Catch-Up & Ketchup
Heading 'up north' was delayed a bit on the home front but it did happen. With a stop for coffee and donuts (how did my life come to this) I was northbound by 12:30, perhaps 1:00 with the next stop planned for Pine City. The bottom of the Ketchup bottle has been the top of the contents since at least August. Wal-Mart seemed like a good stop. Somehow the stop for Ketchup ended up being $100 after picking up another 'milk house' electric heater and miscellaneous other food stuffs.
Background
The up north home hit a low SAT night of -27 F and at 4:00 AM the security company called me to let me know that there were a temperature alert. I don't know what temperature that kicks off on but the sensor is on the walk out level which is usually about twelve degrees cooler than the main floor where I'd left the thermostat set at either 50 F or 52 F last weekend. A few years ago I purchased a Freeze Alarm which has saved me several times. You can call into the Freeze Alarm and it will also call you. That's also placed on the lower level and it calls at 42 F and it had been calling me since SAT evening. SUN when I called in it was 38 F and at noon it was 37 F so I knew there was an issue.
Snow
About two feet of snow had fallen but fortunately I'd blown about half of it before leaving. Upon arrival I blasted through the new stuff (thanks 4WD). Inside the thermostat showed the furnace to be on but it was dead quiet with no fire in the beast. Downstairs I hit the reset button on the furnace and it roared to life. There is also a milk house heater hooked up to an outlet that turns it on at 45 F. That was not on until I kicked it.
Luck is more intuitive that we think. Adding some clothes I headed outside to get rid of the additional snow which took another 1.5 hours.
Bad, Bad, Bad...
Back in the house I went to the walk out level and turned on the water and then proceed to start a fire in the wood stove. When cold (as it was) I need to open a window to get the draft going. The windows were frozen shut so I opened the door but still had a major smoke backup and spent a good twenty minutes getting the fire working correctly.
As I headed back to the stairs I saw massive amounts of water coming through the ceiling. Eight years ago we had a major freeze issue. That led to the purchase of the Freeze Alarm. At first I thought the kitchen sink was overflowing. When I leave I open all the faucets and then turn the water off. Running upstairs I saw that the sink faucet was off but water was flowing out from under the dishwasher. Running downstairs I turned off the water for the house and went back up on a freeze/crack/leak. The water feed to the dishwasher froze. Fortunately there was a shutoff under the sink. Cleanup took several hours.
Today the input lines for the washer (also in the kitchen) showed signs of leakage.
When it was time to go there was a complicated issue with the alarm system and the monitoring company that took another couple of hours to resolve. It's not worth describing.
There's an App for That...
Really what I wanted to do was be able to pull out my phone and see what the temperature is at the remote location. Calling into the Freeze Alarm will give you the temperature and power situation but it's a little complicated and a commitment of a solid five minutes. Amazon searches showed an interesting solution that allows you to see the current temperature and history on you smart phone for $11 per year and the wireless device which is $75. I also ordered a second device for $45 and will put one on each level. All of the customer reviews on Amazon said the customer service for this product was somewhere between non-existent and awful. I does do what I want but will be a problem when the power goes out according to all the reviews which said it fails on a power re-set.
Paranoia is a good thing. I just called the Freeze Alarm which said it is 50 degrees. The thermostat was left at 58 F so it appears the furnace is cycling correctly after the reset. That was the second time in eleven years that I hit the reset. I have no idea what the failure issue was either time.
Jobs & Careers...
This was two days where a job would have cost me a lot in terms of further freeze damage. It's clear now why people sell their MN properties and head to AZ. Trying to fight the cold in person is difficult but fighting it in absences is even more complicated and challenging.
Tomorrow...LHH
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