Hi all it's -6 outside, so why is there water melting of the inside corner of my "L" shaped bungalow ? This has started today ... wasn't doing it last night. I have turned off water and drained all taps (nothing frozen, but I wanted to isolate and ensure it wasn't something in the loft tracking through the eaves ... am going to dig a ladder out for a closer look - all seems well inside loft ...
Our soil stack (stench pipe) runs round the corner on the outside, could this be a clue ?
It's forming icicles ... I cleaned them all off at 6pm, and now (9pm) they're about 4" long again ...
can anyone suggest any reason. This has never happened before .....
In a similar vein, I have long icicles forming on the overflow pipes from bathroom and ensuite toilets. They do not appear to be overflowing or dripping internally, so I suspect there may be some funny condensation things happening at the moment, and that could also be what is happening to your soil pipe.
-6 is the air temperature, the melting water is obviously at least 6 degC warmer. I'd guess it is sunlight, direct or diffuse, on the roof, warming it above the air temperature and melting some of the ice/snow in contact with the roofing. Or heat escaping from indoors doing the same thing.
You get a similar thing with black ice. If it's 2 or 3 degC, drivers assume there is no chance of icy roads. On a clear, cold night, the black road surface will radiate heat into the sky and will get a lot colder than the air. Condensation forms on the raod and freezes; an 'Oh, shit!' moment follows.
I have broken out the ladder, and had a look ... I brushed as much loose snow away as possible, but where the edge of the tiles into the gutter runs was solid ice - the gutters are iced up too. Breaking as much ice as possible off (wobbling around on a ladder in the dark, with snow on your shoes makes you more cautious than usual !) seemed to stop the drip. There appeared to be two points of dripping - one along the bracket holding the gutter up, and the other running down the bend in the stench pipe. Because it's in the corner, there is some bitumen felting which runs under the eaves into the gutter - that too is frozen solid.
The only thing I can think, is that the sheet solid ice has managed to completely seal any loft-to-outside ventilation. Or at least restrict it so that instead of a gentle movement of air across the length of the eaves, it's been reduced to a very small aperture. Because it is (relatively) warm, moist air, it cause a melt to occur.
Mind you, looking along the fascia board, there appear to be other points of ice starting to form .....
It's possible this is the worst snow we've had since we've lived here (8 years) - and hence the first time things have iced up like this. Two weeks ago, when it was very very cold (see my previous post about frozen waste pipe) we didn't have that much snow ... maybe 2" ... but Saturday we had 6", and then it froze .....
Jethro wrote in news:5fc58a20-9068-4ca1-9b58- snipped-for-privacy@y23g2000yqd.googlegroups.com:
Had a similar thing but only in heavy snow. Having thought about it the only conclusion I've come to is that the thick coating of snow acts a little like an insulator allowing the snow in contact with the roof to warm up every so slightly and melt as a result of the heat escaping from the roof. This flows into a frozen gutter and over spills causing the oversized icicles.
Only noticed this as I have very good roof insulation and teh snow on my roof is typically half as thick again as my next door nieghbour (semi). He doesn't get the ice problem anywhere near as much as me despite the fact that his roof obviously leaks more heat than mine. As the snow on his roof is in a constant state of melt the gutters don't freeze up as quickly as mine.
Have noticed dripping from all along all the guttering now. Despite it not getting above (air temperature) -2. I'd know it was below zero without a thermometer, as the dripping water is forming icicles, all along the guttering. Seems to also be happening to next doors (house) and across the road (house) although to a lesser extent.
I would imagine the fact which has changed this time, is that the gutters are overflowing with ice - which has never happened before. This must have somehow disrupted normal airflow and be causing very slightly warmer air to circulate ... and the post about the snow actually acting like a blanket might figure too ...
That seems likely; also the previous mention of the extra insulation on the roof. There's a roofer just up the road and he said that he could do almost nothing this weather as the tiles are frozen in place. He reckoned that the snow is melted by the extra warmth in the loft, some of the snow runs/falls off, the temperature drops low overnight and the tiles are relatively exposed due to some of the snow going. When I saw him, he was sharpening a chain saw as he couldn't do any work.
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