Well, at least we weren't living there

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Northern Arizona got 2-3’ of snow this past week. We have a mobile home in Williams, that we only use during the warm months. We set the propane heat at 50° to keep the pipes from freezing. My wife got an alert from the electric company that the power was going to be out for 10 hours in the middle of the storm. I did some research, and the pilot light is supposed to remain lit, so that the heat should come back on when the power was restored. A day or so after the storm, we asked a friend to check on the place, and she said there was no heat. So, I drove up today (2.5 hours) and re-lit the pilot light. When I turned the heat on, it immediately went out. I tried a number of times, but couldn’t get it to stay lit.
I then had a thought, and went over to a neighbor, who fortunately had en extension ladder. I lugged the ladder through the snow, and got up to the roof, and saw that the exhaust vent was under the snow. I cleared the snow away, and re-lit the pilot light and it stayed on when the heat came on.
I hate these kind of two-factor failures. If it was just snow, and no power failure, the heat would have melted the snow around the vent. If the power had failed, and there was no snow, the heat should have come back on when the power did.
I don’t know what we would have done if we were staying there - cold and dark doesn’t sound like much fun.

2

But did the pipes freeze, or did you dodge that bullet?

3

I’ve lived in Florida all my life, and have no clue how people exist under such conditions.

4

WAG: Can you extend the exhaust pipe higher than it currently is and maybe, if it doesnt have one already, put a cap over the top similar to what chimneys for wood stoves are supposed to have? Those two things may help alleviate future snow issues.

I don’t live in snow country so have no idea how to snow-proof anything.

5

I don’t think so.
We have the water shut off, and I didn’t turn it back on to test, but I checked the toilets, and they weren’t frozen (we have PEX piping, which is somewhat freeze-resistant, so I’m more worried about the toilet bowl cracking).

6

We have a better plan - we are selling it.
But… we exchanging it with a place in Durango, which not only gets colder, but is 8 hours away!

D’oh!

7

I like Williams, can you share more info about your land? PM is just fine of course.