How Cold Is It? -------

Klinker said:


 Which Bay Area?  I grew up in the SF Bay Area and there were months where we didn't see the sun at all.  

 Your Bay Area. I’m not making any claims about Son’s rationality in this matter.


this morning around 6:30am



Please be mindful of your plumbing; check out the pipes exposed to the cold.  A trickle of water from the cold water pipes will help to keep them from freezing.  It always seemed to me that the winters were much colder in New Jersey when I was a child.  I vividly remember cold snaps like the one we're having now, and one side effect of them were burst pipes.  Usually the pipes would burst *after* the ice inside them began to thaw; when the weather began to get warmer. We'd be in the kitchen wondering where the sound of running water was coming from: the basement that had transformed into a sea.   


DottyParker said:
Please be mindful of your plumbing; check out the pipes exposed to the cold.  A trickle of water from the cold water pipes will help to keep them from freezing.  It always seemed to me that the winters were much colder in New Jersey when I was a child.  I vividly remember cold snaps like the one we're having now, and one side effect of them were burst pipes.  Usually the pipes would burst *after* the ice inside them began to thaw; when the weather began to get warmer. We'd be in the kitchen wondering where the sound of running water was coming from: the basement that had transformed into a sea.   

Pipes crack or split when the ice forms.  When the ice melts, then liquid water pours from the ruptured pipes, but the rupture happened when the ice formed.


Our downstairs bathroom sink, toilet and shower were all frozen and unworkable this morning.  It turns out that there was an old dryer vent, from when the bathroom used to be a laundry room years ago, that was open and going out of the house right next to the pipes.  Now warmed up, and insulated, for a mere $235.14.

conandrob240 said:


tomcat said:

conandrob240 said:

sprout said:
Tonight is cold enough to turn the heat up a bit in the house, and open the doors on the bathroom vanities to prevent freezing.
 ? I don’t understand this? You mean the sink pipes?
 Most (all?) water pipes are running inside the exterior walls.  You risk pipes freezing & bursting when it is this cold outside.  I have raised my night time thermostat setting from 59F to 70F; will return it to regular programming on Saturday morning.  Ditto in a house I am watching for absentee owner.
 Interesting because none of our pipes under the sinks are on an exterior wall. Kitchen is in the middle of the room, bathroom vanities bump up to interior walls. I guess that’s why I didn’t get this at first.

 


As long as you dress appropriately, going out in this cold is no big deal. It's a dry cold. I don't mind it. It's the snow that really sucks. I prefer the heat of summer, of course, but I'll take dry cold with no snow any day over snowy, blizzardy, wet, slushy, sloppy, dangerous, ice-covered, inconvenient snow days.


steel said:
Random but related:
So. a little while ago in Maplewood village I saw a guy walking rather briskly to his car wearing a thick winter coat with a fur collar, wool cap and freakin' shorts?! WTF? Is that some sort of fashion statement beyond all measure of vanity (?) because that canNOT be comfortable. It is 10 OMG degrees out!
I once built a horse stall in the snow when it was "only" 22 degrees outside and I wore THREE pairs of long-johns and I was STILL cold if I stopped moving for more that 3 minutes.  The horse appreciated it though, -she told me so (whispered). Half the time I was working she kept putting her head over my shoulder to see what I was doing and check on my progress. 

As a dedicated year-round shorts wearer, I can state that this is perfectly fine. Legs don't get nearly as cold as the rest of your body.

Do you remember back in the day when women wore skirts pretty much all the time? They seemed to have survived the cold just fine.

Snowflakes.


My legs get cold cuz they're attached to me and I like that long pants were invented. Each to his own I guess.


I I woke up this morning to discover that our furnace had turned off. It was 44 degrees downstairs and even colder in the sunroom, which serves as our family room. You could see your breath. Luckily all I had to do is put water in it and press the reset button. It took a while to warm the house up again.


DaveSchmidt said:



Klinker said:

 To be fair, its not just the weather, its the people, the culture, the topography, the snakes, etc..... but mainly its the weather. I could go on but it will just **** people off.
 Son’s biggest gripe about living the last two years in the Bay Area: the soul-crushing monotony of the sunny 70-degree clime. A cloud, a cloud, his kingdom for a cloud.

Well, that and the fact you can’t afford a house there unless you make 6 figures x2. And that you have to live with Californians. Oh, and that pesky little fault line. 


Seriously though, great city. Enjoyed many years there. Every place has pros and cons.


I thought this thread was going to be Johnny Carson type jokes.

http://www.athropolis.com/jokes3.htm


tomcat said:


conandrob240 said:

sprout said:
Tonight is cold enough to turn the heat up a bit in the house, and open the doors on the bathroom vanities to prevent freezing.
 ? I don’t understand this? You mean the sink pipes?
 Most (all?) water pipes are running inside the exterior walls.  You risk pipes freezing & bursting when it is this cold outside.  I have raised my night time thermostat setting from 59F to 70F; will return it to regular programming on Saturday morning.  Ditto in a house I am watching for absentee owner.

 59? You can't be growing orchids at those temps! I'd stop eating before I'd lower the heat.


It's just hard to really remember the unpleasantness of one season's extreme weather when you are in the midst of the other.  I know I hate the worst of our summers but its easy to pine for warmth when in the midst of an extended cold snap.  I do think its easier to deal with the cold by how you dress.   

The conventional and correct advice about running a thin stream of water from highest sink has already been mentioned.  I would dd that an effort at the other end, where water supply comes in from the wall, is worth it.  Ours comes in from a little utility room that is usually closed.  Just opening to the door to that little room so ambient heat from basement warms the temp helps.  We also put a light on in that room.  I have sometimes placed a little lamp, without the shade, right near the pipe too.  


It’s so cold, the Statue of Liberty had her torch up in her dress,


LOST said:
I thought this thread was going to be Johnny Carson type jokes.
http://www.athropolis.com/jokes3.htm

 It’s so cold, the Statue of Liberty had her torch up in her dress,


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