Keeping the Water From Freezing.

     A blogger friend, "Evano"      http://www.blogger.com/profile/05602952610036781746    asked how I plan on keeping the water from freezing if I am away from home for prolonged periods of time. I am happy to share. This is all my own planning that went into all this and I am really hoping that it works for me. I think it will, but you just never know.  This time of year we all know I probably don't have to worry about these things, but winter is coming alot quicker than I want it to. I am assuming you are talking about the indoor plumbing, but I will also mention the cistern water storage outside also.

      To start with, I am going to have in totall 4 different heat sources to choose from for different occasions and times of the year.  I know it sounds kinda crazy for such a small house, but I really hate being cold. I have installed two 15,000 BTU propane heaters. They are both direct vent type heaters meaning that they bring in combustion air from out side and send the exhaust to the outside. IMPORTANT! I'm not a pro at this stuff, but I do know that propane appliances might  not be allowed in basements in all areas. You will have to check with your local permitting offices I guess. (Propane is heavier than natural gas and will pool at the bottom and could fill a basement and  create quite an explosion if ignited, whereas natural gas may dissepate more easily out the windows and doors etc). They're both dangerous as far as I am concerned.

     I chose to go with the two smaller heaters instead of one 30,000 BTU one, because with the lower BTU, they can be installed in alot of different tighter spaces. (Closer to a corner, closer to window, mounted up higher on the wall etc). Also a bigger heater was kind of hard to find with a direct vent that would work in a basement. A bigger heater would have meant running another chimney (B vent). It's a long way to the top from the basement, and chimneys take up more of my space. Also, the B-vent type chimney requires me to bring in outside air for combustion, which makes me feel as though I am defeating my purpose a bit. Although, I might have to do that for my wood stove, but I'm not real sure yet, I may be able to modify it to a direct intake.

     Anything water is all at one end of the house, whether it be up stairs or down. Most anything that I need to worry about is in the basement, but upstairs will be a kitchen sink that is practically right over top of one heater, and on the other side is the bathroom vanity and toilet over the other heater. I'm pretty confident that I would be able to leave the house for days without worry in the colder winter days. However, if it is -40 outside for a prolonged period, I find from experience in my shack that these type heaters probably are'nt going to put out as much as they should. Propane movement really slows down. At -42 I think it is, propane no longer vapourizes, so I sure hope that it don't get that cold for very long if I'm not around. However with a 1000 gallon tank that I now have will be alot better than the 100 pound tanks that I used to use. I will top up the big propane tank once every summer so that has a good percentage of product for the winter.

     If I were to leave for a month or so, I would winterize the house something like you would do to your RV. Draining everything that should be drained and run plumbing antifreeze through all the lines etc.

    I plan on experimenting with all my different sources of heat to find what works best for different situations. I think if I stoked the wood stove and turned it down before leaving the house that the forced air furnace will be able to keep things warm for a couple days after the fire burned down,  without charging the batteries. However, this all depending on how often the furnace cycles, but I know this house is very well insulated and I'm thinking it will hold it's own heat for a long time on average temperature days.  But if the sun is shining and there is'nt a big amount of snow on the solar panels, it would probably be able to keep the house warm, as this would be the only electrical power being used while I am gone. The MPPT charge controller that I have installed in my electrical system is supposed to really shine in the colder weather. If my batteries will run the furnace, this would be the most economical heat source, but if the  battery voltage goes down to my preset voltage then the inverter will shut down until a preset voltage is present again.
     
   Eventually I may be installing some kind of AGS(Automatic Generator Start), but I will experiment with what I have first.
            Then when all else fails and the furnace does not want to run, the two space heaters in the basement should kick in and hopefully do their thing.

The photo below shows one of the two propane heaters on the right.

 

The above photo is a quick drawing of the the Basement and Main floor plans to show the location of heat sources lined up with vulnerable water areas. The two space heaters are drawn in red. As a comparison, the direct vent heater in my shack is 22,000 BTU. I have slept in the shack when it was  -35-40. It was'nt too bad in the top bunk, but I have had pop cans explode in the middle of the night. They were sitting on the floor. lol. The shack is'nt real well insulated and is built with only 2x4 walls.

When I am at home, it will not even be a chore to stoke the fire. I say bring on the cold.  

As for the water cistern outside, I am really hoping the water don't freeze up too badly in there. I do expect to see a thin layer of ice develope on the surface of the water at times, but hopefully it won't be a problem. I do have an insulated lid on it, and I will bank snow around the top part of it sticking out of the ground. There was about 2 feet of water in it all last winter. I checked it in the early spring and seen no ice. That could possibly be the solution is to not fill it right up to the top. There is heat that comes from the ground and the water way down there does'nt seem to freeze. The cistern is about 11 feet deep and 8 foot diameter. With this diameter of pipe, I was told that for every meter of pipe you will hold 995 gallons of water. Half full would be about 1500 gallons, and that is alot for me. I don't think I would have to worry about it freezing if  kept it at around this level.  

I had no heat in my house all last winter, and the sump in the basement had about an inch of water in it. I had some insulation over top the sump and that inch of water did not freeze all winter either. It was a fairly mild winter if compared to some, but it was still pretty chilly at times.

This is what my plan is for things, but that does'nt necessarily make it the right way to do things. I am not a pro, and I am also learning as I go. I guess time will tell if it's all going to work for me, but I do expect to be doing modifications on things as I go if need be. I'll be alot smarter after the next winter hopefully.  

 

 

 

Disclaimer--IMPORTANT

This is a personal blog, mainly for my own use. I am building a house with my own two hands, but I am learning alot of things as I go. I do not claim to know what I am doing, or if anything I do is even close to being done correctly or safely. So please, if you are planning on using any of my ideas or methods for your own use, please get professional advice before actually following through with your actions. I will not be held responsible for any injuries or damages of any kind caused by information or comments from this blog.

New Water Tank, Gas Lines, Heater

All our snow was just about gone because of warm spring weather, but we got a good little blast of snow the other day. I like it. It will make things nice and slimy and prolong the work life from getting busy for a little longer. Things were actually starting to get pretty dry out there.

I spent $200.00 on fire extinquishers the other day. One for my rental unit, one for the garage, and one for each floor of the house. Thats 5 extinquishers. I guess, just knowing that soon there will be real propane flowing through the gas lines, and also getting closer to playing with electricity, I just thought maybe I should have a fire extinguisher in the area.

I was pretty busy today with all the gas lines. Just getting them all to fit and all that. I still have to take them all apart and apply teflons tape or pipe dope and tighten things up. Just wanted to see what it all looks like before I make it too permanent.

I also hung the north heater. This is the second one I installed. Still gotta install the vent system for this one. These babies are meant to be more of a backup heat system if I am away for longer periods of time in colder weather. They are probably not the most energy efficient heat source that one could be running, but it is nice to have them there in case. I'll be doing alot of experimenting with the heating systems next winter. (I hope). lol.

I bought a new 81 gallon water pressure tank. $450. I have been looking at this tank for quite some time now while trying to find a better deal. It'll work, but now I want to buy another one just like it. The more the pressurized water storage, the less the pump cycles. And this way, I can wait till the sun is shining then hit the water pump switch to stock up for the evenings. I have tanks of different sizes that I want to have in the system and as far as I know it should all work together, but it is possible that it could cause some problems that may need to be ironed out. We'll see, I guess.

So I am still kinda trying to get myself all back into the groove of things again. I'm going to get a bunch more supplies in town tomorrow, and then I just might go to work a little later on at the pay job just to try and get that all over with. Still got a little catching up on truck and trailers.


Disclaimer--IMPORTANT


This is a personal blog, mainly for my own use. I am building a house with my own two hands, but I am learning alot of things as I go. I do not claim to know what I am doing, or if anything I do is even close to being done correctly or safely. So please, if you are planning on using any of my ideas or methods for your own use, please get professional advice before actually following through with your actions. I will not be held responsible for any injuries or damages of any kind caused by information or comments from this blog.

The Corrugated Water Cistern

There's the cistern, standing still open all winter so far. I meant to have it all hooked up and backfilled a long time ago. Last fall when I was busy at work the weather was nice, and about the time I got all done with work the rain came. So I did'nt get around to this task. There is not much space between the trench and the basement trench. I have drove through with the backhoe, but it just fits and it is pretty risky of sliding into the basement and crashing my dreams. lol. So it is time to get this thing backfilled. I took the picture from the main floor of the house. Gives you a bit of an idea how high it is.

The water line here is buried over to the house. I always had it in my mind that I was going to drill a hole in the side of the cistern and hook the water line in via a pitless adapter of some sort. I assumed that one should just drive to town and find the right pitless adapter for a corrugated pipe like this one. I was wrong, it has not been invented yet. So I got phoning around and one guy I talked to who does these things, clued me on how to do this. Just dig the line in underneath the culvert cistern, then pour my concrete around the pipe on the inside. Sounded pretty simple, but man did I ever work myself doing this. That dirt is pretty well frozen. I was a good part of the day yesterday doing this (Feb 27). I was soaked by the time I got it all done. I wanted to dig a little deeper under the cistern wall than I did, but it was just to tough of going. I did bend the lip of the culvert up where the hose goes under, just incase things settle and want to crush or cut the hose. It should be good I think.

I had to cut the line and send it through from the inside of the cistern, otherwise I would have kinked it in alot of different places trying to run it through. I don't really like to have a splice in there, but, what can you do?

I hand shoveled some nice lump free dirt over the hose connection, and packed it a bit. Then I layed a bunch of orange tape over it. If I ever do have to dig that splice up again, I should be able to find it without ripping the whole line out accidentally.

I was in the process of backfilling the cistern, breaking up big chunks of frozen dirt. It was time consuming. Eventually I blew a hydraulic hose on the backhoe. I'll have to get a new hose built in the morning. I did a little more work on the basement for the rest of the day. This backfilling needs to take place in the morning because it has been getting pretty messy out later in the day, but it usually freezes overnight. It is kinda like spring here, and has been like that for quite awhile now. Now with that being said, I can probably expect some -40 stuff soon. lol. I sure hope not. Last year we had alot of that in March if I remember correctly.

Busy February at Work.

I hav'nt found much time for working on the cabin this month. It's hard to believe that the month of February is already done. The weather has been pretty nice for here, and I have been
spending it out in the bush playing in the mud alot of the time hauling equipment. It's almost like we're in the middle of an oil boom or something. The other driver was getting tired and needed some time off, and things did pick up for awhile there. I THINK that things are slowed down again. I hope. I would like to get my basement done and backfilled soon, before things really turn warm and sloppy. Today I just kinda got started working on the house again. Well, actually on my water storage cistern. I need to get it out of the way before I can backfill my basement. I have just a little bit left to do before I can get inspected. This is something that I hoped to have done by the beginning of this month, but I guess I am a tiny bit behind. lol. Below are a few pictures from work. It was actually a nice break for awhile there, but I'm ready to build now.

I had to unload this D9 cat 3 times within 46 kilometers. The ole Peterbilt just would'nt haul it up some of the hills in there. Just too much weight and stupidly steep hills.

Just a bit of an update. I hope to have something to blog about real soon. I plan on finally backfilling my water cistern tomorrow if things go as planned.