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Enter a key word to search for posts:When it freezes
Posted on: Wednesday December 27, 2017 at: 1:03 pm
Snow overnight and an icy blast today makes me think about the issue of freezing water pipes. Interestingly (well to me anyway), it is not so much of a problem when we are in the water as when the boat is out.
When we stand on the interior floor of Brandy Pad, we are standing about 16 inches below the surface of the surrounding water. Most of the water pipes are at floor level, which means they too are about 16 inches below the surrounding water, and the central heating has antifreeze in it anyway. When the canal freezes, it does so on the surface only. The ambient temperature of the water 16 inches down remains about 4°C, which keeps the bottom of the boat at around that temperature.
A field of snow -but Brandy Pad is safe and comfy
However, when the boat is out of the water, as we were when it was in the boatyard recently, the whole boat is subjected to the -8°C or so that we experienced, including the bottom of the boat. No water to moderate the floor temperature and this is when it really does become liable to suffer freezing pipes. Especially as the pipes are cocooned in trunking or cupboards. In fact, we put two hot water bottles around the water pump at night to try and protect it. The pump is in the forward port corner where it is exposed to the cold on three sides in that situation. We also stoked up the stove which has actually been constantly lit for about two weeks now. We were very cosy, if not too warm, but the pump was still a little unhappy the next morning, making rather louder noises than it normally does. No serious damage done though as the temperatures started to rise from there on.
Just caught up with our e-mails and your Christmas Wishes. Thank you. Your blogs are giving us an insight into your exploits on Brandy Pad, and your sense of humour has brighten up our dark winter nights. We wish you both a very Happy New Year and an enjoyable 2018 on Brandy Pad. Love from Jean & Allan (London) xx
Thank you for the nice comment Jean and Allan and good to hear from you. Happy New Year and love from the both of us.
DONT FORGET YOU ALSO HAVE A LITTLE INTERNAL WARMING METHOD WHICH MAYCOME IN VERY HANDY,,,,,I HOPE THIS COLDER SPELL WILL BE A SHORT ONE..THE FORWARD FORECAST IS WET FOR NEXT WEEK SO THAT WILL NOT HELP WITH THE OUTDOOR WORK SO ..ENJOY YOUR LAND HOLIDAY XXXXXXX