Well, it’s been quite an interesting day! It all started when we awoke to 9 degree temperatures outside!!! SO cold our pond must have a good 4 inches of ice over the top and you can barely see the waterfall. But, the birds still attempted to navigate the ice to find water to drink…not without slipping and sliding first. It was so cute and entertaining. No school today. They say it was too cold for school. Unbelievable. Will was ecstatic, of course!
So, I went into the kitchen to make my morning shake and as I pressed the water dispenser on the refrigerator, nothing happened. Not a drop of water. That was not a good sign. I immediately knew the problem. Frozen pipe. Great. My house is on a slab so most of the plumbing is under the house in concrete…except for the water line to the water/ice maker. And it was frozen. Alright, I thought. What’s the first step here? I stood there thinking about my options. Call a plumber? Turn off the water?
Fortunately, we have this wonderful thing called the internet! So, I Googled what to do with a frozen water line, and found some suggestions. Hair dryer. Space heater. Warm wrags. Alright, that was a start. So, then I Googled plumbers in Frankln and called one to ask for advice. It was similar, so I felt good about that. The only problem was that I had no space heaters. The pipe section in the attic runs about 10 feet and then down the wall between the kitchen and garage…who knew where the freezing point was? So, I called around, posted a status update on Facebook, and finally got ahold of Sandy…they had THREE space heaters. BINGO! So I raced over there and picked them up.
When I got home, I bundled up (it was 10 degrees by now) and braced myself for spending who knows how long in the attic trying to warm up a pipe! I tore the wall panel off in the garage and placed a heater there first. Then headed up to the attic with my flashlight, hair dryer and another space heater. Once up there I inspected the line for any signs of bulging, praying the whole time that eveything would be in tact. It was. So, I turned on the heater and pulled the insulation away from the pipe to expose it.
I went downstairs and into the kitchen to test the water dispenser…a couple drops came out, that was it. But it was more than the first time, so I had hope. It wasn’t an hour later that I tried again. This time a fast drip. I held it open for several seconds and a little more water started to flow. Within a minute, I had full pressure back and water flow like it was meant to be!!! What a relief!!! Thank you, God for that answered prayer!!!
I didn’t want this happening EVER again, so Will and I jumped in the car and ran over to Home Depot. Turns out they make this cord that has a heating element inside it…you attach it to the pipe, and plug it in. A thermostat on the cord detects the temperature and when it gets below 38 degrees, the heating element activates, preventing the pipe from freezing! How cool is that?
So, once home with our supplies, I went back up into the attic (after checking water pressure again just to be sure…all was good) with the pipe warmer and put it in place. It was a simple job. The trickiest part was balancing on the wooden trusses to avoid falling through the ceiling.
I checked the water flow periodically throughout the day, and all is well. I should wake up tomorrow to normal, cozy pipes! 
You know, this was definitely a day when a husband sure would’ve come in handy. But, having no husband, I was forced to figure it out. And I did. It’s amazing what we can do when we don’t have a choice. A lot more than expected, that’s for sure!
