Last spring the last of my Plan B bottles fell apart. I get these cheap blue water bottles at the local IGA, and they’re good for a year or two but then the UV takes its toll. I was shuffling mine back and forth a lot, because the washing machine still worked but had no water supply. Hey, I’m not afraid to go full redneck when the occasion demands.
Anyway, I’m down to this five-gallon Coleman thing that actually belongs to Landlady, and didn’t worry about it because I was so sure I had the frozen water problem worked out. Yes, that was stupid.
My attempt at diagnosis suggests that the problem isn’t at the cabin at all, but at the big manifold at the cistern. Which is very bad, because it’s currently under a big pile of dirt and if that didn’t do the job I don’t know what will. Also, it’ll take forever to thaw. So I’m stuck here for a while. I borrowed another water bottle from a neighbor, and will correct the bottle supply problem as soon as I can get to town next.
Early last winter, when an unseasonably early freeze took out the water, I discovered the ultimate irony. I finally, finally! had my very own Real Flush Toilet – took me months to get the septic system worked out – and then it turned out that RFTs have this one little weakness. In an RV, the toilet doesn’t need running water to still function. Sigh.
So. Here’s a little secret for you hermits on a budget. When the water stops running and you’re hauling it all in jugs, disconnect the trap from your kitchen sink and put a big bucket under there. That way you can use the water twice – once for cleaning, and once for flushing. That is all.
If the manifold is well buried , why not get a bit of wood/charcoal and build a fire over it ? water starts running , put the fire out .
Right next to M’s very expensive plastic cistern? I don’t think he’d appreciate that.
How about you dump a bunch of booze down the well, to act as anti-freeze?
Be a shame to flush with it, though.
Are you sure it is actually frozen there?
I know I have a different climate, and I’m currently on a spring rather than a well supply, but it is amazing how many critters get into water cisterns, it’s usually frogs and earth worms for mine, but mice have been known too.
I looked after my brothers house a few weeks back and had to dismantle the ballcock for his hot water header tank, to get an earth worm out of it.
Yeah, pretty sure. I won’t say it’s impossible that a small dead animal managed to get wedged in the pipes, but it’s unlikely at any time and right now Occam’s Razor argues pretty strongly for ice. Not the first time.