Mich 0 Report post Posted February 26, 2014 Just returned home to Michigan after a 5 week stay in Florida. We live in the northwest portion of the lower peninsula. Arrived home to find that the furnace had blown a fuse while we were away and the house was freezing. I'm talking it had been in the low -11 to 10 degrees while we were away. The kitchen and bathroom pipes were frozen and the toilet bowl had a large ice cube in it. Managed to get the bathroom pipes thawed using my hairdryer. Got the kitchen pipes thawed out using our space heater but the kitchen sink fixture was a victim and let go when we turned on the water.. As to the toilet; we had to revert to using hot water from the bathroom sink to melt it. Finally got that done only to find that the refridgerator had bit the dust as well. Called the plumber to fix the kitchen sink and went to Lowe's to get a new refridgerator. Something happened to the new fixture when the plumber put in in and it also leaked. He took it with him to get a replacement and we haven't heard from him since. We have been without water in the kitchen for a week and we can't seem to locate the plumber. He doesn't answer his phone and the plumbing and heating place hasn't seen him. Hope nothing serious has happened to him. The refridgerator arrived in due time, so that is taken care of. We have to leave for Las Vegas this Sunday, Mar 1, as money is spent and reservations are made for Nascar week. Maybe we will have to leave the sink fixture undone while we are away. Winters are so wonderful here in the midwest. We have an eight foot high wall of snow in front of our house and a funnel into the driveway; can't see to back out and cannot see across the street. It is like living in a snow fortress. Our house is the little one on the left behind the snow bank. The ice on the ground is so dangerous, we are afraid of slipping and falling. BUT, we are alive and well and that is what matters most. WE WILL SURVIVE!!!! Be good while we are away. We are leaving a housesitter this time. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jlhaslip 4 Report post Posted February 27, 2014 Wow. That is a whole lot of snow for that part of the world. Sounds like it is all working out for you, though. Good idea to have a housesitter coming in this next trip. Hope the Plumber shows up soon. Enjoy Lost Wages. LOL Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sheepdog 10 Report post Posted February 27, 2014 Gosh, that sucks! Your homecoming was even worse than ours! Our furnace malfunctioned while we were away this year too. The fan wouldn't kick on and force the warm air threw the duct work. Of course, it was kicking on and burning up all that expensive propane. The house was freezing cold when we got home, but nothing had actually frozen up like your plumbing. We had to suffer threw a few cold days because we couldn't exactly figure out what was wrong with the furnace, and although we had some wood, it was all big stuff that needed to be split to fit into the wood stove, and the very first time Hubby yanked the rope on the wood splitter it pulled out. We had to beat a few chunks apart with a splitting maul, but that is work for a youngster, not old fat people. We finally got the furnace working again, and at least had a little relief, that is until we ran out of propane. And at it's current price there's no way I'm buying more, it's now over $5 a gallon. The weather man is not helping the situation. I keep thinking we will be able to tough it out, and then along he comes with a forecast of more ice and cold weather. It looks like this coming weekend is going to be a real pain, ice and sleet and freezing rain and all that jazz. And here I was planning a trip to Texas! Think I should probably sit this one out and wait for better days. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mich 0 Report post Posted February 28, 2014 Gosh, that sucks! Your homecoming was even worse than ours! Our furnace malfunctioned while we were away this year too. The fan wouldn't kick on and force the warm air threw the duct work. Of course, it was kicking on and burning up all that expensive propane. The house was freezing cold when we got home, but nothing had actually frozen up like your plumbing. We had to suffer threw a few cold days because we couldn't exactly figure out what was wrong with the furnace, and although we had some wood, it was all big stuff that needed to be split to fit into the wood stove, and the very first time Hubby yanked the rope on the wood splitter it pulled out. We had to beat a few chunks apart with a splitting maul, but that is work for a youngster, not old fat people. We finally got the furnace working again, and at least had a little relief, that is until we ran out of propane. And at it's current price there's no way I'm buying more, it's now over $5 a gallon. The weather man is not helping the situation. I keep thinking we will be able to tough it out, and then along he comes with a forecast of more ice and cold weather. It looks like this coming weekend is going to be a real pain, ice and sleet and freezing rain and all that jazz. And here I was planning a trip to Texas! Think I should probably sit this one out and wait for better days. Sheepdog, Well, we still haven't found the plumber. Called a friend of his, who said he would check on him and get back to us if he found out anything. He never got back to us, so I guess he didn't find out anything. We had similar trouble previously with the fan in our furnace. Same thing happened; the heat traveled up through the vents without the fan running. I do hope your weather forcast is wrong as we are heading out to Las Vegas on Sunday. Will be going through Missouri on the way probably cutting across from St.Louis on 44 down toward Tulsa. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mich 0 Report post Posted February 28, 2014 Wow. That is a whole lot of snow for that part of the world. Sounds like it is all working out for you, though. Good idea to have a housesitter coming in this next trip. Hope the Plumber shows up soon. Enjoy Lost Wages. LOL We have had over 192 inches (16 feet) of snow this winter and it isn't over yet. The worst of it is that it came in November and stayed. We haven't had a thaw to get rid of any of it, so it is still around although somewhat packed down from the rain we have had. There just doesn't seem to be an end to it. Plumber is AWOL. Don't have any idea what happened to him. We will go to LV Sunday anyway. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sheepdog 10 Report post Posted February 28, 2014 In Springfield Missouri we have an 80% chance of sleet on Sunday, with a high of 23 and low of 3. That's as of right now on weather.com So be careful if you are coming threw Missouri. I am still undecided about my trip to Texas. Not sure when it would be best to try to go. Need to do it soon because next weekend is the seminar, and I can't miss that. That's really weird about your plumber disappearing. I wouldn't think stealing a fixture would be a good enough motive for loosing a good customer. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
