- Thread starter
- #211
misfitmorgan
Herd Master
I hope it completely misses us....ironically a nice bank of snow along the back side of the house helps insulate us from the West wind's which is kinda nice.
Misfitmorgan's Journal - That Summer Dust
- Thread starter misfitmorgan
- Start date
I hope it completely misses us....ironically a nice bank of snow along the back side of the house helps insulate us from the West wind's which is kinda nice.
Hens and Roos
Herd Master
sorry to hear that you have frozen water 
, hope you get it thawed soon 
, hope you get it thawed soon 
NH homesteader
Herd Master
Eww I hate that. My guess is I'll have the same problem tomorrow. Guess I should fill some water buckets for the animals at least.
- Thread starter
- #214
misfitmorgan
Herd Master
sorry to hear that you have frozen water
Me too!! The sun is out, maybe it will end up warmer then their forecasted 19F today
We keep a 55 gallon barrel filled with water in the barn in case we cant get the water un-frozen, if we keep it in the middle of the barn it doesnt freeze solid. Having the hay in the loft above the animals really helps to insulate and keep the animals body heat in. So far this year it has been 10-15 degrees warmer in there then outside...once we finish getting it winterized it should stay even warmer then that.
Bruce
Herd Master
Um, sounds like something you want to fix! Can't be good for the pipes to freeze. Even if they don't rupture "this" time, they must be getting weakened each time the water expands as it freezes.
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- #216
misfitmorgan
Herd Master
Nope it's 100% Pex so no problem freezing repeatedly..worst case a fitting pops loose and you have to re-clamp it. There are only two fittings under the house total, one straight connector to the main line comming in and one elbow right under the floor....it freezes at the elbow every stupid time. We have heat tape on all the pipe under the house and water line insulation over that, and a wrap insulation over that and floor insulation over that....and it still manages to freeze. Yesterday it froze with the water running but it froze in the well house so the water stopped moving and froze in the elbow.
We need to go get insulation and insulate the well house better. It was fully insulated but the previous owners let it freeze and bust the PVC pipes out there and then thaw on its own so the entire inside of the well-house was soaking wet, multiple times. It rotted the floor and the insulation was saturated and got moldy. DH took out all the worst of the insulation this spring but we never got the new insulation put up because first we need to put down a new wood floor. So i think the plan is gonna be augmented to throwing a couple sheets of OSB on the floor so we can walk in there safely and then putting up the insulation.
I'm not sure who built this well house but they were insane, first of all it is not a real well it is a cistern well...so a giant open hole in the ground full of water. The only thing that separates you from falling in the well is one sheet of OSB that currently is soft and sags up and down wherever you walk on it from water rotting it for years. Then they built a shed on top of it, a full height 8ft ceiling shed....then they put in two trailor type large windows and a trailer house type door with a large window in it. Then like R-9 insulation on the walls only and one light bulb on the ceiling stud...then they added two vents up by the roof line that go outside for good measure. They also build it on the side of the house that gets full and pretty much constant West wind. I dont understand how they though this thing had a prayer of staying above freezing.
So add new floor and new insulation to the list of things to do. Here is the part that truely annoys me...we will be having a new well drilled in the spring so i have no idea what to do with this little building that sits over a large hole full of water. DH says we can use it for a garden shed..which would be logical if it was close to the garden...as is not so much.
NH homesteader
Herd Master
We also have Pex. Need to put more heat tape on it. Does heat tape have a shelf life? Ours totally quit working.
That sounds terribly dangerous! I'm terrified of wells like that. Or holes in the ground like that, lol. Of course my 4 year old daughter is the primary reason I'm scared of them but still.
That sounds terribly dangerous! I'm terrified of wells like that. Or holes in the ground like that, lol. Of course my 4 year old daughter is the primary reason I'm scared of them but still.
- Thread starter
- #218
misfitmorgan
Herd Master
It does but depends on brand. We have had cheaper heat tape that worked for 8yrs that they no longer make that we can find...it was all black. ATM we have 3 different runs of the Orange kind with the black thermostat and it has a 5yr warranty so i imagine about 5yrs on that kind lol. We did have a blue kind but it only worked for 2 winters. So far the orange is on its 3rd winter.
Oh im scared for myself lol. DH and i both have a fear of drowning in general though his is worse then mine. Technically open top or cistern wells are illegal in michigan but ours is grandfathered in. We both hate going in the well house. i was perfectly fine going in there until the one day he opened the trap door and shined a light down in the giant hole. I did not realize it was a cistern well until that point. I had assumed it was over/under well...meaning the well was under the well house and closest off except for a 8-12" metal pipe that the black pipe for the pump goes into, the pump and pressure tank live above ground in a well house. Noooooo this is just a giant hole..literally.
They dug down about 7ft and built cinderblock walls and continued those walls up a foot above grade, then built a floor and walls on top of that. So if you went thru the floor anyplace your going down into the well...even scarier is that the WOODEN ladder someone built inside the cistern to be able to go down there and clean or whatever is so old and rotten that you wouldnt be able to use it and there is no other way out. So yeah it scares me a lot.
The new well will be a modern well with a small short well house over it and completely closed except for the pipe that comes out of the ground to feed the above ground pump.
NH homesteader
Herd Master
That's terrifying! I wouldn't ever go in there, lol!
Mine lasted 3 years... Guess I need to get some good stuff this time around!
Mine lasted 3 years... Guess I need to get some good stuff this time around!
- Thread starter
- #220
misfitmorgan
Herd Master
I hold my breath every time i walk in there lol
We found out with heat tape it is only marginally different in price between the 3ft and the 30ft....3ft is $25 and 30ft is $42 so $17 for 10 times more. We own a 30ft and two 12ft. This is the kind we have atm https://www.doitbest.com/products/549932
