Non-motoring > Frost damage Miscellaneous
Thread Author: Iffy Replies: 14
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New Mon 13 Dec 10 20:43 
 Frost damage - Iffy
Oh dear, looks like I have a poorly caravan following the recent freeze.

The inlet for the cistern of the en-suite toilet burst, the mixer tap in the en-suite basin now leaks like a sieve, there's a burst under the caravan, and the kitchen sink mixer tap has also gone the journey.

A list of what's not gone wrong in the plumbing department would be shorter.

Happily(?) the water was turned off, so I have no water damage or flooding inside the van.

There was also anti-freeze in the drains and toilets, so no damage there.

I don't want to stay there until Christmas week, so the inconvenience factor is low.

Fixing the two leaks in the pipes will not be expensive, but new hand basin and kitchen sink mixer taps will cost a few quid.

Am I downhearted?

A little bit, but it was -18°C in Leeming last week, which I hope will not become a common occurrence, despite global cooling.

Anyone else have any frost damage stories?

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New Mon 13 Dec 10 21:04 
 Frost damage - MD
Not yet Old Hand. Sorry, can't continue now as I have to instruct Mrs. Devon to obtain another log for the fire. Oh! and she can get me a Beer from the cool store whilst she's out there.

M.
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New Mon 13 Dec 10 21:07 
 Frost damage - R.P.
Sorry to hear about that though, lucky the water was turned off though. Outside tap was frozen over, got a rather jolly polystyrene Fez from B&Q today - hope that resolves it.
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New Mon 13 Dec 10 21:10 
 Frost damage - Old Navy
There is a lot of ice damage to the road surfaces here, and my shed, and next doors, have had their roofs distorted by the weight of snow. Looks like a re-roof required in the summer with something a bit more substantial.
Last edited by: Old Navy on Mon 13 Dec 10 at 21:12
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New Mon 13 Dec 10 21:52 
 Frost damage - BiggerBadderDave
Early this year when it was pushing -30c a neighbour knocked on the door to say there was a funny noise coming from our garage. I opened the garage door and was confronted by a huge spray of water coming from the hose pipe tap which had burst. The jet of water was blasting against the car and was freezing solid. I stared in amazement for half a minute or so then turned towards the tap to find that my slippers had frozen to the floor.
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New Mon 13 Dec 10 21:59 
 Frost damage - R.P.
Wow !
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New Mon 13 Dec 10 22:02 
 Frost damage - Iffy
...when it was pushing -30c...

Strewth, I think my caravan would crack in half.

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New Mon 13 Dec 10 23:23 
 Frost damage - Ted

Can't really visualise Big Dave in slippers ! Are they Garfield or Sponge Bob ?

Outside tap froze last year, water spray up the side of the house. Needed to turn off at the gate and the metal cover was hidden in the snow and frozen when I found it.

Sod it !
Too cold to mess about so I crimped the copper pipe twice with a Mole wrench to lessen the flow, cut the pipe below the split and put a compression stop end on it. Repaired it properly in Spring and used a metre of lagging to insulate the 1' pipe, layer upon layer with tie wraps. I lagged it right up to the top of the tap. OK so far. I built some gates this year so they've taken the wind-chill away a bit.

I was given 4 double-glazed coloured, leaded windows a few years ago by SiL. They were a mis-manufactured order for a house he was working on. He was going to bin them but i thought I might be able to use them. All matching patterns, about 18" X 12" each.
I neede to majke new garage doors, so I built them with these windows in mind, very good they look too.....until last Winter when i went out and saw a large semi-circular crack across the outside of one....bums ! A few days later another went...more crazed this time.
The other two have been ok so far. I don't know why, the frames I made weren't tight.

No damage so far this year, but I'm carrying 25 litres of water in the back of the Vitara and you can hear the icebergs slushing about in it !

Ted
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New Mon 13 Dec 10 23:36 
 Frost damage - Iffy
...until last Winter when i went out and saw a large semi-circular crack across the outside of one...

Ted,

Probably doesn't apply in your case, but the glass in metal framed windows would often crack due to rust bubbling in the glazing channel.

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New Tue 14 Dec 10 08:39 
 Frost damage - Dog
>>The other two have been ok so far. I don't know why, the frames I made weren't tight.<<

May have been an idea to bed the d/g units in using low modulus silicon (bit late now!)
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New Tue 14 Dec 10 09:29 
 Frost damage - Tooslow
Sorry to hear it Iffy. the system can't easily be drained down?

I don't know if it might have helped in your case but I'm using this;

www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Main_Index/Cable_Accessories_Index/Heat_Tape/index.html

I had a burst in January. A nice, simple one that didn't show until I opened the stop cock in the garage for the outside tap. A joint had simply been pushed apart by the ice. I had been using a 60W tube heater by the pipe but with temeratures so low I'd added a greenhouse heater. It made no difference.

So, once fixed I taped this to the pipe, with the thermostat on the tap, which I guess will be the coldest part, replaced the insulation ensuring there are no gaps and adding a bit here & there, all taped into place so it doesn't move.

We've "only" had -10C so far but, while I was about it, I taped the sensor from an old internal / external max / min thermometer into place. During the recent cold spell it bottomed at 5 to 6C on the pipe, -6C in the garage.

It's expensive for a metre, longer runs are more economical, but it's using at least 1 unit per day less of electricity even compared with just the tube heater. So I might get my money back before I die! But then there's the convenience of not having to deal with a burst.

John
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New Tue 14 Dec 10 10:19 
 Frost damage - Iffy
...Sorry to hear it Iffy. the system can't easily be drained down?...

Thanks for the thought.

The system will be drained, or more accurately pumped out, when the site shuts for two months after Christmas.

Sounds complicated, but me and brother can do it in half an hour.

Electric trace wires would be a professional solution, but because of the number and location of pipes, wires would really need to be fitted when the caravan was built.

Worth bearing in mind also my main expense will be the two mixer taps, which would have failed in any event.

This is the first problem I've had in four years.

The caravan can survive minus a few degrees, but minus 18 last week was just too much.

Hopefully, that won't happen again in December for a few years.

I've asked the plumber to install a quick disconnection joint on the caravan side of the inlet tap.

I always turn the water off when I leave, even in summer, but I will now be able to drop the pipe off as well.

This will enable some water to drain from the caravan, although it will still need to be pumped out for a fully safe shut down because of the number of horizontal pipes.


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New Tue 14 Dec 10 10:32 
 Frost damage - Old Navy
I can drain my external tap as it is supplied from the cold pipe to my utility room tap. By turning off the water at the main stopcock, opening the external tap and the utility cold tap the pipe between the two drains through the external tap. With me? :-) I then shut the utility tap and external tap isolating valve, open the main stopcock and bleed the air in the supply to the utility tap. Result, a dry pipe to the external tap. It's not difficult and takes about two minutes.
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New Tue 14 Dec 10 10:24 
 Frost damage - henry k
>>Anyone else have any frost damage stories?
>>
After FIL popped his clogs, MIL in her wisdom turned the heat down and the rising main burst in the loft of their bungalow.
I then discovered that the washer in the mains stopcock was past its prime and would not fully shut off the supply.
OK then out to the company stopcock in the street. After having spooned out all the soil of decades I found a crutch handle in the expected position and then another underneath the first one ( all one assembly) but both were solid.
Apparently this arrangement allowed washers to be changed easily. so much for the theory thay put a new stopcock in.
islu


So folks, if my experience is anything to go by do check that at least you main stopcock in the house still functions.

Some umpteen weeks late MIL reported that "The bedroom light now switches off"
I had omitted to check the ceiling rose that had been filled ith water and had subsequently dried out.

P. S. Murphy and his law still exists. Daughter had a water meter fitted in her kitchen. I found a leak the other day from the gland on the original, now redundant stop cock!
The installation has a stopcock either side of the meter and together with the old stopcock that is three within 18 inches and still get a leak.
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New Tue 14 Dec 10 10:38 
 Frost damage - Old Navy
>> So folks, if my experience is anything to go by do check that at least
>> you main stopcock in the house still functions.
>>

Good advice, I check mine by turning the water off if the house is going to be empty for more than a couple of days. An acquaintance returned from holiday to find every ceiling in their house down due to a mains pressure joint failure in their loft while they were away.
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