Protect your pipes from freezing
• Winterize outside faucets: Disconnect garden hoses and wrap all outdoor faucets with rags, newspaper or insulating material. Cover the wrap with plastic to keep moisture out.
• Cover foundation vent holes: Keep your crawl space warm.
• Insulate any exposed pipe: Use heat tape if necessary.
• Keep a trickle of water running.
• Keep cabinet doors below sinks open so that warm interior air can get to pipes and drains, especially those against outside walls.
• If you leave home for the winter, turn off the main shut-off valve to your water supply and drain your faucets.
Frozen pipes
• Turn off your home’s water supply at the main shut-off valve. When you’re without water, you also should turn off your water heater to prevent damage to it.
• If you know where the frozen pipe is, and it’s easy to get to, it may be possible to thaw it with hot water, an electric hair dryer or heat lamps. Never use a propane torch or open flame. You can also wrap heat tape over the frozen section.
• If you can’t find it yourself, call a plumber.
Source: Clark Public Utilities
Bitter cold temperatures caused water pipes to burst and energy demand to skyrocket across Clark County on Tuesday.
Forecasters say the big freeze will continue through the end of the week.
A Pacific storm system arriving late Friday should begin to erode the ridge of high pressure that’s allowed arctic air to settle across the region. Vancouver’s early-morning low of 13 degrees marked the city’s coldest temperature since Dec. 21, 1998, said local weather expert Steve Pierce of Vancouver.
That was the last time energy demand spiked so high.
Between 7 and 8 a.m. Tuesday morning, Clark Public Utilities recorded the third-highest power spike in its history — 1,054 megawatts. Utility managers expected another big hit this morning, as residents and businesses crank up their thermostats.
"We’re actually expecting higher demand tomorrow (Wednesday) than we had today," utility spokesman Mick Shutt said Tuesday afternoon.
Meanwhile, firefighters battled water rather than flames.
"We seem to be responding to fire alarm systems that basically turn into broken water pipes," Vancouver firefighter Jim Flaherty said.
The third-floor resident of a unit at the Cedar Ridge Apartments, at 4200 E. 18th St., called 911 after water from a burst pipe began gushing into his apartment. Firefighters shut off the water when they arrived, then discovered three inches of water in the top floor apartment. The damage, estimated at $110,000 to the structure and contents, displaced the occupant of the third-floor unit, as well as an occupant directly below. A first-floor unit was vacant at the time.
The pipe burst at about 1:30 p.m., just as Vancouver neared its high temperature for the day — 34 degrees.
Shortly before 2 p.m., firefighters responded to an automated alarm at Yacolt Primary School, where a sprinkler head began spewing water in a corridor. Battle Ground Public Schools spokesman Gregg Herrington said water trickled into a classroom and an adjacent computer lab, but the computers weren’t damaged.
