In the words of Bender: We're boned.
Mar. 5th, 2007 07:59 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ellenmillionGeez! I was hoping for the best regarding our pipes - there's a section of the drain that isn't covered as deeply as the rest, and a freeze in that section would have been... well, not great, but not as bad as it actually is. The septic tank itself is frozen. Very frozen. If this is what happened last year (and it probably is), it explains why it took until August to unfreeze.
This means: no drain for the rest of the winter at least. We can't get a steam truck down our driveway until spring. At that point, it's $250 an hour for them to steam-thaw it, and it will probably happen again next winter.
It also means that we need to somehow FIX our tank. This can mean digging it up, digging the hole deeper, and reburying it. Or covering it with another 4 feet of fill, maybe? Or somehow putting heat trace on it. None of them are cheap or easy options. Possibly it would work as it is if we had normal snow loads and weather, but pffff. Like we can rely on that. It's 20 below today and windy, which is a ridiculous combination. 'Normal' isn't anymore.
This, on top of the broken truck, the water tank for the broken truck, and unexpectedly running out of fuel, means we are tapped. Seriously tapped. We probably shouldn't have decided to go to Mexico, even if it was an amazing deal. We can't get out of it now, and it wouldn't put a dent in the cost of replacing/repairing the septic, so it's not worth pursuing.
What weighs heaviest on me is the very high likelihood that I'm gunna have to buckle down and go back to work at a job that pays 'real wages' until we get our buffer back. I don't know how that's going to fall out... I hate to close up parts of EMG just as I'm scrabbling momentum out of the darn business, but the idea that I could maintain current workloads and a job is pretty silly. Something's going to have to give.
Very, very depressing and disappointing, and I'm not at all sure what's going to happen. Being a plan-and-act kind of person, I feel quite at loose ends today and not sure what to do with myself. Same as usual, I guess - my to-do list hasn't gone away with our money!
This means: no drain for the rest of the winter at least. We can't get a steam truck down our driveway until spring. At that point, it's $250 an hour for them to steam-thaw it, and it will probably happen again next winter.
It also means that we need to somehow FIX our tank. This can mean digging it up, digging the hole deeper, and reburying it. Or covering it with another 4 feet of fill, maybe? Or somehow putting heat trace on it. None of them are cheap or easy options. Possibly it would work as it is if we had normal snow loads and weather, but pffff. Like we can rely on that. It's 20 below today and windy, which is a ridiculous combination. 'Normal' isn't anymore.
This, on top of the broken truck, the water tank for the broken truck, and unexpectedly running out of fuel, means we are tapped. Seriously tapped. We probably shouldn't have decided to go to Mexico, even if it was an amazing deal. We can't get out of it now, and it wouldn't put a dent in the cost of replacing/repairing the septic, so it's not worth pursuing.
What weighs heaviest on me is the very high likelihood that I'm gunna have to buckle down and go back to work at a job that pays 'real wages' until we get our buffer back. I don't know how that's going to fall out... I hate to close up parts of EMG just as I'm scrabbling momentum out of the darn business, but the idea that I could maintain current workloads and a job is pretty silly. Something's going to have to give.
Very, very depressing and disappointing, and I'm not at all sure what's going to happen. Being a plan-and-act kind of person, I feel quite at loose ends today and not sure what to do with myself. Same as usual, I guess - my to-do list hasn't gone away with our money!
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no subject
Date: 2007-03-05 06:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-05 06:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-05 10:33 pm (UTC)When we moved in three years ago, the previous owners pointed out a water-heater heating element on a long extension cord and said, "When it gets -20, drop that down one of the pipes into the septic tank." The first winter, we did this faithfully and had no problems. Second winter, we scoffed at the water-heater thingie (we call it the "soup heater" because it looks like a really big one) and didn't do that. This was last winter, the winter of very little snow. The damn tank froze up solid as a rock in March! We went through several weeks where we thawed out a portion of the tank by pouring hot water down one of the pipes and then lowering the "soup heater" into the hole (make sure it's got water around it), and then Orion used an ancient sump pump to periodically pump out the thawed area as household usage would fill it up.
In short, our tank is probably very similar to yours and the "soup heater" seems to give it that extra whatever-it-needs to keep it thawed. I presume that it came from an abandoned water heater at one of the transfer sites. See if you can get your hands on one. It's worth a try anyway, especially if you can't afford to get the tank buried deeper next summer.
no subject
Date: 2007-03-06 08:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-06 02:29 pm (UTC)"Soup heater" *heehee*
Ellen, at least you got to use the toilet once, that is a small victory. :) *hugs*
no subject
Date: 2007-03-06 03:54 pm (UTC)If there's anyway I can help. Let me know!!
no subject
Date: 2007-03-06 05:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-06 09:36 pm (UTC)