OT It's been freezing in Sunny California

[Frank Elder]

The problem here is I have to keep all the brewski's in the fridge. Cannot leave any out in the unheated garage or they will freeze up. 10 degree's this am. Thats really cold for around here- the outskirts of the Seattle area.

You are a horrible, I say horrible man:D

[Dodgeb4ya]

You are a horrible, I say horrible man:D

Maybe if I bought a better beer it wouldn't freeze up on me out in the shop? Like maybe Animal beer?

Edited December 11, 2009 by Dodgeb4ya

[JIPJOBXX]

Well I bet you that the radiator man will have more than enough business after our big freeze up here. I have one faucet outside that I covered but I looked at it yesterday and its frozen solid. Well we have kept our water a running at the tap and so no problem with water to the house. Now if only my 95 percent efficient furnace would just work I would be in good shape. Right now it down for the count but I have a good old wood burning stove and that keeps this old place nice and toastie. Kind of interesting is there is a burn ban on now but if your only source of heat is wood than your allowed to use it. I love my wood stove as the gas furnace can't even come close to the amount of BTU's that my trusty old friend put out.

[Frank Elder]

Burn ban..does that really apply to your woodstove or is that for the outside?:confused:

[Norm's Coupe]

Well I bet you that the radiator man will have more than enough business after our big freeze up here. I have one faucet outside that I covered but I looked at it yesterday and its frozen solid. Well we have kept our water a running at the tap and so no problem with water to the house. Now if only my 95 percent efficient furnace would just work I would be in good shape. Right now it down for the count but I have a good old wood burning stove and that keeps this old place nice and toastie. Kind of interesting is there is a burn ban on now but if your only source of heat is wood than your allowed to use it. I love my wood stove as the gas furnace can't even come close to the amount of BTU's that my trusty old friend put out.

:D That's why I refuse to have our old inefficient Mueller furnace replaced that's going on 52 years old now. It still keeps the place nice and warm. Other than having it cleaned and checked once a year, just replace the pilot coupler about every 4 years or so. Everyone I know that has one of the "efficient" modern furnace is constantly having the repair guy out to keep theirs going. In fact, my mother just had to replace her heat exchanger in her 12 year old "efficient" modern furnace the other day. It was cracked in three places.

[Young Ed]

Norm my house has the same furnace that was installed when it was built in 54. It works great. I've observed the same things you have and kind of dred having to replace it someday.

[Norm's Coupe]

Ed,

We had central air put in back about 94 or 95. Had 4 different contractors come in for quotes. At the time, I did need a new shaft for the fan. Three of the contractors told me they couldn't install central air with that furnace. The fourth contractor, who primarily does industrial work came in and said no problem. So........went with him (and he also was the lowest bidder by the way). He couldn't find a new shaft for the fan due to it's age. So.........he had a machine shop make one. Even he said the old furnace was better than the new ones, as long as I didn't mind paying for the extra gas it burns.

[bobjob55]

here,, i don't even have a heater ...or a a/c.. sure do miss a/c .. in summer... but it's kind of cold right now... don't laugh,, but them sleeved blanket things ,, snuggie,, they work real good while playing on the computer,,,, and watching tv......and drinking..........look ma ,,,,, i can multi-task.......

[Norm's Coupe]

No Norm, I said my well is 600' from my house. The only part that is above ground is where it comes out of the top of the well head and travels above ground over the 4' x 6' concrete slab and then dives into the ground to a depth of about 2' and runs under ground until it reached the house and comes up right next to the foundation and enters the wall of the house.

Reg,

Guess I miss read that post. Thought it was all above ground. If that's the only place that could freeze up then I would do what someone else mentioned. Build a little shelter over the concrete where the pipe comes up from the well. Would then rent a ditchwitch, dig a trench from the house to the well and lay some underground wires to the shelter. Then install an outlet, maybe a light so I could put a small electric heater in there. I would think in a small space like 4 x 6 you could get away with either a 1500 watt portable with fan, or a 1500 watt radiant heater hung just above the pipes. That way, you wouldn't need 220 volts down there. A 110/115 would be plenty. You could even install a two way switch so you could control the outlet for the heat someplace in the house or garage.

[greg g]

Being that a 220 circuit already exists for the pump motor, pulling one leg out to put in a 110 circuit with a couple outlets would be easy to do. Pulling the wire into a small braker bozx with a couple of 15 amp breakers would be easy and give you light and heat when needed. 1000 watts on 120 only pulls 10 amps.

[Plymouthy Adams]

it is not recommended nor is it code to tap a 220 outlet for one leg to power a 110 circuit...as the run is some 600' as I read it, what guage wire do you have feeding the 220 pump house and the deep well pump? If this is 10 guage and the pump has a high start amperage..you will not have enough power to share a leg or even spit the incoming equally between a balanced 220 and dual 110 taps. You may right now be at capacity with the long run consideration...dropping a 50 amp service to the pump location, setting a box and putting in a 30 amp 220 for the pump and two 10 amp 110 breaker and try not to exceed 5-6 amps here..you will have an adequate and balanced load..

[Norm's Coupe]

For everyone talking about how cold it is, just think about this for a minute. It's not even winter yet. It's still fall. Winter doesn't officially start until December 21st. Just thought that would make everyone's day a little brighter.

[martybose]

Burn ban..does that really apply to your woodstove or is that for the outside?:confused:

Well, in the greater San Francisco area they have inspectors who go around looking for smoke coming from fireplaces and issue citations on the days that wood burning is banned.

Marty

[Powerhouse]

oh brother...and what do they get paid?

[greg g]

Hey Reg didn't take long for your weather to get here.

Counties in the lee of the eastern shore of lake Ontario, have gotten up to 3 feet of snow, with winds steady in the 30's and gusting to 60 will keep the snow coming and drifting. Temps in the high teens and low 20's accompaning the winds taking windchill intot he single digits. Snow will accumulate at 1 to 3 inches per hour through early after noon tomorrow.

Thats 35 miles north here, we got a bit of snow the edge of the winds and temps in the 20's.

[Norm's Coupe]

Well, in the greater San Francisco area they have inspectors who go around looking for smoke coming from fireplaces and issue citations on the days that wood burning is banned.

Marty

That's pretty sad when you can't burn a fireplace in your own home, when you want.

But........we have a small suburb in Milwaukee county called Wauwatosa. Believe it or not, they hired garbage checkers there a few years ago. They go around opening peoples garbage carts on collection day to make sure you are using the correct bags, and also make sure you didn't put something that was to be recycled in there. If they find either wrong, your garbage isn't collected, and, they issue the people a ticket.

[Don Coatney]

it is not recommended nor is it code to tap a 220 outlet for one leg to power a 110 circuit...as the run is some 600' as I read it, what guage wire do you have feeding the 220 pump house and the deep well pump? If this is 10 guage and the pump has a high start amperage..you will not have enough power to share a leg or even spit the incoming equally between a balanced 220 and dual 110 taps. You may right now be at capacity with the long run consideration...dropping a 50 amp service to the pump location, setting a box and putting in a 30 amp 220 for the pump and two 10 amp 110 breaker and try not to exceed 5-6 amps here..you will have an adequate and balanced load..

Tim;

Scary as it sounds I understand everything you said and I agree with it.

[JIPJOBXX]

Well the furnace man came out today and yep my 20 year old 95% furnace is ready for the junk pile. But the good news as I'm helping the American economy as I bought a brand new American Standard 95% furnace to replace the old one. The good old tax payer helping me pay for this also as I get a 1500 tax write oft on my taxes this year thanks to another Obama give away program.

Anyway the whole unit after all was said and done comes to around 3,000 dollars. Well I almost paid that much for the old one 20 years ago. So maybe by this time next week I will be heating the old tin shed with gas and not burnt wood. This furnace should last me and my wife till we go to the next plateau.

[Frank Elder]

In Nebraska I got a tax relief for BUYING a pellet stove, it burns corn or wood pellets. Glad I don't live on the left coast...

[Reg Evans]

it is not recommended nor is it code to tap a 220 outlet for one leg to power a 110 circuit...as the run is some 600' as I read it, what guage wire do you have feeding the 220 pump house and the deep well pump? If this is 10 guage and the pump has a high start amperage..you will not have enough power to share a leg or even spit the incoming equally between a balanced 220 and dual 110 taps. You may right now be at capacity with the long run consideration...dropping a 50 amp service to the pump location, setting a box and putting in a 30 amp 220 for the pump and two 10 amp 110 breaker and try not to exceed 5-6 amps here..you will have an adequate and balanced load..

Tim, actually the well is only ~250' from my main 200 amp breaker box. The main house is 600' away from the well.

When I installed the pipe and power line to the well the Pump Company recommended a double 20 amp circuit breaker with #12 wire. The 1/2 horse pump is submerged about 100' down in the well so the #12 wire is ~ 350' long.

Are ya sure this won't work to just run a 40 watt bulb off of a 15 amp GFI receptacle powered from one side of the 220 circuit ?

If not I guess I could build a dog house over the well slab and get a big ole Saint Bernard down there to sleep in it on those cold winter nights

[Plymouthy Adams]

Reg..I cannot make that call...it is not code and I do not recommend it..I can only say I have seen more times that I can count on my fingers and toes..forty watts is not a heavy drain..at times, one must do what one must do to get by..if you decide to go this route, I would make it temp at best until the thaw and conditions allow a proper upgrade...if there should be a short in that single leg for any reason it could probable fail to trip the breaker...that is not a good situation..the GFI is by far showing good sense and may make this a doable temp..

Edited December 12, 2009 by Tim Adams

[JIPJOBXX]

Gee I forgot to thank all you good tax paying people out there for helping pay for my new heater! Got to rub that one in!!!! Jon

[greg g]

Reg is it an on demand pump or does it feed a pressure tank in the house. Not talking code here just convenience. But I wouldn't think a pump that feeds a tank would be running a whole lot. Especially over night when heat would be needed. So were it me I would do it, but I am a deciple of Rube Goldberg. And not that I would recommend anything unsafe, but I have seen it done as Tim mentions a lot of times to no evil result.

But hey your i California, you should't have aother cold snap again for a hundred years or so, maybe its a moot question.

[Plymouthy Adams]

Rube..isn't he the illegitimate brother to a guy named Murphy? anyway they seem to work hand in hand..

[JoelOkie]

Strictly for what it's worth, almost every well house around here that I know of has a recepticle in it ran off the pump service wiring, for the intended purpose of a light, or milk house heater in the winter. The guy that drilled my well also installed the pump, (also a down hole 1/2 hp, 230), and he wanted me to supply the wire to run from the pole, some 40', and as I had a roll of 10 gauge he used that to run to the disconnect/breaker box in the well house. He put a 115 recepticle below the breaker box. I use a 100 watt bulb in a heavy corded work light fixture suspended over the pressure tank and pipes which I plug in when we get to where it's freezing hard at nights. I been using this setup for more than 20 years, and never had one issue. No county codes, or electrical inspections here at all, so, so I'm sure there are a lot of things being done that probably wouldn't pass muster. Joel

Forgot to add that the 115 recep DOES have it's own ( I believe 15 amp) breaker.

Edited December 12, 2009 by JoelOkie