Photograph Credit: Microsoft Images

Baby, it’s cold outside is an understatement. As I took my children to school this morning, the temperature gauge read 10°F. With the wind chill, we were probably experiencing temperatures around – 2°F. Brrr!

For those of you in the northern states and Canada, you are used to this weather, and bless your hearts. However, I grew up in warm-weather Florida, and I tend to hibernate when the temperature falls below 40°F.

Last night we bumped up the heat and kept the doors open on our cabinets under our sinks. This morning all was well. We all got up, washed up, ate breakfast, rinsed the dishes, and left.

After arriving home, I left the garage door open about a foot as the door opener has not worked since Saturday. (Yes, it appears that we have a long list of items to fix around our house, and the list is getting longer by the day.)

Around noon, I went to wash my hands. As I turned on the faucet, nothing happened.

Yikes! No water!

Identifying the Source

Thinking that a water main broke in the neighborhood, I called my two neighbors. They both had water, so it wasn’t a community outage.

My next call was to our utility company, who verified that there were no outages. The representative suggested calling a plumber as it sounded as though we had frozen pipes.

Thanking her for the suggestion, I decided to call Paul. Poor guy! He has dealt with a broken garage door opener, failed radio in his vehicle, painted Mr. 8’s room with 3 colors, put together 2 dressers and an organization tower, and fixed a number of small toys over his holiday break. I felt badly calling him at work to inform him of our water issue.

Knowing that it was frozen pipes, I made the call.  Thankfully, Paul was on his lunch break and looked up some solutions. Since I had left the garage door open about a foot off the floor (as the garage door opener is not currently working), we think the cold air froze our main pipes in the garage as no water was coming into the house.

Fixing the Source

Inside the House

Though the problem was in the garage, I needed to release the pressure in the pipes prior to melting the frozen blockage to give the water somewhere to go. Paul asked me to do the following:

• Shut off the outside valves (which are housed under two sinks inside our house)
• Turn on all faucets – sinks, bathtubs, and showers
• Keep all the cabinets open to allow the heat from our home to thaw the pipes

Outside the House

Concentrating on creating heat in the garage to melt the frozen pipes, I followed Paul’s suggestions:

• Opened the garage door
• Backed out the van
• Closed the garage door
• Placed a space heater near the center of the floor

By the time I got the house prepared, it was time for afternoon pickup. Miss 3 and I left. When we arrived home, I opened the door to the wonderful sound of running water. The space heater melted the blockage, and water was coming out of each faucet.

Guess we have a stopped up sink in the master bathroom as I found the sink overflowing, the rug soaked, and water on the floor. However, after turning off the water, the sink drained. This is just another item on that long Honey-do list. *sigh*

Mopping up the floor and water overfill was an easy fix after not having water all afternoon. With the water on, I tested the hot water. There was none. I left the sink going on the hot setting for a few minutes. The water never got warm, so I turned it back to a small trickle.

By the time Paul arrived home, the hot water tank had refilled, and we were back to hot running water. Not wanting to drain the water heater with dinner and dishes, we used our January freebie from our Chick-fil-A calendar cards for dinner. With the extra time to heat the water, we were able to get baths and showers without having to call the plumber. 😀

Though I prefer snow if the temperatures will be this low, I am looking forward to some higher temperatures in the days that follow. If you find your pipes frozen, then try not to panic.

Having now been through the experience, we have a plan. In the future, we will proactively place an electric blanket on our pipes prior to temperatures falling below freezing.

Thankfully, I’m taking this year slowly. When life happened today, I dropped everything. The grocery lists did not get made, the laundry pile continues to grow, and the bills remain on my desk, but we have running water, healthy children, and a warm house. It was a great day, and I’m thankful for the investment of using time wisely.

Hopefully, you won’t find yourself saying, “Yikes! No water!” But you might find other inconveniences occurring on your pre-scheduled day. Try to roll with the punches, make the best decision you can, and focus on what you can control. Happy adjusting when life happens!

Question: How do you prepare for below freezing temperatures?