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Has the Freezing WX Damaged Any RV Folk's Hangars/Homes?

DeltaRomeo

DeltaRomeo

doug reeves: unfluencer
Staff member
I drove out to the airport at lunch to check on the hangar. So far so good - pipes intact. We get above freezing tomorrow, after three days below. Hope your places are fairing OK. Some houses on my street have water flowing out of their garages.
v/r,dr
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We're going to have to replace some ceiling drywall due to a furnace installation that wasn't fail-safe in freezing weather and flooded our attic. So much for fault tolerance! When you have an aerospace mindset, the standards and practices of residential construction can be quite a shock...
 
We had a fire sprinkler at one of our apartment complexes freeze and flood 5 other apartments and the clubhouse. It will be repaired for the cost of a nice RV 10 and then another nice RV 10, we are doing the repairs. Ugg! It was -9F last night and a resident was out of town without leaving her heater on.
 
I've got a couple South Texas co-workers here in Dumas learning the joys of living in an RV (camp trailer not plane lol) in the winter hahaha. Nothing too serious yet, just waking up without water or seeing their breath inside from empty propane tanks. Being from Wyoming I put my trailer in storage in November and rented an apartment in Amarillo. They teased me about the rent and commute costs then but they ain't laughing now hahaha.
 
Last few days, the temps here got as low as -15° F. That does get a Minnesotan's attention, but it's not that cold for January. Most of us start getting concerned when it hits -30° F.

It's +3° right now, so I can put my Big Coat up for a bit...;)



"if you've ever worn a parka and shorts at the same time...you might be from Minnesota"
 
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rockwoodrv9 said:
We had a fire sprinkler at one of our apartment complexes freeze and flood 5 other apartments and the clubhouse. It will be repaired for the cost of a nice RV 10 and then another nice RV 10, we are doing the repairs. Ugg! It was -9F last night and a resident was out of town without leaving her heater on.
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And that's why all of my tenants must have renter's insurance !!
 
MacCool said:
Last few days, the temps here got as low as -15° F. That does get a Minnesotan's attention, but it's not that cold for January. Most of us start getting concerned when it hits -30° F.

It's +3° right now, so I can put my Big Coat up for a bit...;)



"if you've ever worn a parka and shorts at the same time...you might be from Minnesota"
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I haven’t checked the hangar but have a Nest camera and t-stat in the hangar so I can monitor it from home.
Still -1 here today for the high, -22 wind chill, just another winter day in Wisconsin. The prediction for tomorrow is 11 degrees, it will feel like a heat wave.
 
The pipes in the bathroom hangar froze but thankfully they thawed out without breaking. This is our first winter in this house. I still haven't figured out how the pipe froze. Thankfully I know how to prevent it from happening again. Temps have been below zero overnight with highs in the single digits the last couple of days here in central Oregon.
 
Answer to question is NO. I was a builder for 42 years so am clued in. If I let anything have a problem I better crawl under a rock and never come out again.
It would be real embarrassing to have it happen given my experience level. Now some of my renters aren't so smart.
My luck varies Fixit
 
[email protected] said:
...Now some of my renters aren't so smart.
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Seriously !!! I sent all of my tenants a couple of texts reminding them of exactly what to do (even though it's clearly spelled out in their lease) yet one of them decided he wasn't going to drip his faucets and the other one used over $40 in 2 days because he was using emergency heat coils instead of the heat pump and I caught it in time so his electricity wasn't cut off (they have prepaid electricity). Well the water drip tenant is the only one of the 6 tenants on my airpark here in Texas who doesn't have water since Sunday night and won't have until tomorrow afternoon. They were warned.
 

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No damage here in West Michigan, just can’t get within 15’ of the hangar door without being up to my waist in snow. Thought about cleaning it out but parts started freezing so gave up, for now.
 
I treat my place like any proper flight. I don't trust it until I'm sitting on the porch with an IPA in shorts and flip-flops. Until then, failure IS an option, especially when cold is involved. One would think that eventually we would be bullet proof, but that simply isn't a thing. Part of the adventure.
 
Paul K said:
No damage here in West Michigan, just can’t get within 15’ of the hangar door without being up to my waist in snow. Thought about cleaning it out but parts started freezing so gave up, for now.
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Paul, you got hit harder with the snow than us. We only got about 8” or so. I tried your old email but it was returned. PM me your new one. I would love to get together again.
 
MacCool said:
Last few days, the temps here got as low as -15° F. That does get a Minnesotan's attention, but it's not that cold for January. Most of us start getting concerned when it hits -30° F.

It's +3° right now, so I can put my Big Coat up for a bit...;)



"if you've ever worn a parka and shorts at the same time...you might be from Minnesota"
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+1
 
Just checked with my son and daughter in law who moved into the recently completed barndominium this month. They complied with my instructions to leave the faucets dripping overnight (low = 9*F). Water is still flowing; looks like we're good. Mr. Cool mini-split seems to be heating the place well enough.

I was lying awake Monday night thinking about the hassle it would be to have our pipes freeze up, and realized the Jacuzzi well pump out here on the farm has been lifting our water 140 feet for the past 27 years without a hiccough. Internet says they typically last 12-15 years. It would be a major pain to change one out in the snow and cold, so I'm planning a preemptive replacement this spring. "C'mon, baby - three more months..."
 
For the last week we have been getting lows of minus 42 and so far everything in the hanger has been ok. :)
But I'll wait until it warms up a bit before I go flying.
Tim
Red Deer
Alberta
CA
 
Paul K said:
No damage here in West Michigan, just can’t get within 15’ of the hangar door without being up to my waist in snow. Thought about cleaning it out but parts started freezing so gave up, for now.
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Went to my hanger in West MI a couple days ago. About 3 feet of snow in front of the door and the passage door was frozen shut. Couldn't get in.
 
Our Hydronic system went out the night it started. Got pretty cold that night.
I was furious. One of the pumps was replaced 14 months ago along with a full flush and recharge of glycol. The company Master Plumber did it. He was one of those, "I know everything" kind of guys. He was so smart, he quit and started his own company. He put one of the gaskets in off center so the flanges pinched the gasket.

The gasket finally failed a few nights ago. Needless to say, a lot of glycol got pumped out the leak before I caught it and shut the system down. I was not happy. They came out and replaced the pump and gaskets but it was beyond the 12 month warranty so we got a nice big bill.

I had to stay up all night making sure the water lines didn't freeze. The system lines keep the pipes from freezing when it's running. It was below zero that night.

Hydronic is really cool when it's working, but very expensive when it fails.
Everyone told us, "It's efficient. You'll save in the long run." Maintenance has cost way more than a traditional forced air system would cost to buy, maintain and run.

We use the fireplace to augment but ran out of firewood. Full cord on the way Sunday. New kerosene heater on the way for backup. Not playin' this game again.
 
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Larry, I am headed out in a minute to cut some more firewood from downed trees in the back 40 woods. I was so full-time working on the barndomionium conversion this year that I had to start this season with what was left over of last years firewood, which will be gone in a few days at this rate. I guess partially rotted wood is better than none, but I definitely prefer seasoned!

I did spend a LOT of time turning our trees into sawdust this year - too bad I can't burn that in the fireplace!

Waiting for some smarty pants to write "WASH ME!" on the wings. This is no way to treat an airplane, but - here we are... 🤷‍♂️
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Bill Boyd said:
Larry, I am headed out in a minute to cut some more firewood from downed trees in the back 40 woods. I was so full-time working on the barndomionium conversion this year that I had to start this season with what was left over of last years firewood, which will be gone in a few days at this rate. I guess partially rotted wood is better than none, but I definitely prefer seasoned!

I did spend a LOT of time turning our trees into sawdust this year - too bad I can't burn that in the fireplace!

Waiting for some smarty pants to write "WASH ME!" on the wings. This is no way to treat an airplane, but - here we are... 🤷‍♂️
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It was so cold, I was burning scrap lumber!
 
kthom_441 said:
Went to my hanger in West MI a couple days ago. About 3 feet of snow in front of the door and the passage door was frozen shut. Couldn't get in.
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I was able to get the door open with a few good kicks while holding the handle in the open position!
 
wirejock said:
Our Hydronic system went out the night it started. Got pretty cold that night.
I was furious. One of the pumps was replaced 14 months ago along with a full flush and recharge of glycol. The company Master Plumber did it. He was one of those, "I know everything" kind of guys. He was so smart, he quit and started his own company. He put one of the gaskets in off center so the flanges pinched the gasket.

The gasket finally failed a few nights ago. Needless to say, a lot of glycol got pumped out the leak before I caught it and shut the system down. I was not happy. They came out and replaced the pump and gaskets but it was beyond the 12 month warranty so we got a nice big bill.

I had to stay up all night making sure the water lines didn't freeze. The system lines keep the pipes from freezing when it's running. It was below zero that night.

Hydronic is really cool when it's working, but very expensive when it fails.
Everyone told us, "It's efficient. You'll save in the long run." Maintenance has cost way more than a traditional forced air system would cost to buy, maintain and run.

We use the fireplace to augment but ran out of firewood. Full cord on the way Sunday. New kerosene heater on the way for backup. Not playin' this game again.
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I have ground source heat pump. To summarize, as soon as the system pays for itself I had to replace the furnace due to the compressor puked. Bottom line, spend the money on better insulation and windows and a simple gas forced air furnace.
 
My only casualty was 2 gallons of water I forgot about until I checked the hangar today
 

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Montana

In Montana we enjoyed a balmy -37F on Saturday (actual temperature, not a “wind chill” temp), then on Sunday, when it got up to -18F, I was out in a short sleeved shirt for a bit doing chores. The shop was fine as it has a “Hot Dawg” 75,000 BTU natural gas heater. But the K-9 training area and the “Beer Cave” got down to the low 40’s before I discovered the Lennox high-efficiency furnace had failed showing a "no exhaust flow" code. I removed the draft inducer/exhaust vent motor and installed the shop vac to the vent as a blower. Then I had to gingerly climb on the roof and knock the 6” vertical solid ice stalagmite off the frozen solid 3” exhaust vent. I shot a whole can of deicer into the vent and waited for the results. Within a few minutes she was chunking bits of ice upward like a mini geyser. Finished the thaw using a hair dryer, then sucked the residual water/ice out using the shop vac. I also redesigned the collector box to give it more slope toward the drain; although this freeze was probably just from the low temp/high humidity exhaust exiting through the attic to the sub zero atmosphere. Gotta love the north in the winter.

Exhaust Vent.png
 
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Bill Boyd said:
realized the Jacuzzi well pump out here on the farm has been lifting our water 140 feet for the past 27 years without a hiccough. Internet says they typically last 12-15 years. It would be a major pain to change one out in the snow and cold, so I'm planning a preemptive replacement this spring. "C'mon, baby - three more months..."
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Mine has been working for 17 years but I'm afraid that if I replace it with the crappy pumps made today then it won't last more than a few years. They don't make things like they used to. Like I learned in the Air Force, "if it ain't broken don't fix it" but I also worry about some day losing that pump, specially since that one 27' deep well is providing water for 7 homes and the 4 hangars. The guy who installed it told me it was only for 1 house and if I wanted to add another house I'd need a bigger pump. Yeah right. So I'm now building a new hangar/home and I'll add a new well which I'll connect with shut off valves to the current water setup so we all have a backup if I ever need it, but I'm not touching the current one as long as it keeps working.
 
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