High and dry again

[captpackrat]

I was in the middle of doing my first load of laundry when the water stopped again.  At first I thought there was something wrong with the washing machine because it just sat there, making a funny noise.  Fortunately the water ran out just before it would have normally switched off, so I was able to trick the machine into continuing with the rinse cycle.  I have a bad habit of waiting until I'm out of clean clothes before doing the laundry.  If I hadn't done the whites first, or if the water had run out earlier, I'd be going commando tomorrow.

My roommate bought an extension cord and a incandescent shop light, which we lowered into the well.  We then sealed the manhole and I covered the manhole and top of the well with a sheet of R.5 insulating foam.  That should heat up the pipes and stuff quite nicely.

I sure wish this well had one of those old-fashioned hand pumps, then we could at least have water for flushing the toilets and doing dishes.

Comments

[iraffa.livejournal.com]

The deep ground will naturally be warm all winter. It's just a matter of keeping the nasty cold air away from the pipes. I have a similar situation with the crawl space under my house. Lots of pipes. I normally like to let some fresh air circulate under there, but when it gets cold, I close it up. I got a cheap remote radio digital thermometer ($10) so I can watch the temperature underneath. Overall, insulation is your best friend. R-5 is a bit light. Stack it for R-15 or more.