27-02-2018, 01:03 PM
1
Tips for cold weather
Without wishing to over dramatize the cold weather we are about to get, there are a few things that could help avert a disaster.If you have an isolation valve on the pipe to your garden tap, turn it off and drain the tap off leaving it open until warmer weather. Pipes can burst because the water has nowhere to expand to, so letting the tap drip slightly can help.
if you have to thaw an outside tap using hot water or a hairdryer do it gently and open the tap first.
If the tap is working ok, cover it up with some sort of insulation.
If possible wrap up your water butts. A bit of ice is ok but if they freeze solid, they can split. Ideally, water butts should be empty in this weather but I have never bothered.
Ponds. Either use a pond heater or float plastic balls on the surface. You can also use plastic bottles partially filled with stones so that they bob along. The Ice itself doesn't kill fish (unless they are unlucky enough to get trapped in it) it's the fact that the gases in the pond build up because they cannot escape.
If your pond is frozen, don't smash the ice, the shock waves can kill the fish. Sit a pan of very hot water on the surface until a hole appears in the ice.
These are only suggestions so please don't blame me if they don't work.
Please add any other suggestions.
27-02-2018, 02:46 PM
5
Re: Tips for cold weather
Thank you all for the helpful suggestions although I don't have an outside tap, fish, below snow or ripped jeans
. I have bought a camping stove this morning in case the electricity goes off, there is no gas out in the countryside.
I have a camping ring but haven't used it for many year and it look a bit rusty and unsafe.
I can now fill a hot water bottle if needed and have all kinds of delights cooked on my ring (in the garage with the door open) Once when the power was off for 4 days we had porridge, stew and dumplings and drop scones with jam and many other tasty things cooked on one ring.
27-02-2018, 03:19 PM
6
Re: Tips for cold weather
Originally Posted by Tedc
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Don't make snowballs out of the snow which has a yellow colour.If you slip & fall over - don't put your arms out. Use the Parachutist roll! Cold arms snap off.
Good advice.
27-02-2018, 04:05 PM
7
Re: Tips for cold weather
Originally Posted by Meg
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Thank you all for the helpful suggestions although I don't have an outside tap, fish, below snow or ripped jeans . I have bought a camping stove this morning in case the electricity goes off, there is no gas out in the countryside.
I have a camping ring but haven't used it for many year and it look a bit rusty and unsafe.
I can now fill a hot water bottle if needed and have all kinds of delights cooked on my ring (in the garage with the door open) Once when the power was off for 4 days we had porridge, stew and dumplings and drop scones with jam and many other tasty things cooked on one ring.
27-02-2018, 05:28 PM
8
Re: Tips for cold weather
Alas it was the cold winter of 2010 that killed off my fish, the pond froze over and the ice was about six to eight inches thick, I didn’t have a pond heater, and couldn’t defrost the ice, all my lovely koi died, so I filled it in , it’s now a flower bed,27-02-2018, 05:33 PM
9
Re: Tips for cold weather
Originally Posted by Primus1
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Alas it was the cold winter of 2010 that killed off my fish, the pond froze over and the ice was about six to eight inches thick, I didn’t have a pond heater, and couldn’t defrost the ice, all my lovely koi died, so I filled it in , it’s now a flower bed,
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