Ms. Angie sent me a text yesterday. Because I was in the throes of a parenting crisis (Buckaroo and two of his buddies were missing for two hours--turns out they took it upon themselves to go to the park a mile away without permission, however at the time we were thisclose to an Amber Alert), and because she sent me a text instead of calling, I didn't realize the enormity of what she was suggesting.
It wasn't until I finished with Buckaroo did I let Ms. Angie's text message sink in. Her outside pipe had burst. Water was rushing. The only way to take care of it was to shut off the main or get a new pipe.
For those of you enjoying today's 67 degree Arizona day, let me explain. The rest of the Northern Hemisphere is dawning the realization that Mother Nature is on crack. Record-breaking low temperatures are rampant. I spoke with a friend in Chicago the other day who said it was minus 8 degrees at 4:00 p.m. Yay them. Even Birmingham, which might get a smattering of snow flurries here and there every January has succumbed to the Arctic weather.
Though I live in the desert, even I know with cold temperatures, one needs to leave a faucet line open so that if water freezes in the pipe, as it thaws the pipe will not burst. Apparently I am of a small minority who is aware of this tid-bit because I just talked to Daisy and the plumber who are both inundated with calls of this nature. Daisy tells me I have three homes with piping issues right now. However, she said that is a small number based on the overall calls she is getting. I asked her not to get any more calls from my tenants.
But back to Ms. Angie. Because water was gushing everywhere, I ended up paying time and a half for the plumber. I did tell the plumber's charming phone person that I would appreciate it if they would send out their most competent person who can fix the problem in 10 minutes. I don't think the charming phone person thought I was serious. Apparently there isn't any damage worth noting. And hopefully Ms. Angie now fully understands one needs to keep the pipes open.
Thursday, January 09, 2014
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When the temperatures are super low, even letting water drip in the faucets won't prevent them from freezing. A friend of mine had all her faucets dripping and woke up to her entire first floor flooded with nearly 2 inches of (very) cold water. Here in the south our houses are built to withstand 30 degrees but not 10.
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