cyanne
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Post by cyanne on Jan 31, 2019 23:27:46 GMT -5
I don't know the final cost yet but our well froze. They came out to thaw it and were unable to complete it tonight. They will be back tomorrow.
So far the cost is:
$20.00 for going out to dinner. No water to cook or clean with. Missed work for my husband today and both of us tomorrow. We can't shower so we are staying home (plus we have to let the repair guys in).
I'll update with the repair bill once we get it.
Then there is the cost of heating that will be higher due to the increase in natural gas usage.
What costs have you incurred because of the cold snap?
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 1, 2019 8:26:47 GMT -5
It's warm here in CA but your well freezing intrigues me. Mine is 810 feet deep, not possible to freeze I would assume. Then again, my water comes out of the ground hot and green. lol
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 1, 2019 8:31:56 GMT -5
It's warm here in CA but your well freezing intrigues me. Mine is 810 feet deep, not possible to freeze I would assume. Then again, my water comes out of the ground hot and green. lol They don't freeze at the bottom. The pipes freeze higher up. Our neighbors well froze also, but the plumbers were able to get it taken care of fairly quickly by torching the pipe.
Cost for me? I probably used a crap ton of LP. I put out a lot of feed for the wildlife, and I missed out on a bunch of OT because I had to take time off with the kids being off school. No idea what the dollar amount would be.
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cyanne
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Post by cyanne on Feb 1, 2019 8:59:13 GMT -5
Our well is fairly shallow. In Minnesota we don't need to drill 800+ feet down to reach water. It sits on the ground (land of 10,000 lakes). Not only did the well pump freeze but the pipe running between the well and the house froze. It is over 20 feet long. They were able to thaw the well pump out pretty quickly. They need to come back today to work on the buried 20+ feet of frozen pipe.
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swamp
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Post by swamp on Feb 1, 2019 9:02:05 GMT -5
Other than using more propane than normal, nothing.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 1, 2019 9:03:13 GMT -5
Our well is fairly shallow. In Minnesota we don't need to drill 800+ feet down to reach water. It sits on the ground (land of 10,000 lakes). Not only did the well pump freeze but the pipe running between the well and the house froze. It is over 20 feet long. They were able to thaw the well pump out pretty quickly. They need to come back today to work on the buried 20+ feet of frozen pipe. Speak for yourself. Mine is 675 feet deep. I'm on the ridge overlooking the river valley.
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cyanne
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Post by cyanne on Feb 1, 2019 9:08:14 GMT -5
Our well is fairly shallow. In Minnesota we don't need to drill 800+ feet down to reach water. It sits on the ground (land of 10,000 lakes). Not only did the well pump freeze but the pipe running between the well and the house froze. It is over 20 feet long. They were able to thaw the well pump out pretty quickly. They need to come back today to work on the buried 20+ feet of frozen pipe. Speak for yourself. Mine is 675 feet deep. I'm on the ridge overlooking the river valley.
Huh, I must be over an aquifer. I am also on a ridge overlooking a river. I'm about 800 feet up from the river at my house but my well is 125 ft deep.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 1, 2019 9:11:51 GMT -5
Speak for yourself. Mine is 675 feet deep. I'm on the ridge overlooking the river valley.
Huh, I must be over an aquifer. I am also on a ridge overlooking a river. I'm about 800 feet up from the river at my house but my well is 125 ft deep. Is it an old well?
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sheilaincali
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Post by sheilaincali on Feb 1, 2019 9:14:44 GMT -5
My water meter froze and broke so I had to have the city out to fix it. I have no idea what kind of bill they'll give me for that- hopefully nothing since it's their meter. But there was a leak and the next valve thanks to the water freezing so I had to call a plumber for an emergency fix- 10 minute fix but that will cost me at least $150. I had to buy two space heaters- one to blow on the water meter to keep it from re-freezing and one for the laundry room because those pipes froze as well. So $150 for 2 space heaters (pickings were slim at the store). I had to run my water constantly after the pipes froze on Wednesday so my water bill will shoot up significantly for 24 hours of a continuous trickle of water out of 5 faucets.
To keep the house at a livable temperature I had to set the thermostat at 74- so I'm guessing my gas bill will go up.
Out of pocket I'm at least out $300 for the freeze- plus whatever my increased utilities cost and if I get a bill from the city.
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TheOtherMe
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Post by TheOtherMe on Feb 1, 2019 9:15:22 GMT -5
Dnephew3 lives in a house that is 160 years old. The line that carries heating oil to the house froze up. So he has had to repair that.
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thyme4change
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Post by thyme4change on Feb 1, 2019 9:16:38 GMT -5
It is almost 100 degrees warmer here than in the midwest. So, unless they start charging me for mean posts on the internet rubbing that in, nothing.
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cyanne
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Post by cyanne on Feb 1, 2019 9:26:07 GMT -5
Huh, I must be over an aquifer. I am also on a ridge overlooking a river. I'm about 800 feet up from the river at my house but my well is 125 ft deep. Is it an old well? House was built in 1977.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 1, 2019 9:31:36 GMT -5
That might have been before they changed the codes. Some of my neighbors in older places have shallower wells. Now you have to go all the way through the first water table and so many feet into the second before it meets code. My well cost 15K to drill in 1999 and I had a pump go out in 2009 which cost me 5K to replace because they had to pull over 600 feet of pipe (in January) to get to the pump.
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Value Buy
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Post by Value Buy on Feb 1, 2019 9:55:25 GMT -5
Our well is fairly shallow. In Minnesota we don't need to drill 800+ feet down to reach water. It sits on the ground (land of 10,000 lakes). Not only did the well pump freeze but the pipe running between the well and the house froze. It is over 20 feet long. They were able to thaw the well pump out pretty quickly. They need to come back today to work on the buried 20+ feet of frozen pipe. Yes. The pipe coming from the well to the house has to be buried at least a foot below normal frost/frozen ground level. If the house is on a crawl in Minnesota or Wisconsin. if it is not coming in a foot or so below the crawl space, it could be subject to possible freezing. Our home in Indiana, the pipe from the well is buried well below the frost line and comes in five feet under the ground from the well. Just had a new well put in where the wellhead is a foot above ground. I asked if the well would be subject to freezing since the pipe is so high. He said no, but I do worry it might......so far, so good. My son said it was fine with two nights of in the minus 20 below temps and minus 35 and minus 47 degree windchill. Day temp was minus 10 and 1 below.
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cyanne
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Post by cyanne on Feb 1, 2019 9:56:00 GMT -5
That makes sense. I always thought our well was pretty shallow. On a happy note at least my septic didn't freeze! It's also old and original to the house.
ETA: We have very sandy soil and I expect that it didn't help the situation at all. We have lived here for 15 years and haven't had trouble before. I suspect it was the length of the cold snap as well as the low temperatures that did it.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 1, 2019 10:05:26 GMT -5
Not much other than the increased utilities, thank heaven. Furnace died last week but it was under warranty.
I am, however, being kept VERY busy refilling the bird feeders. Those birds are hungry! Glad I buy bird seed in Costco-sized bags and have a spare suet cake handy.
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sheilaincali
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Post by sheilaincali on Feb 1, 2019 11:54:30 GMT -5
Hubs just messaged me to say "at least our frozen water didn't destroy an entire locker room!" He's a PM in the construction division of national fitness club based out of MN- a frozen pipe burst in a locker room and sprayed water everywhere- essentially destroying the entire locker room. Fortunately it's a local club so he won't have to fit in another work trip between the one he just got back from and his next trip in a couple of weeks.
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alabamagal
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Post by alabamagal on Feb 1, 2019 13:00:08 GMT -5
For those of you missing work, do you miss pay for those days? Have to take PTO?
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 1, 2019 13:07:15 GMT -5
For those of you missing work, do you miss pay for those days? Have to take PTO? My company called inclement weather days for Wednesday and Thursday (which like almost never happens). On those days we are given the option to either take the time unpaid with no occurrence on our record or use vacation.
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plugginaway22
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Post by plugginaway22 on Feb 1, 2019 13:08:16 GMT -5
Our staff has option to take time off without pay or use PTO. The business is hurt by all the client cancellations due to weather.
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flamingo
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Post by flamingo on Feb 1, 2019 13:14:27 GMT -5
Other than much higher utilities, we should be ok. Our furnace was working overtime due to the extreme cold, plus I’ve been home for 3 days since work was closed, so more lights/renting movies/etc due to that.
When my work closes for weather, everyone gets paid (salary and hourly) for a normal 7.5 hour day. I work for a university. The only time I’d have to take PTO to get paid is if they cancel classes but don’t close the university entirely (I’m administration).
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chapeau
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Post by chapeau on Feb 1, 2019 13:20:26 GMT -5
I'm taking comp time if I have to. Not sure yet how yesterday is going to be recorded. They closed the office today (although one of my coworkers was already there. Not sure if she'll just get comp time added to her bank for the time she was there before we closed or not). Increased utility bills for sure, although I did save gas by not driving to work today Hopefully that's the only cost.
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Tiny
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Post by Tiny on Feb 1, 2019 13:34:52 GMT -5
For those of you missing work, do you miss pay for those days? Have to take PTO? My employer "closed the office" . I wouldn't miss pay for this. I can "work" from home - but I don't really like to (I know, I'm weird). I did monitor my email (via my phone) and I did provide 2 hours of support one day and then 4 hours on the second day. I didn't get much other stuff done.... my house was 'chilly' and I just couldn't seem to focus on anything for any length of time Story of my life. As for "cost of the deep freeze" - so far, nothing bad has happened (other than spending 2 chilly days at home). I'll know more tonight when I shovel the latest of snow to get to my garage and alley. Hopefully my car will start - I haven't been out to the garage since last Sunday. I'm now concerned about the Big Thaw.... I'm not sure where all the water is going to go.... or how my gutters/roof/foundation are going to handle it all.... ::sigh::
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 1, 2019 13:43:10 GMT -5
It looks like my electric usage about doubled for Wednesday and Thursday to around 60 KwH/day. I use gas for heat, but my electric goes up in the winter running multiple tank heaters. I imagine the one sitting outside in -65 windchills was running non stop to keep a 75 gallon tank open. Then there are multiple heated buckets and bowls in the barn as well.
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sheilaincali
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Post by sheilaincali on Feb 1, 2019 13:50:29 GMT -5
I'm salaried as is all of the winter staff. We do road construction in Minnesota so all of the hourly people have been laid off for the winter. I took off Monday (snow) and (Wednesday- extreme cold and my water froze). Bossman was at his house in Palm Springs so he missed it all- he flew in last night. My PM came in Monday to finish some bids because he forgot to bring home his laptop. Otherwise we've just popped in and out. Everyone will get their full, regular salary.
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Post by The Walk of the Penguin Mich on Feb 1, 2019 13:52:29 GMT -5
For those of you missing work, do you miss pay for those days? Have to take PTO? My sister had to take PTO or unpaid leave.
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Wisconsin Beth
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Post by Wisconsin Beth on Feb 1, 2019 14:02:07 GMT -5
Our staff has option to take time off without pay or use PTO. The business is hurt by all the client cancellations due to weather. Ditto for my local gov't job. Comptime is also permitted, if you have it already on the books. I used 2.0 days of vacation time and DH did 2 work from home days.
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tskeeter
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Post by tskeeter on Feb 1, 2019 15:10:59 GMT -5
It looks like my electric usage about doubled for Wednesday and Thursday to around 60 KwH/day. I use gas for heat, but my electric goes up in the winter running multiple tank heaters. I imagine the one sitting outside in -65 windchills was running non stop to keep a 75 gallon tank open. Then there are multiple heated buckets and bowls in the barn as well. MPL, banking the stock tanks with straw bales or even snow will help reduce heat losses due to wind. In the old days, we used bales at my grandparents 1920 farm house and snow at my Grandma’s in town.
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weltschmerz
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Post by weltschmerz on Feb 1, 2019 15:15:06 GMT -5
Not much other than the increased utilities, thank heaven. Furnace died last week but it was under warranty. I am, however, being kept VERY busy refilling the bird feeders. Those birds are hungry! Glad I buy bird seed in Costco-sized bags and have a spare suet cake handy. I've been doing the same. Refilling birdfeeders with seed and hanging suet blocks at a breakneck speed.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 1, 2019 15:25:04 GMT -5
It looks like my electric usage about doubled for Wednesday and Thursday to around 60 KwH/day. I use gas for heat, but my electric goes up in the winter running multiple tank heaters. I imagine the one sitting outside in -65 windchills was running non stop to keep a 75 gallon tank open. Then there are multiple heated buckets and bowls in the barn as well. MPL, banking the stock tanks with straw bales or even snow will help reduce heat losses due to wind. In the old days, we used bales at my grandparents 1920 farm house and snow at my Grandma’s in town. Every Winter I say I'm going to build a wooden box around the tank and pack it with insulation and put a wooden lid over the top that I can close up and just have a small part that opens for my horse to drink from instead of the entire top being open and every Summer I forget about that. Maybe this will be the year!
Just piling straw is a good idea though and it would be easy. Unfortunately, I don't have any right now. All I have are the bales that are blocking the gap under the big sliding barn doors and a couple bales I need for bedding for the goats.
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