idea to try the plumbing again this morning which, as it turned out had still been leaking a bit into the tub I left under the faucets in the bathroom. The shutoff valves have an older style fitting that needs plumber’s putty or lots of Teflon tape on the fitting that keeps the nut from sliding off the pipes.
I wasn’t sure what on earth I was looking at at first, so I decided to wait until my friend could come by just in case we needed to do any pipe sweating, which I don’t have the tools for, and have never done before.
If I had a torch, and the right solder and flux, I might be able to do it, because I watched a real plumber do it a couple of times, but I have low confidence in my ability there.
Anyway, as it turned out, it was the kind of fitting that is not a compression fitting, but kind of looks like one, but there is just a ring attached to the end of the pipe that a nut tightens over. That kind of thing uses putty, I guess. That’s what was on there before. But my friend said using Teflon as though it were putty would be better, so that’s what we did.
It doesn’t appear to be leaking. I’ll leave the cabinet empty for a few days just to make sure it isn’t leaking. But so far, it looks okay.
Now… My toilet keeps running every so often. It doesn’t appear to be the flapper, which I’ve changed a couple of times, nor the ring, which I’ve sanded a bit with fine grit just to make sure (I’ve had that work before.) So… I guess it’s the whole fitting that attaches the tank to the bowl. It must be leaking around there somewhere, so I guess I need that whole assembly with the ring seal and everything. I did that in Portland a long time ago, and… it wasn’t all that hard. I can’t remember what happened, but somehow, the old tank cracked when I was putting it back on, so I went to the “field of toilets” and found a new tank and put it on. Anyway, it’s not leaking that bad, so I’ll save that for another time.
It does indeed look beautiful -- stay safe and here’s hoping no serious damage to your home from the cold. I’m trying to get in touch with a friend in Houston, but no luck.
Paddy, yes on the PEX. The builders over tightened one fitting and it cracked and broke after a few years. Luckily it was accessible and hot water s I could turn off the hot water and still have the cold. It was still a mess and cost about $400.00 to change the one fitting. Made me nervous about it but there has been no new problems.
It should drop to 5 degrees again tonight so I will leave both hot and cold running a bit. Should be about ten degrees warmer after that, and I don’t think that will be a problem.
dv8, good job on he plumbing. I have done enough sweating of copper I am generally comfortable with normal work. Some of the old systems can be a pain. When worked in a plumbing wholesaler I learned a lot about the systems. Good job getting it done. Hope you don’t have to pull the tank.
I suck at plumbing. Both fixtures are leaking now. I guess I’ll have to use the plumber’s putty. I was afraid of that. I’m starting to wish I just called a plumber.
Good morning and happy President’s Day.
Power off -- see you guys later. Stay safe.
Temps got down around 5 degrees last night. The houses here are not engineered for that. I left an electric heater on a low setting in the garage to help protect the pipes and left a trickle of water in the kitchen faucet but the hot water lines to the kitchen faucet froze and both lines to the shower. I got then cleared after a couple of hours. Glad it was not worse. All of Elena’s family have had electrical outages, probably the rotating outages for the emergency systems. One sister has no water. Roads are covered with snow. he Sun is coming out but it is 7 degrees now and todays high will be 15 or 16 degrees, so if the snow melts I expect it will freeze to ice. We will be home for a while. We have not lost services so far that I can tell. Hope that continues but we should be fine. A couple more days and it should get warmer.
Wow, Mac! I didn’t know they had snow in anywhere in Texas except in the “Texas Alps.”
We have only had one snow, so far, maybe about 8 or 10 inches. And it never got down below about 25 degrees.
That is probably why the aliens went there, better weather.
Happy Problematic Dead Old White Men Day, Gerbil Nation!
Good morning, Sven, and Mac!
Sven -- have fun pioneering at the Mt. Redoubt.
Mac -- glad you were able to get the pipes cleared. You have PEX, don’t you? It’s got some expansion capabilities, unlike copper. Tell everyone you know to stay off the roads until the ice melts. Nobody needs to get involved in an impromptu demolition derby.
Power is back on -- looks like they replaced two out of five poles -- next goaround is this Friday. Tomorrow is no water day.
Of course the two utilities couldn’t coordinate their work to minimize the impact on their customers.
So I had the bright idea to try the plumbing again this morning which, as it turned out had still been leaking a bit into the tub I left under the faucets in the bathroom. The shutoff valves have an older style fitting that needs plumber’s putty or lots of Teflon tape on the fitting that keeps the nut from sliding off the pipes.
I wasn’t sure what on earth I was looking at at first, so I decided to wait until my friend could come by just in case we needed to do any pipe sweating, which I don’t have the tools for, and have never done before.
If I had a torch, and the right solder and flux, I might be able to do it, because I watched a real plumber do it a couple of times, but I have low confidence in my ability there.
Anyway, as it turned out, it was the kind of fitting that is not a compression fitting, but kind of looks like one, but there is just a ring attached to the end of the pipe that a nut tightens over. That kind of thing uses putty, I guess. That’s what was on there before. But my friend said using Teflon as though it were putty would be better, so that’s what we did.
It doesn’t appear to be leaking. I’ll leave the cabinet empty for a few days just to make sure it isn’t leaking. But so far, it looks okay.
Now… My toilet keeps running every so often. It doesn’t appear to be the flapper, which I’ve changed a couple of times, nor the ring, which I’ve sanded a bit with fine grit just to make sure (I’ve had that work before.) So… I guess it’s the whole fitting that attaches the tank to the bowl. It must be leaking around there somewhere, so I guess I need that whole assembly with the ring seal and everything. I did that in Portland a long time ago, and… it wasn’t all that hard. I can’t remember what happened, but somehow, the old tank cracked when I was putting it back on, so I went to the “field of toilets” and found a new tank and put it on. Anyway, it’s not leaking that bad, so I’ll save that for another time.
We don’t get it often but it does happen.
It looks beautiful, Mac. Stay safe!
It does indeed look beautiful -- stay safe and here’s hoping no serious damage to your home from the cold. I’m trying to get in touch with a friend in Houston, but no luck.
This was 2012.
Paddy, yes on the PEX. The builders over tightened one fitting and it cracked and broke after a few years. Luckily it was accessible and hot water s I could turn off the hot water and still have the cold. It was still a mess and cost about $400.00 to change the one fitting. Made me nervous about it but there has been no new problems.
It should drop to 5 degrees again tonight so I will leave both hot and cold running a bit. Should be about ten degrees warmer after that, and I don’t think that will be a problem.
dv8, good job on he plumbing. I have done enough sweating of copper I am generally comfortable with normal work. Some of the old systems can be a pain. When worked in a plumbing wholesaler I learned a lot about the systems. Good job getting it done. Hope you don’t have to pull the tank.
I suck at plumbing. Both fixtures are leaking now. I guess I’ll have to use the plumber’s putty. I was afraid of that. I’m starting to wish I just called a plumber.
Can you just replace the supply lines from the angle stops to the faucets?