I'm thankful that we are still here to be able to tell you this story...it could have ended in a bang!
As we learn more about living in real winter weather, our water has frozen again. It's a little of the principle that the "pipes in a new trench will always freeze during the first winter"...told to us by the South Dakotian who set the pump in the well...I guess he knew what he was talking about...and that heat rises.
We set the thermometer in the pump room in a convenient spot about half way between the floor and the ceiling. We thought all was going well with the temperature staying at about 39 degrees. That was about half way up in the room...the water comes in at the bottom which was a balmy 29 degrees. Needless to say, the incoming pipes froze...and so did the foot of water that collects in the hole the pipe comes in through...but that's a different story.
Thinking this was the only place we had ice to deal with, I was not happy with the results of the electric heater after 8 hours. The temperature at the floor was up to 40 degrees but very little thawing was going on. So we got the torpedo heater.
Let me explain, this pump room is about 8 X 10 X about 6 feet tall...not very big. The torpedo heater is a 60,000 BTU forced air kerosene heater. Heat we got. The temperature in the room, at the floor, rose to 80 degrees in a matter of moments. The pipes thawed and we had water to the pump again...but that's not the exciting part of the story.
The metal pressure tank also occupies this space. Actually, the heater was pointed almost directly at it. We turned the heater off when a pipe ruptured and all 86 gallons of water sprayed out of the tank...the pipe was on the "out" side of the tank.
Two hours later we capped the pipe. During this operation, Rod realized that the water in the pipe was warm...this is water from inside the pressure tank...do you get the point yet...the pipe ruptured not from and ice melt but from the excess pressure on the system from the heated pressure tank...remember physics with the relationship between volume pressure and temperature?!?!? We have realized now that the tank could have exploded at any moment...with or without us in the room.
I carried the heater back upstairs. It will never again be allowed back into the pump room. Besides threatening the tank, the heat melted several of the pipes for the plumbing in the house. Like I said...never again!!
