- Mar 25, 2007
- 1,310
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That's pretty much it, really. Our house is very elderly, the plumbing was retrofitted by a brain-damaged monkey on crack, and as a result every winter the drain pipe that goes from the washing machine outflow to the septic tank freezes. Since this pipe was fitted by aforementioned monkey, it has two 90 degree turns in it, and therefore cannot be thawed by mere kettles of boiling water and plumbing snakes, no--it runs through a 18" crawlspace that is completely walled off by heavy masonry from any human access.
There are already heating tapes and space heaters in the bit that we do have access to, but sometimes it doesn't help a bit. So for the past 6 weeks I've been doing laundry in the kitchen sink. Fortunately, the kitchen having been designed with non-plumbing chores in mind, this is easier than it would be in your average McMansion, but it still kinda sucks.
This weekend, we had 36+ hours of above-freezing weather, and the pipe finally thawed. I did laundry in the washing machine, my arms do not ache, my back doesn't hurt (much), my hands are not red or cracked from soap + bleach, and I have all the clean clothes I can eat. I actually had time to do other stuff, like start my tomatoes.
Best of all, highs are to be mostly above freezing for the next 10 days. It's probably not going to freeze again, IOW.
Being a pioneer lady really sucks. I'm just saying. I wish I had an indentured servant or three.
There are already heating tapes and space heaters in the bit that we do have access to, but sometimes it doesn't help a bit. So for the past 6 weeks I've been doing laundry in the kitchen sink. Fortunately, the kitchen having been designed with non-plumbing chores in mind, this is easier than it would be in your average McMansion, but it still kinda sucks.
This weekend, we had 36+ hours of above-freezing weather, and the pipe finally thawed. I did laundry in the washing machine, my arms do not ache, my back doesn't hurt (much), my hands are not red or cracked from soap + bleach, and I have all the clean clothes I can eat. I actually had time to do other stuff, like start my tomatoes.
Best of all, highs are to be mostly above freezing for the next 10 days. It's probably not going to freeze again, IOW.
Being a pioneer lady really sucks. I'm just saying. I wish I had an indentured servant or three.