The recovery from the Arctic Vortex or whatever they are calling that thing continues. I think I finally got the new pipe situation straightened out completely today and managed to stop the last remaining pesky drip. The connector that took the line from the copper to the pvc would get a small drip forming and it would take that sucker close to 10 minutes to actually drip and it was driving me crazy trying to get it to stop. I would tighten the thing and then have to wait forever to see if it worked.
It seems to be stopped now but maybe I just went from a 10 minute drip to a 20 minute drip.
My next task is wrapping the pipes with heat tape once again and besides my accompanying heat lamp I am going to add a remote thermometer to the set up and place the readout next to my computer. That way if the temp gets below say 35 down there I will have warning and can fire up the salamander or whatever is needed to keep the basement above freezing.
I have also removed the duct just below the main blower for the wood furnace. I have the furnace blowing into the duct work but it doesn't end up going down into the basement so I am going to use the now empty hole for a warm air transfer I can run with a small electric fan. This should allow me to transfer a bit of heat directly into the basement. Whether it will be enough or not is the big question but I did have fun designing the thing.
The door is an entire different problem. I am not sure if the foundation shifted or sunk slightly to throw the entire frame off square. There are conflicting theories as to which one happened. I added an extra floor jack some time ago and it didn't help the situation so my next move is going to be to just rebuild the entire frame back out to fit a smaller door. If I could I would just remove the problem all together but that isn't really an option. The door and frame were never built to any kind of modern day standard anyway. I believe I got the shifting stopped some time ago but I doubt there is anyway to correct it back so a whole new installation is more than likely warranted.
It warmed up considerably today making it up into the middle to upper 40's without even a hint of sunshine to help. All clouds and rain. I did manage to get the wood furnace cleaned out but I didn't let it burn out completely to do a complete ash removal. Hopefully that will come tomorrow when we see the sun and maybe some temps in the 50's.
I still have about a cord or so of burnable firewood left and about two cords of stuff needing to be split. I was going to split it up today but the rain kept me from it so splitting a load is top on my list for tomorrow. Hopefully by Sunday it will be warm enough to check the hives for losses and add some more sugar feed and dry enough to cut another load off the trees I have felled already.
We are approaching the lean times now so a nice warm break is just what is needed to get everything restocked for the final push through of cold weather. Of course at this point I still do not know if the hives survived the Arctic Vortex or not. I need to get a handle on losses and take an inventory so I can get started on the woodenware I need to build for this coming Spring and Summer growth.
Until I know if I have loses or not that is going to be top on my mind.
Keep Prepping Everyone!!!
Did you tape it or pipe dope it the connection that is if not it will always leak.Just throwing it out there just in case.
ReplyDeleteSRV - The connector was threaded so I taped it up. I am hoping the tape swells enough to close the drip if there still is one.
Delete39 and rain here today, back to mud again. Glad you the corner on this mini disaster. We could have another one of these fronts form and come through so it is important not to sit around but to bring everything back up to a state or readiness.
ReplyDeleteSF - We made it up past 45 today but rainy as well. Not suppose to drop below 40 tonight either. The next few days should be really nice but yep mud everywhere.
DeleteI admire your ability to fix all this yourself. I might be able to do similar repairs but I would dread it and it would take me forever. So far, it seems we had no damage here. You never know what will turn up in some dark corner, though.
ReplyDeleteHarry - Well this old place has been falling apart for years to be honest. It is so bad in places something will always give out or break so I am constantly dealing with it. Prolly at least 25 years since any real repairs or maintenance has been done on most of this place just some spot stuff I have done here and there.
DeleteSounds like you're doing pretty well; and I know how frustrating a very slow leak can be. Maddening, even.
ReplyDeleteRP - Ya especially since as I say we don't want to drop a lot of time or money into the old house right now.
DeleteJust thinking aloud, I am wondering if some sort of return fan, or at least some way to get the air back to the source, might help. Seems like a small fan (with a thermostat) at the end of some stove pipe, with the fan pulling into a far corner might work. You don't even need to insulate the duct, because you don't mind if it gives off some radiant heat. I am probably not picturing your layout properly though. I just know that beyond a certain point, the sprinkler guys try to get away from heat tape and go to local area heating: and I assume that it is a money issue.
ReplyDeleteRuss - Well I have a hole in the floor right under the main vent from the furnace. It is at the edge of the room so I could actually just design a length of pipe that catches the blower air and directs it down into the basement. There are cold air returns located in other parts that would bring the air back up into the house in general. If I don't want a piece of pipe sticking up I could just put a draw pipe in the opening but below the floor level too.
DeleteHang in there Bro. Baseball Spring Training starts in like 5 weeks. That helps me get through winter, big grin.
ReplyDeleteRob - OMG I need to start planting seeds soon as well.
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