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Old 04-11-2020, 06:11 PM   #1
oldbird
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-10° huh

Well, it was -8 the other night in the Black Hills of SD. I saw the forecast so I hung a trouble light 100 watt bulb in front of the water manifold thinking that would do it, wrong! The next morning no water so I resorted to a small electric heater and in a couple of hours still no water. I then pulled off the filter housing thinking if that's froze I'm screwed. It wasn't? It was a little low in water so I filled it back up to the top and away she went, water! Ive had a few filters on cars that you had to prime or it wouldn't prime its self. Oh well, no damage so we were happy!
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Old 04-11-2020, 07:28 PM   #2
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Coincidence
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Old 04-11-2020, 08:07 PM   #3
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Quote:
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Coincidence
OK Ron, LMAO
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Old 04-11-2020, 09:47 PM   #4
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Glenn,
I can't explain it either--made it a month in Denver Feb '19 at -11 and below freezing for several days. Took awhile, but basically having a space heater in the basement and a light bulb in the service bay, kept us going. Had several different freezeups, before figuring out the cold spots, but no permanent damage. I don't care what the mfgs say is "4-seasons" or "Arctic Package" or what--it isn't just routine to live in a fiver at those temps and length of time.
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Old 04-11-2020, 09:59 PM   #5
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Hi Joe, what cold spots did you figure out? I'm looking at three more nights of it being cold then its suppose to warm up. I'm going to put a small space heater in the basement to try and avoid problems. Hope everybody is safe!
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Old 04-12-2020, 05:40 AM   #6
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I believe Cummins is correct with the 'coincidence' comment. The air in the filter would have no effect on the frozen pipe problem. I believe leaving the slide open with an electric heater on low in the basement is the best idea. And the Arctic Package is bogus as a football bat!
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Old 04-12-2020, 08:51 AM   #7
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Jim, I never doubted Ron, just thought it was a strange circumstance. This morning the fan came on for the bedroom A/C with the thermostat mode off and the button on the bottom of the thermostat off. I had to turn off the breaker for the bedroom A/C!


Edit: It snowed six inches last night. Maybe snow got under the A/C cover and ...........
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Old 04-12-2020, 09:20 AM   #8
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Glenn,
Was not in our old TK3, but newer RSSA--the single biggest help was placing a Vornado heater in the basement facing into the manifold area. That heater has a temp control and I set it at 45d--it ran constantly. Had a mechanics trouble light in the service bay, and also the Camco heated hose. Heated hose worked well, but still could not leave it connected as the spigot would freeze. Other trouble spots were the black and grey drains freezing--solved that when needed by running hot water into the grey tank, using an extra valve at end of the drainpipe to hold the hot water in the line. This worked well until I figured out the basement heat would keep the black water line unfrozen.
It was a constant battle until the weather warmed into the 40s. Having sunlight during the day on the service side was also a huge help.
Hope you survive--what in the world are you doing that far north this time of year?
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Old 04-12-2020, 09:47 AM   #9
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Glenn, we too were wondering what brought you to that part of the country in April. We get cold on days we don’t have to run the AC.
Any chance your thermostat has seen better days? The air coming on like that would be hard to figure out...
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Old 04-12-2020, 10:05 AM   #10
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YES a small space heater in basement with sliding door open will do the job. Fill fresh tank and unhook hose and keep it in the basement so you can use it even it it's freezing out to re fill the fresh tank.
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Old 04-12-2020, 10:18 AM   #11
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We have a place in the southern hills which we bought in 1977 and never got rid of. Complete isolation, can't even see any neighbors. My wife has almost zero immune system. If someone has a cold or flu a mile away she will get it. In Arizona where we winter at California is just across the Colorado river and reports that a million people could get this virus motivated us to leave.

Thanks Joe, that is what I'm doing now. I found out the first night at -8° the trouble light wasn't enough! I also have my service side on the sunny side which helps a lot.
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Old 04-12-2020, 10:49 AM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Cummins12V98 View Post
YES a small space heater in basement with sliding door open will do the job. Fill fresh tank and unhook hose and keep it in the basement so you can use it even it it's freezing out to re fill the fresh tank.
Yep! Got the sliding door open and a small space heater going. Every night after filling up with water I disconnect the hoses and drain them. I use water from a 450 gallon pickup tank that I fill weekly at Custer. Another challenge is keeping the tank outlet unfrozen. I put a heat tape on that and isolate with styrofoam, wrapped again with fiberglass insolation then a blanket. So far so good on that.
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Old 04-12-2020, 02:16 PM   #13
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Custer, OK???
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Old 04-12-2020, 02:43 PM   #14
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Custer SD in the Black Hills of SD. Maybe 20-30 miles south of Mt. Rushmore.
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Old 04-12-2020, 06:34 PM   #15
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That is certainly isolated. Should be getting warmer before long. Very tough for your wife, I can imagine. As Cummins said, as you are doing, fill tank and disconnect/drain hose. Only other labor-saving thing I can offer--get a heated hose, use it to fill, disconnect it but don't let it drain/raise the outlet higher than the spigot. It will be ready to use when needed, if elec doesn't go out.
How much land do you have?
You are tougher than I am...
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Old 04-12-2020, 07:26 PM   #16
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We have about a section of land here that we rent out the pasture. In 1977 this place was cheap, you can easy spend more on a house now then we did in 77. We raised our kids here and never wanted to get rid of it. On a normal year we will spend about a month and a half here in the spring and the same in the fall. In between we go to Omaha to see the grandkids, then to Michigan to see my wife's family. Ten K miles round trip back to AZ for the winter. Its been a good way of life until this crap going around. Nothing like having a bulleye on your back.

If you spent a month in CO Joe in this kind of weather then your just as tough! As far as the old house goes, just like everything that sits for a long time its going south. If things get really bad we could move a wood stove into the house and stay in it over winter. Boy I hope it doesn't get that bad!!!

Thanks for all your advise guys!
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Old 04-13-2020, 05:10 PM   #17
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Happened again last night and today I never could get the water running. Pulled filter housing so I could get at WP easier and pulled the strainer off of intake side of WP. Started pump and I have great suction on the pump by putting my hand under where the strainer mounts. I pulled off the hose that feeds the pump and I couldn't pull any water with my mouth. Got the air compressor out and I couldn't blow air down into the hose. I think I'm froze up down near where the sewer line comes out the bottom, at least that's what I'm guessing when I traced the inlet hose down with my flashlight. With the low temps and high winds I gave up for the day. Its suppose to be warmer tomorrow so I'll drop that cover for the sewer pipe and see what I can see and do. Maybe that area lost its insulation????
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Old 04-13-2020, 08:44 PM   #18
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Glenn,
Can almost guarantee you have a freezeup in the suction line...my solution to that was to make sure the insulation is away from the line so the heat from the space heater above can reach it. Follow it down as far as you can to see if any insulation is keeping the heat from getting to it. Extra heat for some period of time may help to get the plug thawed, then make sure heat can get to get all way to tank area. Or set a blow dryer in area for a while...
Good luck. I absolutely hate cold weather.
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Old 04-13-2020, 09:33 PM   #19
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I do to Joe! brrrrr One more really cold night so I'm going to try something new. Just after my last post it finally broke loose (4 PM) and we had water. We used a fair bit of water then I went back down there and pulled the filter housing off and disconnected the WP's inlet hose that goes down to the tank. I figure in theory by disconnecting the inlet hose the water in the line will drain back into the tank. I'm still going to leave a heater running and I'll see in the morning if it will pump water. I looked down there the best I could and couldn't see any insulation near the inlet hose.

Its simple in my mind, of course I have a simple mind, take the suction from the WP off the inlet line from the tank and the water will drain back to the tank. I'll see in the morning!
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Old 04-14-2020, 08:51 AM   #20
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Don't know what else to do--in my case, the insulation around the inlet hose was preventing heat from reaching it. Sounds odd--remove the insulation to thaw the line, but that is what worked. Just keeping a good flow of warm air ought to do the trick. And, yes, draining the line will keep it from freezing, THEN just hope the pump primes.
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