Frozen pipes.

[Shame]

Phase I: Creating the Problem.

We had a blizzard last week, so I got my snowblower out, gassed it up in the garage, apparently spilled some fuel, and my furnace (which is in my garage) kicked gasoline fumes into the house.

Phase II: Sort of solving the problem.

The next day I cleaned up the spill as soon as I noticed the smell and aired out the house (Brrrr!) and garage a couple of times. As of yesterday, you could only smell the very faint smell of gasoline in the house and garage.

Phase III: Making it worse.

So, last night I opened up the garage door to clear any remaining fumes out and forget to put it down. It was open all night and got down to about 10 degrees. There is no insulation on the copper pipes. My water softener and water lines were not pleased and froze up.

Phase IV: Profit?

So I call up my neighbor (who is laughing) and borrow a 900w sealed oil heater and put it in the garage near the water softener. Knowing my propensity for making things worse, I set it 3 feet from the nearest pipe and the water softener. Putting anything on the pipes such as hot rags, a heating pad, or the like is out of the question due to the location of most of the pipes being under or behind the hot water heater. It is now 45 degrees in the garage. And yes, I closed the garage door...

Phase V: When?

Ok, so how long does will it take for the pipes to unfreeze? Today, Tonight, or Tomorrow?

 

[jme5343]

I say tonight. Mine froze last year when I used my woodburner rather than my forced air. The bathroom's quite a bit away from the wood stove, they froze... I turned on the forced air, it took about 6 hours to thaw.

I assume you've opened a faucet or two? That should help get a trickle going, it goes pretty quick after that.

 

[smack Down]

Don't frozen pipes mean bursted pipes?

 

[Sukhoi]

Originally posted by: smack Down
Don't frozen pipes mean bursted pipes?

I would think so unless there is somewhere for the water to escape to.

 

[jme5343]

Originally posted by: smack Down
Don't frozen pipes mean bursted pipes?

Depends on how hard the freeze is. Copper has some tolerance. Pex is the best, though.

 

[Heisenberg]

Originally posted by: smack Down
Don't frozen pipes mean bursted pipes?

Not necessarily. In my last house the pipes to one of the bathrooms froze because the garage door wasn't all the way down. A hairdryer and a few hours later it was fine.

 

[Shame]

Originally posted by: jmebonner

Originally posted by: smack Down
Don't frozen pipes mean bursted pipes?

Depends on how hard the freeze is. Copper has some tolerance. Pex is the best, though.

There is no water in the garage and the pipes don't appear expanded.

 

[dartworth]

Should be able to get water tonight...just don't set anything on fire

 

[Alone]

At least your Internet pipes didn't freeze.

 

[WHAMPOM]

Originally posted by: Shame
Phase I: Creating the Problem.

We had a blizzard last week, so I got my snowblower out, gassed it up in the garage, apparently spilled some fuel, and my furnace (which is in my garage) kicked gasoline fumes into the house.

Phase II: Sort of solving the problem.

The next day I cleaned up the spill as soon as I noticed the smell and aired out the house (Brrrr!) and garage a couple of times. As of yesterday, you could only smell the very faint smell of gasoline in the house and garage.

Phase III: Making it worse.

So, last night I opened up the garage door to clear any remaining fumes out and forget to put it down. It was open all night and got down to about 10 degrees. There is no insulation on the copper pipes. My water softener and water lines were not pleased and froze up.

Phase IV: Profit?

So I call up my neighbor (who is laughing) and borrow a 900w sealed oil heater and put it in the garage near the water softener. Knowing my propensity for making things worse, I set it 3 feet from the nearest pipe and the water softener. Putting anything on the pipes such as hot rags, a heating pad, or the like is out of the question due to the location of most of the pipes being under or behind the hot water heater. It is now 45 degrees in the garage. And yes, I closed the garage door...

Phase V: When?

Ok, so how long does will it take for the pipes to unfreeze? Today, Tonight, or Tomorrow?

You have a bigger problem. How do you keep your family from suffocating if you run a car in the garage? Carbon monoxide? Head aches, nausea? Or did you just spill gas on your clothes and carry it in that way?

 

[jme5343]

Originally posted by: WHAMPOM

Originally posted by: Shame
Phase I: Creating the Problem.

We had a blizzard last week, so I got my snowblower out, gassed it up in the garage, apparently spilled some fuel, and my furnace (which is in my garage) kicked gasoline fumes into the house.

Phase II: Sort of solving the problem.

The next day I cleaned up the spill as soon as I noticed the smell and aired out the house (Brrrr!) and garage a couple of times. As of yesterday, you could only smell the very faint smell of gasoline in the house and garage.

Phase III: Making it worse.

So, last night I opened up the garage door to clear any remaining fumes out and forget to put it down. It was open all night and got down to about 10 degrees. There is no insulation on the copper pipes. My water softener and water lines were not pleased and froze up.

Phase IV: Profit?

So I call up my neighbor (who is laughing) and borrow a 900w sealed oil heater and put it in the garage near the water softener. Knowing my propensity for making things worse, I set it 3 feet from the nearest pipe and the water softener. Putting anything on the pipes such as hot rags, a heating pad, or the like is out of the question due to the location of most of the pipes being under or behind the hot water heater. It is now 45 degrees in the garage. And yes, I closed the garage door...

Phase V: When?

Ok, so how long does will it take for the pipes to unfreeze? Today, Tonight, or Tomorrow?

You have a bigger problem. How do you keep your family from suffocating if you run a car in the garage? Carbon monoxide? Head aches, nausea? Or did you just spill gas on your clothes and carry it in that way?

WHAT? Who's leaving thre car running in the garage?

 

[MikeyIs4Dcats]

yeah, having a furnace in the garage is not a very good situation.

 

[Shame]

Water is starting to trickle. Life is good.

WHAMPOM: My water heater, furnace, and water softener are in the back of the garage. I NEVER run any any combustion engine in the garage without the door open. I must have spilled a little gasoline on the garage floor, which was promptly covered by a couple inches of snow. The gasoline didn't evaporate until later, with the door closed. The gasoline vapor was later distributed by the furnace throughout the house during the night.

 

[tasmanian]

You shoudl allways leave your water at least trickeling in your house, the pipes wont freeze that way.