• About
  • History Writings

Water and Me

Water and Me

Tag Archives: winter

Water Freeze

07 Tuesday Jan 2014

Posted by Ronald Parks in Baltimore, filtration, Health, water

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Baltimore, engineering, FILTRATION, HISTORY, ice, water history, winter

HydrantThaw

From my book: 1919 thru 1937 – File Folder, No. 1432, General: AWWA paper on Freezing of Water in Mains Laid in Salt Water and in Mains and Services Laid on Land by William Brush. Pamphlet from 1919 (re-dated 1936) Frozen Services and the Method of Thawing. A how-to book on thawing water service to your house using an electric thawing apparatus. They ask that fires not be built in valve boxes, that hot water should be poured into them. Five pages of newspaper articles glued to the pages. One article mentions the water department receiving one thousand frozen pipe calls in a day. Various articles on gas leaks and explosions. February 10, 1936 Resolution (No 240) that the Board of Estimates gives money to the water department to buy ice thawing machines. February 12, 1936 News Post article by Carroll Delaney on the city’s inability to thaw out pipes. February 15, 1936 memo from Small to Crozier listing expenditures for thawing so far – $45,500.00. March 11, 1936 memo from Small to Crozier on cost associated with the cold weather. Welding machines at 500 amps needed to be rented from different companies and the laboring cost associated with their use was noted as to why there was an increase in expenditures for the water department. April 13, 1936 memo from Small to American Electric Welding Company noting payment of $72 for 480 gallons of gasoline ($.15 per gallon). The welder was for thawing frozen pipes around Baltimore. Brochure on “Hydra Thaw” equipment. May 26, 1936 memo from the Bureau of Accounts informing Crozier that the Mayor approved $127,150.00 that was owed to the Water Supply for work during ‘Freeze’. A total of $600,000.00 was spent throughout the city. January 15, 1937 memo from Small to Thomas Young, City Collector notifying him to put this stamp on water bills: “No adjustment will be made for water wasted to prevent freezing of pipes.” Apparently, last year during the big freeze, consumers were told to leave a small amount of water running to prevent freezing pipes. They did not.

Blogroll

  • Flouride Action Network
  • lulu
  • My Book
  • WordPress.com
  • WordPress.org

Recent Posts

  • ICELAND April 2023
  • George Chalmers of Fochabers
  • In Search of The Skipjack Ada Mae
  • Trap Pond Kayak
  • Pusey Trail and Cemeteries

Blog at WordPress.com.

  • Follow Following
    • Water and Me
    • Join 226 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Water and Me
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...