Winter 2011 ? Starting to prep now.

[preppingsu]

I was lucky this year in that my pipes didn't freeze, but I guess they could if it does end up being colder. Any tips for trying to stop that happening?

Gnole is the man for plumbing so might be able to help with some advice.

One thing that was a bit of a concern last year was my water butts both froze solid for a few weeks. They would have been useless if I needed the water, might be worth putting some sort of insulating jackets around them this year.

I still have a bag and a half of grit left but will keep my eyes open for some more over the summer.

Countrywide stores have had rock salt on offer recently and we've managed to pick up some bags.
How about thermawrap for pipes/water butts? We are going to get some for the chook coop, can get it in homebase.

[diamond lil]

Do they need extra insulation Sue ? How does that fix on the coop?

[itsybitsy]

Would I need to insulate INDOOR pipes - i.e. the ones under the sink - as well as any outside pipes?

[the-gnole]

Would I need to insulate INDOOR pipes - i.e. the ones under the sink - as well as any outside pipes?

Possibly, but it would have to be very cold in there to let them freeze, maximum density of water is +5c, then it gets bigger, warmer not a problem it is a gradual "funnel shaped increase, but when water freezes it is a sudden increase that is approximately twice the size.

Saying that our pipes were okay under the kitchen sink where there is no additional heating in the room apart from when cooking, but we had a couple of pipes that had an ice-plug in them under the bath where they went close to the hole knocked through to get the waste pipes out, soon sealed that hole .

Minimum "recommended" wall thickness for pipes in roof spaces is 25mm and it isn't cheap.

If in doubt "lag it", it is cheaper than fixing the mess

[the-gnole]

One thing that was a bit of a concern last year was my water butts both froze solid for a few weeks. They would have been useless if I needed the water, might be worth putting some sort of insulating jackets around them this year.

Change the butts to a different type of plastic, we have a 100ltr water butt at the front of the house, completely sealed apart from the open pipe where the water goes in from the down-pipe kit, it froze solid and no damage at all.

But we used the food grade barrels rather than the regular water butts, MiL lost her Water Butt to frost damage, I'll be replacing it with a 210ltr blue plastic food grade barrel with clamp on lid

[preppingsu]

Do they need extra insulation Sue ? How does that fix on the coop?

Considering how cold it was down here, I would certainly consider some insulation up your way Lil. When it was at its worst we chucked an old groundsheet and duvet in top of the coop. We lost 2 hens to the fox and the 2 that were left were in a large coop on their own. They stopped roosting and slept in the nesting boxes (it must have been warmer) so certainly this year I will be putting the thermawrap around the and over the coop.(not sure how it fixes, sorry) Some people use old carpet etc in insulation.

[lisaloolibell]

My stepdad has some sort of lamp that heats his coop and the chucks love it.

[preppingsu]

My stepdad has some sort of lamp that heats his coop and the chucks love it.

yep, thats a possibility but we haven't got power down at the coop

[the-gnole]

I think the worst thing is draughts, try to keep them out of any wind blowing through.

We had a solid roof on our run, the sides are either chicken wire or 1" welded mesh, greenhouse on one side and a low polythene covered 3ft fence at the rear, but we did put a tarpauline on the front with bungees to hold it on to stop the wind and snow blowing in, inside the run there coop is pretty much draught proof and loaded up with straw and wood shavings.

All three lasted through the whole of the winter and we still got at least two eggs a day, often three

[Carrot Cruncher]

One thing that was a bit of a concern last year was my water butts both froze solid for a few weeks. They would have been useless if I needed the water, might be worth putting some sort of insulating jackets around them this year.

Change the butts to a different type of plastic, we have a 100ltr water butt at the front of the house, completely sealed apart from the open pipe where the water goes in from the down-pipe kit, it froze solid and no damage at all.

But we used the food grade barrels rather than the regular water butts, MiL lost her Water Butt to frost damage, I'll be replacing it with a 210ltr blue plastic food grade barrel with clamp on lid

The Butts themselves were fine, just the contents were Ice. No cracks in the plastic when it thawed.