The homes I know of that have had problems with pipes bursting or freezing have more than one factor at play: extremely old house and/or that they don’t heat to as warm as others (say they heat to 65-67 or so) and/or they turn down the heat or turn it off entirely in certain rooms.
Never heard of the cabinet thing, but the faucet thing has been employed in many old homes after pipes froze/burst with success.
Ah thank you; I think what I’ve seen offhand are the tubes, so I’ll pick up a can tomorrow.
Oh yeah - nearly everyone with a real winter has a Vitamin D deficiency of some sort. Enjoy the gelcaps!
Yeah, but aren’t you in Pittsburgh or some other tropical area? We’re talking about places that get COLD here.
Seriously, people don’t turn down the heat here, or turn it off in certain rooms. You just don’t do that - in part, because if you do, your pipes will freeze. You keep the whole house warm, all winter.
Interesting factoid: The 100-year-old house I lived in had areas of it that was insulated with 100-year-old Finnish newspapers. They worked well, and you could see bits of them sticking out on the interior of an unheated porch. Made me wonder what the other older parts of the house was insulated with.
When we vacation in the winter, we turn the heat down but not off, say to about 45 degrees. And we set a freeze alarm which will automatically call our heating guy if the temperature drops below 40.
TROPICAL!? We’ve got a low of 7 overnight! But yeah, people DO turn down the heat and do turn it off or very low in certain rooms. For many it can be a cat and mouse game. I guess you’re assuming a moderate level of intelligence, though
As a precaution, it is a good idea to keep a blanket, matches, a candle, some water and some emergency food such as power bars or granola bars somewhere in the passenger compartment of the car. This way, if you are stuck in the ditch for several hours, you don’t have to exit the car to get at your survival gear. One is generally advised not to turn off the engine when stuck in extreme weather conditions, as the heater won’t do much without the motor running and it could be disastrous if you couldn’t get it started again.
Leaving your vehicle is not a good idea, for the most part.
Always dress as though you have to stay outside for an hour and/or have to walk 5 miles. This includes jumping in the car for a quick trip.
It’s a good idea to keep a shovel and a couple of bags of sand in the trunk. The extra weight gives better traction, you might be able to dig yourself out of a minor spot of trouble, and you can spread the sand on the snow/ice under the wheels if you are stuck. Jumper cables are a must - practice in a non-emergency situation once or twice so you know what you’re doing when it’s -30 and 3 AM.
Learn how to rock your car out of an icy parking spot. For the love of God, don’t just sit there and spin your wheels!!! (This is why I will never buy a car with an automatic transmission. It is possible to rock a car that has an automatic tranny, it just isn’t as easy.) Let out the clutch gently in first, put it in when the wheels are no longer grabbing and let it roll back. Let it out and use the extra ounce of momentum to rock it forward. If there’s nothing behind you, you can try shifting back and forth between first and reverse. That sand I mentioned earlier? That shovel? This is the moment when they come in handy. Above all, do not just floor it and spin. Say there’s an inch of ice between your tires and the road. All you are doing is creating a layer of water between your tires and the ice. No, it will not ‘melt quicker’ if you spin your tires - it would be more efficient for you to drain a pint of gas from your tank and pour it directly on the snow. (DO NOT DO THIS, EITHER!!!)
*Spare gloves (Thinsulate-lined) and a winter hat in the car. (And when your hat/gloves get wet, Change them.)
*Some basic tools (should you need them).
*A jug of oil, a jug of anti-freeze, and a jug of windshield washer fluid work too. Hypothetically, if you hit something that causes a leak, but still need enough to get to a gas station/rest area, you have that option.
*Duct tape. You’d be amazed at the broken things on a car that you can temp-fix with duct-tape.
*A Garmin and/or a compass.
*A shovel (in case you hit a drift that beaches the car)
*Rechargeable flashlight in the glove box to signal for help at night.
*Cell phone & charger as well as a plug-in CB (doubles your chance of reaching somebody)
*Hefty Bags. (Did you know you can use hefty bags as a water-repellent vests, as makeshift gloves, or in a pinch as a make-shift sleeping bag? Now you do.)
*Bungee cords. (I know, sounds stupid, but you’d be amazed at how useful they can be. Besides strapping your MIL to the roof.)
*A Second ignition key on your person that you never ever pull out or use. Because locking yourself out of the car in sub-zero temps just isn’t funny.
Also, I know they are not fashionable, but wool wicks moisture away from your body, which is Good. Wool socks & wool shirts work well with your hat, parka & gloves.
“There’s Them that’s Known as Bad Men and Thems thats IS Bad Men. Best you learn the difference…” Wild Bill Hickok, ‘Dallas’ (1950)
This really isn’t true unless there’s a wind. I just tested it out, in fact - 1.2 degrees out, hubby went out in shorts, a long-sleeve t-shirt, and boots, I was in pajama pants and long-sleeve t-shirt. No snot freeze, no nose-breathing necessary. It was just bracing. Of course, that’s not to say that it wouldn’t kill us if we were stuck out there much longer than 20 or 30 minutes.
And that brings us to the GOOD part about living in places where there’s a winter. This whole thread is about how miserable it is, and really, it’s not. I actually really like the winter, and have missed it when I’ve lived in warmer climates.
So - to start out with - why were Mr. Athena and I outside in 1.2 degree weather in shorts and pajamas? Why, to visit the Vodka bar, of course! For the third winter in a row, we’ve built a bar out of snow on our deck, and stuck several bottles of vodka and gin in it. This year, we’ve got homemade pomegranate gin, 3 different types of vodka (Finlandia, Absolut Mango, Absolut Kurant) and Bombay Sapphire. We also have shot glasses made out of ice (you can buy silicon molds from Amazon).
Once it hits 5 degrees or below, the liquor turns syrupy and almost sweet. Delicious! Can’t do that in the tropics!
This is why you keep your gas tank as full as possible in winter–if you need fuel for just this reason, it’s there. Note that “stuck in extreme weather conditions” can range from sliding into a ditch in a rural area to sitting in the middle of the non-moving urban expressway during a snowstorm when you are nowhere near an exit.
Some of us call this “dressing for the ditch.” You don’t want to have to deal with possibly hiking through subzero snowy conditions when you are dressed for a day at the office. Pack a bag with your office gear (jacket, tie, shoes, whatever), and don your parka, gloves, hat, scarf, boots, and so on. You can put on your office gear at the office … assuming you get there.
Random advice: if you own a car and live where it gets cold, even occasionally, spend a couple of bucks on:[ul][li]a snow brush;[]an ice scraper;[]lock de-icer; anda silicon spray or stick for the door seals.[/ul]None of this is expensive but it will make getting the car going on cold mornings much simpler. If it rarely gets cold, a snow brush/ice scraper combo will do the trick; if you’re going to be doing this often, it pays to get a separate scraper. Coat the door seals before it freezes. You can do that with the lock de-icer, too, but if you forget, you can de-ice the locks by squirting the de-icer in even if they’re frozen solid. With the door seals? Too late![/li]
If the whole car is covered in ice, the correct response is to weep quietly and wait for a thaw.
Make sure you keep the windshield washer fluid tank well-stocked during wintry weather, as you use a lot of it.
Remember that everything you do while driving takes longer in snow or ice. Give yourself time. Give yourself time to accelerate, to brake, and to turn. Patience, patience, patience.
Here in Troll Country the law is Clear-Scrape-Drive. Clear off all loose snow. Scrape any ice or snow from the windshield, front driver’s and passenger’s side windows, and the rear window. Then you can drive. This is the safest and most courteous thing to do no matter what the law is where you are. People who scrape a little four-inch square clean on the windshield are a menace to themselves and everyone they share the road with.
[ul][li]a silicon spray or stick for the door seals.[/ul][/li][/QUOTE]
Cooking spray (Pam or similar) works just as well, and can be used for other things when Spring comes. (… eventually).
It’s not the weather that makes us vitamin D deficient, though, it’s the latitude we live at (above 35 degrees north = no vit d from sunlight nov-march), so while some of us should be taking 2000-4000 IU a day, our newly chilly southern friends probably can still get theirs from the sun.
In my experience it’s a problem you either have or don’t have. I’ve lived in one house where it was a very real problem… if the overnight temp was going to get much below 10F I HAD to leave the taps open etc. It was a 1960s split-level with the water pipe entering the house in an unfinished semi-basement room, might have had something to do with it.
Yeah. I know three cases of burst pipes this winter. Usually its because the residents turn the heat down pretty low if they are going to be out of town - so the outside walls aren’t warm enough to keep the pipes from freezing. But not always. A friend just spent the day at his Mom’s fixing her burst pipes - she’s been home all winter.
All of this is necessary if you are driving in non-populated areas. In the 30+ years I’ve lived in the Twin Cities - as long as you are staying within the city limits - there are other idiots on the road and you will get rescued.
Now, I wouldn’t drive to visit my sister in North Dakota without having food, water, blankets, etc. in the winter. But honestly, I try not to visit her when there is even the possibility of snow. Alexandria to Fargo is NO FUN in the snow.
The suggestions of what to keep in your car are valuable. IMO, the most important car fact is to never get below 1/4 tank of gas (preferrably 1/2 tank) in sub-freezing weather. There is always a small amount of water in your gas tank, you don’t want to chance freezing gas lines.
Right now it’s a snot freezing -11F here in Minneapolis. All my curtains are closed to keep the heat in. I keep the house cool (64F), never had problems with frozen pipes.
On the freezing pipes note…ice dams. My brother in law lost his kitchen ceiling on Christmas Eve this year to an ice dam.
However, my favorite tip for suburban Minnesota and snow. Snowblow every six inches, and then plan on spending another half hour or longer two days later getting through the berm that the snowplow leaves at the end of the driveway. If you wait longer, its a MUCH bigger job than just doing it two (perhaps three) times during the storm.
The snowplow berm is the worst though. Its icy. The snowblower can’t always chop through it. And you’ve likely driven over it once or twice (or six or seven or three hundred times) before you get to “oh, I need to deal with that before it snows again.” You can see where doing this after driving over it once is better than after you’ve left it for two weeks.
:shrug: You learn how to drive on them. I can’t miss work 6 months out of the year. A couple of days ago, it was -31f. It’s currently -13f. We all made it in. That’s the way it is when you live in a place that can receive over 30 feet of snow in the winter. We are at about 20 feet now, and our snowiest months (March and April) are on the way.
