[AT] Freezing pipes

[Indiana Robinson]

I thought I would share a tip that some folks might not think about. I
spent most of a day this week thawing out a water system in a rental
house. The renter said that he would take care of putting heat tape on
the pipes that ran outside and the pump. Weeell, I didn't give it much
thought but he didn't have any experience with heat tapes. I have used
them most of my life and I am prone to just think everybody knows how
they work. You see there is a thermostat on most heat tapes these
days, adjustable on some and fixed on others (usually set for about 40
degrees). The one he installed just had a big plastic block about 2
feet from the plug.  He carefully taped the tape to the pipe and pump
(but did fail to insulate the outside of it) but then he pulled the
plug end into the basement and plugged it into an outlet. The error of
his ways??? He ended up with the thermostat inside of the nice toasty
warm basement. The tape was outside but the thermostat never called
for heat since it was already warm...  :-)
Pipes froze...


-- 
Have you hugged your horses today?

Francis Robinson
aka "farmer"
Central Indiana USA
robinson46176 at gmail.com