Sunday, January 18, 2004
Vintage DIY
Living in a house that was built in 1925, Mr. Vintage Reader and I find that the advice of many of the American DIY web sites (the ones that aren't specifically targeted at old houses) just doesn't apply to us. For example... yesterday, after nearly a week of single-digit high temperatures, the drain pipe from our kitchen sink, as far as we can tell, became clogged with ice (probably because we were dripping water down the sink to keep the supply pipe from freezing).
Now, as I understand it, this isn't typically a problem in newer homes, because the drain pipes are usually closer to the inside of the house than ours is. So looking for DIY advice online was fairly useless because all the American DIY sites (and there are a million of them) were talking about frozen supply pipes, not frozen drain pipes, which are more likely to be hidden in walls, and can also be treated from the top of the drain, unlike supply pipes.
But this site from the UK had some great, simple, and environmentally friendly advice: pour salt down the drain. We're trying this right now. I'll let you know how it goes.
In the meantime, we also consulted Fix It Yourself: Home Repairs Made Easy, a Popular Science publication from 1929. It has some horrible advice for thawing supply pipes:
This is just WRONG. First of all, when the water froze, it turned to ice. Ice takes up more space than water, so it might have already caused stress on the pipe (that's what causes pipes to burst). When you aim a blowtorch at it, the area that you're heating up goes very rapidly from solid to liquid to gas (steam)--which takes up more space than the solid. Especially if there's still ice at either end of the part you're heating, the ice clog, now converted to steam, is suddenly taking up a lot more space than it was a few minutes ago, and the pipe, which was already stressed, is more likely to burst.
So do NOT use a blowtorch if your pipes are frozen. Besides that: well, you know, FIRE. In the enclosed space of your basement, where you likely keep highly flammable materials like paint remover. But to be fair, they didn't have blow dryers in the 1920s.
OTOH, Fix It Yourself does offer the salt cure for outdoor pipes, and it talks about a lot of things peculiar to old houses (which were new at the time). But on the whole, I think it's better not to rely on vintage books for home repair advice, even on old houses. Usually the This Old House Homeowner Know-How site or OldHouse.com are better resources.
Living in a house that was built in 1925, Mr. Vintage Reader and I find that the advice of many of the American DIY web sites (the ones that aren't specifically targeted at old houses) just doesn't apply to us. For example... yesterday, after nearly a week of single-digit high temperatures, the drain pipe from our kitchen sink, as far as we can tell, became clogged with ice (probably because we were dripping water down the sink to keep the supply pipe from freezing).
Now, as I understand it, this isn't typically a problem in newer homes, because the drain pipes are usually closer to the inside of the house than ours is. So looking for DIY advice online was fairly useless because all the American DIY sites (and there are a million of them) were talking about frozen supply pipes, not frozen drain pipes, which are more likely to be hidden in walls, and can also be treated from the top of the drain, unlike supply pipes.
But this site from the UK had some great, simple, and environmentally friendly advice: pour salt down the drain. We're trying this right now. I'll let you know how it goes.
In the meantime, we also consulted Fix It Yourself: Home Repairs Made Easy, a Popular Science publication from 1929. It has some horrible advice for thawing supply pipes:
"If you have a small blowtorch, the thawing process is an easy and quick one. Direct the flame of the torch on the frozen piping, being sure to start from the faucet or fixture end. Work towards the meter slowly but without concentrating the flame for too long a time on any one small section of the piping.
Contrary to popular belief, thawing does not rupture the piping, although the break or rupture only becomes evident during the thawing process."
This is just WRONG. First of all, when the water froze, it turned to ice. Ice takes up more space than water, so it might have already caused stress on the pipe (that's what causes pipes to burst). When you aim a blowtorch at it, the area that you're heating up goes very rapidly from solid to liquid to gas (steam)--which takes up more space than the solid. Especially if there's still ice at either end of the part you're heating, the ice clog, now converted to steam, is suddenly taking up a lot more space than it was a few minutes ago, and the pipe, which was already stressed, is more likely to burst.
So do NOT use a blowtorch if your pipes are frozen. Besides that: well, you know, FIRE. In the enclosed space of your basement, where you likely keep highly flammable materials like paint remover. But to be fair, they didn't have blow dryers in the 1920s.
OTOH, Fix It Yourself does offer the salt cure for outdoor pipes, and it talks about a lot of things peculiar to old houses (which were new at the time). But on the whole, I think it's better not to rely on vintage books for home repair advice, even on old houses. Usually the This Old House Homeowner Know-How site or OldHouse.com are better resources.
permalink posted by The Vintage Reader @ 9:27 AM 
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