January 2024 Ice Storm

The ice came down on January 14-15 2024, and shut down the whole area for a few days. Roads aren't made for ice here. Temps dropped into single digits, with a low of 1 degree.

It's not snow - it's ice.

Gave us a chance to test the cabin's insulative value - it could use some improvement. I think I pulled out some insulation while installing the HVAC vents and forgot to put it back in, so we had some frozen water pipes - kitchen faucet only. It's the only place where I had to run the lines under the house instead of within the framing of the walls - there was no insulation around them and they froze. I have remedied that issue and the pipes are fine.

The bathtub p-trap is the only p-trap that is exposed in the crawlspace. I didn't think I could insulate it and it's now frozen. It'll thaw by the weekend as we are expecting warmer (high 40's) temps by then.

Other than that, we did fine.

I bought a huge load of wood the day before the storm was supposed to hit. I think we have enough wood to last us clear through Spring now. Hate buying it, but I don't have enough seasoned stuff at the moment. The heat pump even turned off for a while because the wood stove is doing such a great job. Sure, it's chugging through wood, but better than working the heat pump to death.