# -24 degrees fahrenheit + 12 inches of blowing/drifting snow (Indiana). My prep list.



## imautoparts (Jan 5, 2014)

Here's a link to the 5 day forecast: Winter Storm Warning in Northern Indiana

TL;DR: Preparations and plans for a once in a lifetime storm. Main worry is plumbing freeze-up, and of course if the snowstorm turns icy or winds cause trouble, any power outage would be an instant emergency.

Location: Fort Wayne, Indiana
Home Details: 1968 built 2500 square foot 2 story home on 1/2 basement. 5 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms. One bath and kitchen sink have plumbing in/next to outside walls. Electric radiant ceiling heat. No natural gas supply on property at this time.

* 
What I did yesterday:*

1. Finally bought a small generator (harbor freight). 3200 watt/4000 peak $339

2. 4X100 foot electrical cords, splitter cords, 2 infrared light bulbs (Lowes) $90

3. Mini pipe wrench, penetrating spray, copper plumbing tubing cutter (HF) $25

4. Kerosene radiant heater (indoor rated) (Lowes) $120

5. Two 5 gallon cans, one for kerosene, one for gasoline (Lowes) $40

6. 4X750watt small ceramic space heaters (for bathrooms if we lose heat) $77

7. Additional storm items - batteries, water, fuel, extra supplies $100

So there you go - $791 later I feel marginally prepared.

*Summary of my current Prepper inventory:*

Adequate food/water for 5 days, 2 kerosene heaters, 6 small electric heaters, 3 gallons of RV antifreeze, tools, lights and equipment to (if necessary) drain the plumbing and weather the storm with minimal damage.

We've got 4 toilets, 8 sinks, two showers and a tub to drain and freezeproof, then I'll have to use the cutting tool to separate the water inlet line at the lowest point in the house to drain what I can from my pipes.

I can't just hook the generator to my furnace to keep heat because we don't have one. Our house is heated 100% electrically (whole house radiant). (I can't wait to get next month's electric bill) .

Of course, if we don't lose whole-house electrical power I'll just pop a spaceheater into each bathroom, fire up a kerosene heater in the garage (plumbing for one sink and the washing machine are in an inner wall of the garage), throw some logs on the fire and hope the DVDs hold out.


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## Rigged for Quiet (Mar 3, 2013)

Might be a good idea to identify one main room you can block off and use as the place the family will gather and stay in if you do lose power. It's most likely tthe living room where your fireplace is. It's much easier to heat one space to a comfortable temp than the entire house if it's a 2 story.

Good luck. I don't eny anyone trying to weather a winter storm as sever as this looks to be. May your plumbing fare well.


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## pheniox17 (Dec 12, 2013)

how many kids?? 

I'm going to.give the seemingly stupid ideas so please play along

give yourself another few days of water (using tap water asap)

pull out the old tent!! and set up in living room with heater

set genny up in garage with a lead, open the garage window if possible, with a surge board, watch power useage/load, outside that can't help much

all other preps seem grate, stay safe..


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## inceptor (Nov 19, 2012)

Rigged for Quiet said:


> Might be a good idea to identify one main room you can block off and use as the place the family will gather and stay in if you do lose power. It's most likely tthe living room where your fireplace is. It's much easier to heat one space to a comfortable temp than the entire house if it's a 2 story.
> 
> Good luck. I don't eny anyone trying to weather a winter storm as sever as this looks to be. May your plumbing fare well.


Ohio, the blizzard of 1978. It was so cold I blocked off all but the living room and still had trouble keeping that reasonably warm. That's when I knew I was done with the north. That combined with a couple of other life events made me decide to finally move to Texas. That's a move I have never regretted.


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## Dr. Prepper (Dec 20, 2012)

Welcome to the discussion group Hoosier Buddy. How 'bout them Colts!

It looks like you're on the right track to become a very good prepper. Something that lots of folks do that isn't always the best idea for exposed piping . . . and that is simply insulating the pipes. While insulation is important and will offer some protection on piping systems, many people seem to think that insulation generates heat. Insulation only serves to slow the heat transfer from outside the pipe or from the inside the pipe. The heat MUST come from some other source because insulation does not make any warmth at all. I can't tell you how many times I have heard folks say that they insulated outdoor piping to warm the liquid inside. Just a thought.


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## Slippy (Nov 14, 2013)

Welcome and good luck.


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## pheniox17 (Dec 12, 2013)

oops were are my manners, welcome from a place experiencing a heat wave


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## HuntingHawk (Dec 16, 2012)

Oil & spare spark plug for the generator.


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## Coppertop (Dec 20, 2013)

Just a question for you. Why are you planning on cutting off (cutting the pipe itself) your water main? If you leave your sink faucets on your pipes won't burst even if it freezes. There is room for the expansion of water to ice to occur without the extra pressure that pops pipes. I have done this in a number of houses in Colo, Wy, and MT and never had the issue. It does take longer to thaw out your pipes when you are done but you don't have another connection to worry about. Plus all the time and effort to cut and fix your pipes. 

Just my 2 pennies worth


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## MrsInor (Apr 15, 2013)

Welcome from Minnesota.


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## rickkyw1720pf (Nov 17, 2012)

Welcome from Kentucky. I would suggest you add a LED head lamp for each family member (At least get on for your wife and yourself). Walmart and most large stores including Lowes have them fairly cheap.
Get some of those solar garden lights also you can get them for about 3 dollars each as a couple will light up a room and last years.

It looks like you are already ahead of 90% of the population.


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## Piratesailor (Nov 9, 2012)

Coppertop said:


> Just a question for you. Why are you planning on cutting off (cutting the pipe itself) your water main? If you leave your sink faucets on your pipes won't burst even if it freezes. There is room for the expansion of water to ice to occur without the extra pressure that pops pipes. I have done this in a number of houses in Colo, Wy, and MT and never had the issue. It does take longer to thaw out your pipes when you are done but you don't have another connection to worry about. Plus all the time and effort to cut and fix your pipes.
> 
> Just my 2 pennies worth


I was wondering this too. I've live in the mountains and have seen much colder weather. Let the faucets drip and never had a break.


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## inceptor (Nov 19, 2012)

BTW, welcome from Texas 

Having lived in the north I know there are inexpensive heaters for your pipes. They just wrap around and plug in. The easiest and least expensive though is letting the water faucets drip.


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## MI.oldguy (Apr 18, 2013)

Welcome from upper Michigan....stay warm....


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## dwight55 (Nov 9, 2012)

My whole prepper thought pattern can be summed up in one word: hunker .

Ain't goin out, . . . got all I need here, . . . supposed to be liveable by Wed, . . . I can wait.

Got heat, food, water, and a half dozen good books, . . . staying put.

May God bless,
Dwight


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## PrepConsultant (Aug 28, 2012)

We left our pipes running last night and some of them still froze.. Our bathroom does not have how water yet and the shower is still froze. We have a heater in there so it should come back on pretty soon. It was down to like -40-50 below outside last night so it was pretty cold. Hell, our fire went out cause I didn't think I needed it this mornin. Well, it was 35 in the ****in house this morning... I think I will put a log or two on in the middle of the night when it gets that cold from now on. Maybe.....


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## AquaHull (Jun 10, 2012)

inceptor said:


> Ohio, the blizzard of 1978. It was so cold I blocked off all but the living room and still had trouble keeping that reasonably warm. That's when I knew I was done with the north. That combined with a couple of other life events made me decide to finally move to Texas. That's a move I have never regretted.


I taped music off WWWW Detroit through the whole thing,I was young and able to walk the 1/4mile to the grocery /beer stores. No worries then.


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## LunaticFringeInc (Nov 20, 2012)

Now ya see that's why I live south of the Mason Dixon line! Im a cold weather sissy, not a racist, and it doesn't have to get too cold for me to be freezing cold! When it drops below 40 here and I have to go outside...it better be an emergency cause if its not its about to be one! That's pathetic I know, but a real man knows his limits, and I know right exactly where mine is! 

Good luck and hope its pretty uneventful for you.


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## Southern Dad (Nov 26, 2012)

What is this s-n-o-w stuff to which you refer? It's 41º here, I actually had to crank up the heater for a few minutes.


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## Montana Rancher (Mar 4, 2013)

PrepConsultant said:


> We left our pipes running last night and some of them still froze.. Our bathroom does not have how water yet and the shower is still froze. We have a heater in there so it should come back on pretty soon. It was down to like -40-50 below outside last night so it was pretty cold. Hell, our fire went out cause I didn't think I needed it this mornin. Well, it was 35 in the ****in house this morning... I think I will put a log or two on in the middle of the night when it gets that cold from now on. Maybe.....


Haha Prep welcome to Montana!

BTW here in the "banana belt of Montana" the temp this morning was only 40 degrees warmer than you were, hehe.

Ok When I first read this I was thinking yes let the water run (not a lot but let it "drizzle") but make sure the faucet you run is the one that is farthest one in the line, so if your water comes into your home on the north side, you need to make sure the running water is on the south side.

This will keep the water from freezing in your foundation, but if your house is below freezing you need to have ALL the faucets on. Also if on the "south" side you have a bathroom, run the sink, the shower and if you know how adjust the toilet float so it "leaks" a bit to keep that line clear also.

My 1 and only suggestion for future preps, replace your under the house plumbing with "Pex" as it will not burst when frozen. Wrap them with heat tape and insulation and check the heat tape yearly, my daughters mobile just froze up about a month ago, the heat tape failed and I saw the light on, but didn't test it.


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## pheniox17 (Dec 12, 2013)

Southern Dad said:


> What is this s-n-o-w stuff to which you refer? It's 41º here, I actually had to crank up the heater for a few minutes.


yea it's got me to (another 40c day, 100 something f) off to the pool again


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## inceptor (Nov 19, 2012)

LunaticFringeInc said:


> Now ya see that's why I live south of the Mason Dixon line! Im a cold weather sissy, not a racist, and it doesn't have to get too cold for me to be freezing cold! When it drops below 40 here and I have to go outside...it better be an emergency cause if its not its about to be one! *That's pathetic I know, but a real man knows his limits, and I know right exactly where mine is!*
> 
> Good luck and hope its pretty uneventful for you.


:lol: Amen, my friend, Amen!


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## imautoparts (Jan 5, 2014)

Coppertop said:


> Just a question for you. Why are you planning on cutting off (cutting the pipe itself) your water main? If you leave your sink faucets on your pipes won't burst even if it freezes. There is room for the expansion of water to ice to occur without the extra pressure that pops pipes. I have done this in a number of houses in Colo, Wy, and MT and never had the issue. It does take longer to thaw out your pipes when you are done but you don't have another connection to worry about. Plus all the time and effort to cut and fix your pipes.
> 
> Just my 2 pennies worth


TL,DR: I have to do everything possible to save my pipes, my ceilings cost $3000 to $5000 in each room due to the radiant heat.

Coppertop, thanks for your question.

The reason I must do everything to avoid pipe bursting is the fact my "furnace" is made up of thin wires embedded in the ceilings of every room. Any burst pipe upstairs would require complete replacement of any ceiling affected - to the tune of around $3000 per room. I have insurance, but I'm sure old "premium boy" would make a pretty big adjustment to next year's premiums. Insurance companies have no idea these days of what they are getting into when they offer water damage insurance to a homeowner with radiant heat.

This is what it looks like before you add the second layer of drywall:








It's too bad these systems aren't more popular - they are fabulous and if not disturbed, cut or water damaged, will last the life of the structure with zero maintenance. I have a five bedroom four bath home and my electric bills were $240 per month last year. Considering that furnace conversion of my AC units would cost $15,000, I think I'll stick to my tried and true radiant (my Dad built the house originally in 1968).

Making a small cut just past the water meter outlet is a good idea for two reasons:

First, I can actually drain the system 'down', thus leaving airspace even in the lateral pipes in the upstairs where of course any burst would be a disaster. I suppose a good compromise would be to just shut off the water and drain down to the 1st floor, but at -20 I'd still be risking plenty of damage if a pipe burst while the water was off.

By cutting my line it will vent right into the basement drain (which is good), and it will also give me the opportunity to install a valve next to my meter so the 'next time' I can just run a hose to the drain, pop the vent and easy peasy I'm done.


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## imautoparts (Jan 5, 2014)

*Australia would be great but.....*



pheniox17 said:


> yea it's got me to (another 40c day, 100 something f) off to the pool again


(click to enlarge)









Anyway, Indiana is one of the "nice parts" of the United States. We're a long way from jackbooted SWAT teams and thugs driving police cars giving body cavity searches.

(so far)

I'm in my mid 50s, so I hope to be gone before the Gestapo hits Indiana.


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## pheniox17 (Dec 12, 2013)

imautoparts said:


> (click to enlarge)
> 
> View attachment 3922
> 
> .


a sense of humor I love it

all you have to worry about is the backwards flush 

and the drop bears, and all the native wildlife has evolved to kill (not kidding!!!)


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## imautoparts (Jan 5, 2014)

.deleted


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## imautoparts (Jan 5, 2014)

Southern Dad said:


> What is this s-n-o-w stuff to which you refer? It's 41º here, I actually had to crank up the heater for a few minutes.


Sorry I took so long to reply. S-n-o-w is what you get when you cross the Mason Dixon line in the wintertime. Usually however Southerners like yourself hardly notice because they are of course, intoxicated to the point of blindness on homemade liquor.

Seriously though, 9 degrees tonight in Atlanta - please be safe.


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## imautoparts (Jan 5, 2014)

OK, here's a debriefing after the snowstorm and sub-arctic below zero weather.

We got 15" of total snow in a 24 hour period, followed by blowing and drifting. Fortunately our temperature hovered around 32 degrees during the snowstorm so we just missed the icing that took out power in neighboring towns. Two towns within 15 miles of my location lost power for the duration of the cold snap.

Our power flickered pretty steadily for about 12 hours, but we never lost it. Only heard one transformer blow up during the coldest period (-18 was the lowest we actually got). This compares favorably to the cold spell we had in the 1980s when you could hear transformers popping all over town when you stood outside. The new transformers must have much better protection against low temp/high load.

A combination of small supplemental space heaters and open cabinet doors to assure air circulation combined with dripping faucets resulted in no freeze damage that we are aware of. I haven't tried my outside faucets yet, but since it is now 40 degrees I think I will try them today.

I was able to return $300 of my prepper supplies that I did not use. I kept the generator, and went ahead and bought a small basement dirty-water pump with the money I got back. I returned all the wire, the spare kerosene heater and unused quartz space heaters, kerosene storage cans etc. The basement pump nearly was necessary yesterday due to 1" of rain and 18" of melting snow. Fortunately the water just cleared my basement drain (I have an alarm) and went back down.

I'm hanging onto 5 gallons of emergency water, one 5 gallon can of kerosene, the antifreeze and tools necessary to face any future freezing issues.

I want to thank everybody on this forum for helping me with this project and for all the moral (immoral?) support. I guess I'm a prepper now.


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## Smitty901 (Nov 16, 2012)

Here we will always have water. We will not be over run by people flocking here. The cold kills off many bugs and weeds.
Life is different in the clod country not imposable.
The 21 below has left it is 26 above today not bad. Dogs are enjoying it.


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