Happy New Year everyone. This New Year post is brought to you from the interior of a completely frozen and ice wrapped Airstream!
Wednesday’s storm brought the coldest weather I’ve experienced since moving to Arizona. How cold is it? Well, according to my thermometer this morning I awoke to -3 degrees (Fahrenheit). Last night was by far the coldest night I’ve ever spent in the Airstream! And I had to get up super early to go feed Josh’s pup, L10. Yup, dog sitting.
So, 5:30 a.m. on 1/1/11 I got up to get ready for the day. The heater had been running all night, even with my two supplemental electric space heaters. Normally I can get the Airstream super hot quickly with just one of the heaters. Last night? Not so much. Without the 2 portables and main heater I would have frozen for sure! About every 20 minutes the main gas heater would kick on, get things back to 65, and then the space heaters would hold the temperature for a short while. Then the blower would kick on and we’d reheat! Brrrrrr!
Of course, my external water is frozen. It had been for days. The heat tape I had on the city water coming in died apparently. So, yesterday I ran to Home Depot and got a new strip to plugin. Sure enough, within an hour the Airstream had water again. Just to be sure, I topped off the water tank in the event that the city hook up froze again. Unfortunately looks like my water tank has some ice, or my pump is on the fritz. Either way, no water this morning.
Here’s what I’ve found over the years. Anything below 20 means the city water isn’t going to work, even insulated and wrapped with the heater strip. 20 is the limit. And since we’re only at 4 degrees right now the Airstream is going to be without water for a bit. 🙁 It’s also pretty chilly in here with the cold radiating off of the floor.
Now, this doesn’t mean 2011 has started out bad. It just means that it has started out cold! And it looks like we’ve got another snow storm on the way for this week to boot! Kind of like being back in NH if you ask me!
So, there’s the New Year report. Frozen in the great Tundra known as Prescott. Fun way to start the year out! I wonder what other “first” experiences I’ll have this year? 😉
Comments 1
1 degree F in Prescott today. Brrrr … But we have water and heat at our house, thankfully. We did have to clear a patch of the yard of snow so the dogs could take care of business.
Best of luck with the new studio.