Thread: Winter Water Pipes Question - Help a Southern Boy

Originally Posted by STF

I didn't know that there were two tills at that time, I was 7 so don't remember that.

There is definitely not a decimal dozen, a dozen was always a dozen unless it was a bakers dozen of course.

What were you doing in England at that time to be there long enough to have lived through the conversion?

I spent the summer there using London as a base for travel around Europe. It was a fun 10 weeks and, in the scheme of things, not all that expensive because I was travelling as a student using a Eurail pass and cheap flights,

Originally Posted by outback

Snow insulates.
Here in Ohio, I believe were required to bury waterlines, no less than 3 feet deep..

I have a shallow well, and the line comes thru the basement wall, approximately 4 ' below the surface.

House was built over 100 years ago.

I read last night about snow insulating. Seems odd, but also make sense. Just a complicated bunch of things going together.

My area is apparently complicated because we have several different types of soil. But frost depth seems to be in 6"-12" range . If I remember right, the pipes have to be 18" under ground, but recommend 24".

None of this is anything I know well. I didn't even know of the frost depth until it was mentioned here.

Ice will only get to 32°F unless something like salt or alcohol is added. The air can get much, much lower. That's why am igloo works as shelter.

Originally Posted by PaulFLUS

Ice will only get to 32°F unless something like salt or alcohol is added. The air can get much, much lower. That's why am igloo works as shelter.

Ice can get much colder than 32'f but is the phase change of a liquid to a solid that takes or gives off the energy.

A similar phase change that is the difference between 212'F water and 212'f steam. I am more familiar with steam so I can state that to raise 1 pound of water 1'f takes 1 Btu. To change 1 lb of water from 212'f water to 212' steam takes 970 Btu.

The change of state is where the energy is stored and what makes the change of state more useful.

Just ask my husky. She buries herself in the snow and is very cozy that way.

When I was younger we raised geese. They would walk around in the snow. You might think that they would freeze their feet in the snow.

But they can swim in freezing water. Cold water absorbs much more energy/heat than the snow so to them the snow is relatively warm.

So no water and the snow is starting to melt. They say everyone should have water again "through the weekend". I filled a bathtub with snow for non-potable and in case of emergency potable.

Just for fun I cobbled together a still from an old Dutch oven and aquarium tubing. I'm not sure I have rum runners in my line, but if I do I hope they're proud.

Now I am going to have to look up how many cubic feet of wet or dry snow will make a gallon of water....

I would personally just bring it to a boil unless you live close downwind from a chemical producing plant etc.

Many of us might think about electricity and gas as things to worry about but water is much more important in many ways.

Originally Posted by 32t

Now I am going to have to look up how many cubic feet of wet or dry snow will make a gallon of water....

I would personally just bring it to a boil unless you live close downwind from a chemical producing plant etc.

Many of us might think about electricity and gas as things to worry about but water is much more important in many ways.

If seems that about one gallon of snow makes a little less than.half a gallon of water. Basically, we've been collecting snow in 5 gallon buckets and ending up with half a bucket of water (just for toilets).

The still really was just for fun. The only advantage is that I wouldn't have to filter it and make my family proud. But, I also have plenty of containers and at least four people that have running water that will fill me up.

So, I am really fine. I should have enough on hand, but plenty of ways to get water if I need to.

Honestly I haven't been to worried about you personally.

You seem to have things under control!