DOH! Where's the Water?

[Rick]

When we got up this morning there was no water. A quick call to the water company and, nope, they didn't have a water main problem. DOH! It's been -5 here overnight and the day time temps in the low 20s. Hmmm. We are doing some remodeling and a plumber was out here two days ago. I checked the meter well and he had left the lid off. I spent about 40 minutes with a torch but finally got it running again and so far it doesn't look like any damage. Either a valve was frozen or it wasn't frozen long enough to rupture a pipe. I have a flood light in the meter well just to make sure it's good and warm and I'll check it for pooling water before I close it up later today.

I have 15 gallons of water stored in the garage and I thought that would be enough to get us through a small inconvenience and it actually did. However, I went through 10 gallons in no time. I have 2.5 gallon tanks on the toilets (No, I will never convert to water saving toilets. But thanks for asking) so two flushes and 5 gallons is gone.

What are the lessons?

1. Never leave the meter lid off the well in -0 weather.
2. Buy more water jugs for additional storage.

I have a 50 gallon hot water tank and could certainly have tapped into that if I needed it but I think more storage will just be more convenient. As I'm getting older I find the 2.5 gallon containers a lot easier to carry upstairs than the 5 gallon ones.

The point of this is you might want to reconsider how much water you have stored. It's just my wife and I and we finished off 10 gallons in about 1 hour.

[cowgirlup]

In a pinch you can melt snow for toilet flushing water.....just sayin.

We have a stream next to the house for emergency flush water but when it's froze over then there is a plan b.

[Kudos]

Probably best not to drink snow or rain water as levels of radiation have been found in both.

[Kudos]

These days most every day is feeling like a lesson in survival

[1stimestar]

Rick, I haul my water in 5 gallon jugs but just found some 4 gallon jugs last summer. The difference that one gallon makes in portability is amazing lol. Sucks getting creaky. This winter I've not even been filling the 5 gallon jugs full as it is so much easier when unloading several.

[Solar Geek]

Thanks for the alert. I bought the storage containers but never filled them. We have solar and battery so I figured our well pump would still work to fill up the containers.

Never figured on freezing of any part but with our -25F to -30F continued windchills and actual below zero constant temps, I will fill them tomorrow when we arrive.

[hunter63]

One learns how to conserve water when you have to carry it.

Was down in Louisiana at DD/SIL house, and was helping clean out the shed.
Came across 4-7 gal. water jugs....empty.
I suggested that he fill the up as they take the same amount of room full or empty.

So we did and sure enough, a week or so later an ice storm knocked out power electric well pump....Gen set down for repair.....so it came in real handy.

Glad it worked out for you Rick, and yeah it fully how some thing so simple can be a real PITA if not a danger.

P.S. Your 5-7k gen sets don't take too well being bounced around on the mud truck trailer......FYI

[randyt]

"One learns how to conserve water when you have to carry it".... truer words were never spoke LOL.

Water mains and service lines are freezing in my little town. The town is telling folks to let their water run but some are not listening.

[Ken]

Our biggest concern is a water main break or service line freeze-up. We have a reservoir and municipal wells and a filtration plant in town, with a back-up agreement and alternate emergency supply available from a neighboring community.

My first house was near the top of the highest hill in town. We lived within 1,000 feet of a municipal storage tank, but nonetheless usually had less than 10 lbs. of water pressure when the power plants in town drew cooling water, which was most of the time. Sometimes there wasn't enough volume to keep the older-type pressure/flow reliant shower valve operating. It generally took almost 2 minutes to fill a coffee pot, and we had more than a few experiences when we'd turn on a faucet and nothing would come out except air. That's when I started storing water in quantity.

The house I'm in now has over 70 lbs. of pressure at the tap, sometimes more, so we have to be careful when we turn faucets on because water has splashed all over the place more than once, especially in the winter when water demand is the lowest. Now, my first line of defense if the faucets run dry is about 100 one gallon size Arizona Green Tea jugs I have filled with water. Those jugs are really strong, convenient to carry, and have a great built-in handle. It's a great excuse to buy more jugs of tea. I have four 50 gallon barrels with spouts on racks in the basement for longer-term outages - the same ones I had in my first home. No leaks, ever, but I have replaced the spouts at least twice.

There's a brook about 300 feet from the house that never freezes solid, and if worse comes to worse, I'll walk down to the river and draw a couple of gallons and desalinate, filter, and boil them back at the house. Whatever it takes.....

[randyt]

Ken, sounds like you need a pressure reducing valve.

[Ken]

It's usually not too bad, Randy. Today is one of the bad days, LOL. I'm about 30' above sea level, and that's a big difference from 150' above sea level.

[1stimestar]

Did you call the plumber and tell him he left the lid off but due to your investigation, disaster averted?

[Rick]

Actually, yes. I spent about 20 minutes with a torch in the meter well heating the valves and pipes. I came in to see if I had any luck, which I hadn't. I told the contractor to call him, went back out and worked on it another 10 minutes and finally thawed it out. Called him back and canceled his trip. I dropped a flood light in the well, covered it up and left it the rest of the day. No problems since. Did I mention the wind chill was -15F that day?

It was so cold....how cold was it? It was so cold the Bunzomatic didn't want to burn.

[sstlaure]

I simply fill empty 2-liter bottles as they accumulate. Here in MI it costs $0.10/bottle, so it's pretty cheap emergency water storage.

[MamaBear]

This is a good idea. Do you just fill with tap water? I've read you're supposed to add drops of bleach for long-term storage but I really don't want bleach in my water. Right now we buy gallons of drinking water and rotate them out once a year, plus we have extra filtered water in bottles stuck in the freezer. My husband can bring home food-grade 55 gallon blue barrels for free so we are planning on filling up a couple of those for long-term use, once we figure out a place to put them.

Rick, glad you got your water situation resolved with no damage! Lots of frozen and burst pipes around our neck of the woods lately.

I simply fill empty 2-liter bottles as they accumulate. Here in MI it costs $0.10/bottle, so it's pretty cheap emergency water storage.

[Rick]

Unless you have problems with your tap water there really isn't a need to add anything to it. Chlorine has probably already been added unless you are on a well.

[silverjack100]

Yep, definitely a good idea to have spare water around. My city, Lethbridge, just declared a state of emergency because the turbidity of our source water, the Milk river, is too high for the treatment plants to handle. City says they have 8 hours worth of useable water left at normal usage levels and that was an hour ago. The amazing thing about this is, is that this whole situation is due to spring run-off. Three days ago it was -20C and the snow was 5 or 6cm high. Next day, temp rockets up to +15 and it holds until today at that temperature. All the snow melts and with it, apparently, a whole bunch of sediment. Our river is actually called the Milk river because it gets "milky" in spring when all the sediment gets in the water. This problem is expected to persist for possibly up to a few days.

I was just in Canadian Tire and it was crazy to see all the people who don't have water stored in their homes for situations like this. There were line-ups of people buying gallons of water and packs of water bottles. Remember to have water stored in your house, as like in this case, the situation can change in a split second.