Freezing Fountain

Hi all! So I am finally back at this Monday blogging thing. I was hoping to have a nursery update for you guys today but we sort of ran into a slight issue when taking down the crown molding and so maybe Thursday I will be back to update you on that one.

As most of you probably experienced last week in pretty much every part of the country it was cold and not just a little cold but bone chilling cold. We here in Charleston fared a little better but it did still get down into single digit temps with the wind chills. For anyone who has visited Charleston in the winter you know this is way too cold for our liking. We enjoy our mild sixty degree winters here thank you. However as you know when it gets this cold you run the risk of having your pipes freeze. Especially when you live in a house built in 1938 with questionable plumbing sometimes.

Our supervisor for this project.

Well that is exactly what happened to us. Thankfully though it was the irrigation system (that we never use and thought we had turned off) pipes that froze and not the main pipes. So we never went without water but we did have a nice fountain and stream going throughout our yard for a few days.

Luckily this was a relatively easy fix. We just decided that since we do not use the irrigation system we would just cut the pipe where it cracked and cap it off. The longest part of this whole process was getting the supplies. You see we got home with what we thought was everything only to cut the pipe and think that we bought the wrong cap size. Back to Lowe's we went armed this time with a piece of the pipe. After standing there trying different caps for a few minutes we realized we indeed had the right cap, had a nice long laugh at ourselves, and headed back home to finalize our little plumbing project. So in case you were wondering how we completed this project here is a quick rundown of the process.

Jose's sad face at the realization we got the wrong size cap. 

Supplies:

Broken pipe

3/4 in Caps (or whatever size your pipe is)

Copper Tube Cutter (that cuts up to your size pipe)

Step One: Turn off the main water supply so as to not create a large fountain when you cut your pipe

Step Two: Use the copper tube cutter to cut an even line around the pipe. You will probably have to do this in two locations. 

Step Three: Push the caps onto your freshly cut pipes. Yes these are that easy to use. No other tools necessary. 

Step 4: Turn your water back on and pray it holds. (So far so good in this category.)

See, easy peasy. Have you ever had a busted pipe? Was it an easy fix or was it a job for a plumber? I would love to hear about it!