Rancid_Pickle and the Pumphouse Blues
Chapter Two: Three Degrees and Four Franklins
Like most of the folks in the flyover US states are experiencing, it's an arctic wonderland outside. Three degrees with enough wind to drop it to a (mumblemumble) below zero. The pumphouse thermometer indicated the temps had dropped below 32F, so I knew something was wrong. Then it showed the temp went back up to 50, so I thought perhaps it was a hiccup with the remote thermometer.
It turns out that the heating equipment was spewing out its last breath of fire. It hovered around 33, so I thought it was OK because the thermostat clicks on at 32F. When I got up to do the usual things every few hours, I turned on the faucets, which showed there was still no issues with the waterline. It seemed fine at 3am, but at 4:30am I knew it was frozen. A slight trickle of water and no pressure. I filled my Brita filter pitcher with water so I could at least have coffee in the morning.
When I got up, I figured I might as well go out to the store and replace the heater and thermostat even if they turned out to be functional. Figured I would be proactive for once. I also picked up some extra pipes in case any cracked.
The person who originally built my well pumphouse was a cheapskate. They used crappy oriented strand board 4ft by 8ft sheets instead of actual outdoor-rated plywood. They painted it with indoor paint that mostly washed off the first good rain it saw. When the door fell off last month, I put a sheet of plywood up with screws. I figured I would rebuild it next Spring. No such luck.
Everything was a block of ice, and now I need to replace a cracked 83 gallon pressure tank. Four hundred bucks, plus installation if I don't want to lay down and play with it in the cold. Too bad Santa didn't leave one under my Christmas tree this year.
I did my best to bypass it, so hopefully I will at least have some water if I can get the pipes to unfreeze and they still work. We'll see, but I don't think my 2017 luck will improve.
Here's hoping both of us, you and me, discover that 2018 is a vast improvement over this year.