Crisis preparedness. Power outages, no heat, pipes freezing.

[SchemeFighter]

Something that people should probably investigate and know and think about before they lose their power in their mobile home below freezing. Most homes can't heat if the power goes out; without heat the pipes can more easily freeze.

Sometimes a little bit of planning an investigation prior to such an inconvenience as losing the power below freezing can make things much less of an inconvenience and prevent things from snowballing into a tragedy.

All the trailers in my neighborhood have a connection underneath their trailer that looks like a garden hose attachment as the water line enters the trailer as far as I‘m concerned it‘s a petcock. I think that’ it is there in case the water needs to be drained from the trailer water lines. If you don’t have emergency heating provisions in case you lose electrical power; such as a kerosene heater as backup. Then I would suggest if your electric goes out and you can’t heat your home in weather that is below freezing I would suggest letting the water trickle at your sink faucets; or in extreme cases if you have well water or if the weather is so cold that you suspect that the water lines might freeze even with the water trickling. Then I would suggest shutting off the water and opening up the petcock (garden hose connection style faucet) under your trailer to let as much water as possible drain out of the lines. This will hopefully prevent or minimize the amount of damage caused by freezing lines if you have copper or some other fragile water lines.

I would suggest that homeowners investigate to see if they have this valve while the weather is still good so they can be prepared if they ever need to use it. It might be a good idea to mark the outside of your trailer in such a fashion that is high enough that if there is deep snow that you’ll still be able to find the access point and minimize the amount of time and effort digging and finding the access point to shut off the water to your trailer and to open the petcock valve to let it drain.

If it’s extremely cold you probably also ought to drain the water heater if it’s electric and the power is out and you have no heat. After you get your water shut off you might want to flush the toilet to drain the water from the toilet tank. You also might want to bail out the toilets to reduce the odds that they may burst.

After you have the water shut off and the drain petcock open its best to open up all the faucets to help as much water as possible drain out of the petcock

Before you shut off the water it might be a good idea to fill up some water jugs and buckets so you can have some freshwater or ice to thaw for water. You probably got to fill them up with hot water so it remains liquid as long as possible. You might want to fill your bathtub full of hot water before shutting off the water; this may help keep your trailer warm for a few extra hours; but remember you’ll have to drain the bathtub before the water freezes.

Like the Boy Scout motto says; “be prepared“.

Not related to power outages:
In the fall I like to inspect the heat tape, its electrical connections, the heat tape insulation ( on need tapes to allow insulation; but only types of insulation that the heat tape manufacturers recommend; as improper installation or insulation can be a fire hazard).

I also usually throw some mothballs under my trailer in the fall to discourage cats and wild animals from using the underneath of my trailer and water heater box and such as a den or litterbox. It might prevent them from burrowing up into your trailer. Before you throw the mothballs under the trailer it’s good to inspect the underpinning and plumbing and such; as it is best to discover any potential problems before they escalate and while the weather is still relatively warm and repairs can be made easier and cheaper rather than letting things escalate into an emergency winter repair.

Remember that inspecting and maintaining the underpinning insulation not only can save you heat, it reduces the odds that your plumbing will freeze. So often I’ve seen trailers where they’ve made repairs but never replaced the underpinning insulation; so often the plumbing is left open and very susceptible to freezing it can also make the bathroom ( Or other parts of the house) quite cold and drafty.

[Harry]

Hi

Good points.

Yesterday I was wrapping a blanket around my well pump to avoid freeze up and I noticed my old holding tank is seeping. Looks like it is rusting out at the bottom. I better replace it before my bride finds out. She don't like to loose the water. When mama's happy ....everyone is happy.

Harry

[SchemeFighter]

As a financially challenged (aka poor) person, I typically have my thermostat set to the winterize position which is about 46 or 47°F. When it gets below 20°F outside I turn my thermostat up and leave it up to help prevent the water pipes from freezing. The progressively colder it gets outside the higher I set my thermostat. I figure even as expensive as fuel oil is; it is cheaper than having to pay a plumber for an emergency call.

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Digression.

I scoff at the global warming alarmist like Al Gore, because of their rich elitist attitude. They act as if we can stop global warming by reducing our thermostat temperature to 68° Fahrenheit. About the only time that I set my thermostat that high is when the temperature outside is subzero Fahrenheit. About the only time my thermostat gets set as high as 68°F is to try to prevent the water lines from freezing.

I scoff at Al Gore because setting my thermostat at 68° Fahrenheit; would be raising my thermostat about 20° Fahrenheit higher than its normal setting. Our entire small trailer park probably uses less energy than Al Gore’s mansion.

I digress.

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Back on a more related topic.

Know where to shut off the power to your water heater. If for some reason you lose water pressure or are notified that the water is going to be shut off for repairs; it’s best to shut off the water heater to prevent damage to the water heater and a possible fire hazard.

In the trailer park I live at for the last few years they’ve had chronic problems with the water mains; evidently because the trailer park didn’t honor the codes of how deep to bury the water pipes underground. As a result water pressure is lost in the trailer park about 2-20 times a year. Several of the homeowners have had their water heating elements fail when the water is shut off, because if you have power to the heating elements when the hot water tank is empty a can burn out the heating elements. So we have lobbied the trailer park management and told them that they should call and deliver notices to all the tenants before they shut off the water and give as much advance notice as possible so that people that work can shut off the power to their water heater before they leave work and so that people can fill up water jugs so they can have water to drink and flush the toilet while they are repairing the water lines. Since we’ve gotten together in a coalition and have told the trailer park management that they should be liable for any water heater damage when the water is shut off without proper notification; knock on wood no one has had any more related water heater element failures.

No one has really bothered to push/ report the apparent code violations because the repairs would probably be quite expensive and result in higher rent.

[Jbeard1116]

RE: Pipes freezing. I like to keep a gallon of RV antifreeze handy. Pour about a cup down each drain in home to keep traps from freezing