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| Photo by Kevin C. Chen via Wikimedia Commons |
by Peggy Robin
My goal for this column is simple: to prevent you from going
through what I went through during a similar cold snap a little over a
year ago, when I awoke in the morning after a 15-degree night to find the faucet
on my kitchen sink would give no water, as the pipe to it was frozen solid.
Then I spent the next TEN hours doing everything I could think of to try to
thaw the pipe. I propped up a hair dryer; I ran a space heater; I ran hot water
to other parts of the house (all described in message number 101641, http://yhoo.it/1KhWBqY). Finally, a little
after 6 PM, the pipe unfroze without bursting, and I could relax. (See
follow-up message number 101663, http://yhoo.it/1QeFoLc)
I’m telling you now to think ahead to tomorrow morning, when it will be 11 degrees F. If
you have any plumbing fixtures against exterior walls, keep them warm! Open any
cabinet doors below the sink and point a space heater at the pipes. Leave a
drip running, too. If there’s a cut-off to an outside faucet and you haven’t
cut it off already, do it now. If there are uninsulated pipes running to an
unheated garage, put a heating pad on them. Anything to keep them from
freezing. Here’s some expert advice,
plus a little video to back up what I’m saying: http://wtvr.com/2015/02/19/preventing-frozen-pipes/
And now, once you know you have done all you can to protect
your pipes from the cold, you might as well enjoy it – so here are some
absolutely breathtaking photos of snowflakes taken from under a microscope: https://weather.com/storms/winter/news/lake-effect-snow-more-than-three-feet-feb-2016
(Scroll down the page to: “Microscopic Snowflakes (31 PHOTOS)
Gallery” to start the slideshow.)
Stay warm, everyone!
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Still Life with Robin is published on the Cleveland ParkListserv and on All Life Is Local on Saturdays.
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