Cant afford heat. Worried about pipes

[WillmaWonka]

Hello

We have 2 bathrooms, 2 bedrooms and a living room/kitchen. One bathroom has a broken tub so we do not use it. We have closed it off due to this and a mold issue. We litterally do not have any money to fix it.

My husband and I cannot afford to buy oil either so we have been heating certain rooms with space heaters. We heat our bedroom and the living room.

He said that we have tape on our pipes. We have a skirt around the bottom of our mobile home. I know that the broken bathroom is freezing here and there because he checks it every couple of weeks.

When we go to bed, we shut the space heaters off in the living room. It gets very cold at nights.

Oh and our insurance company won't help us. Our broken bathroom was due to a leak and they don't cover that.

So, I guess I'm looking for info to show my husband that we need a way to heat our house so that our pipes don't burst! I have such a bad feeling that they will! He doesn't believe me. So, if anyone has any info or webpages that can help with anything please post them.

If anyone has any info on oil help too that'd be great. My sister tried to get oil assistance but they said she didn't qualify because she owns 2 cars... as do we.

I realize that this post is kinda "scattered brained" but my 2 year old kept me up last night... sorry Hopefully the message still gets across...

[rmurray]

You should be talking to your social agencies in your area...Do Not take your sisters experience as anything relating to you..Every couple has quite different situations and often one will qualify while the other does not..What concerns me the most is the 2 year old, the cold and mold could well cause illness and space heaters are notoriously dangerous and cause thousands of deadly fires each year. There are many social help programs. You need a qualified social worker to help you through the maze in your area..Your housing authority may well have folks who can point you in the right directions. HUD does have rehabilitation money available through your county housing authority..If you qualify (which it sounds like you do) they will pay for repairs, insulation and often updating heating equipment..If you post the city and county you are in I will hunt the web for info in your area...Reply soon..

[David Oxhandler]

You dont say where you are located but I'm guessing it is in the north.  If you are having freezing and sub-freezing temperatures your pipes can freeze.  Some homes have heat tape that prevents the water lines that come out of the ground and connect the to the homes inside plumbing... or the portion of pipe that is totally exposed.  The inner plumbing is on the warm side of the insulation and that buffer and the heat from inside keep the inner pipes from freezing.      The insulation value of the skirting depends on what type of skirting you have... aluminum, concrete, vinyl.   and how well it is closed in.  It certainly helps but if you are in sub-zero weather and no heat in the house I bet if you put a bowl of water under the house it would freeze over.   If you really cant keep the place heated keep water dripping in each sink and bath or shower...  it has to get very cold for running water to freeze... the colder it gets the more motion you should keep in the pipes to avoid freezing.  This is not a cheep option only an easy and immediate one.   The cost of the water running all the time can add up... weather you buy it or have your own well.   To look online for help with heating start http://liheap.ncat.org The Federal Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) Clearinghouse. Look on the Blue Menu on the left for Click on the  Link for State Programs to see what is available in your state. The state profiles present a capsule view of each state's key LIHEAP characteristics, as well as details of its non-federal low-income energy programs (state- and utility-funded, and charitable).   If your broken bathroom is due to plumbing problems repairs to the plumbing of manufactured homes is easy and the parts you need and not very expensive.  Take a look at these articles in our archives...   Adding a plumbing fixture shut-off valve, replacing a faucet  Your faucet drips or leaks, so time to repair or replace it. Yet the only water shut-off is located underneath the home. "What a pain," you say to yourself. Next time avoid the hassles by installing separate shut-offs to each plumbing fixture. Just remember that you need a shut-off on both the hot and cold waterlines. ...   How to select and install a heat tape-  OK, so you've survived the first few cold snaps with no freeze-up problems. However, today you woke up or came home to no water. Since you didn't have any freeze-up problems before, you can be pretty much assured that your heat tape has gone out. When a heat tape goes, it goes. There's no fixing it. Just plan on replacing it. Typical life of a properly-installed heat tape is 3-5 years. Could I...   Unfreezing your frozen waterlines-If you've gotten a cold snap and have discovered your without water, most likely you've had a waterline freeze-up. Probably the hardest part about unthawing a frozen waterline is determining exactly where it is froze. If you have no water anywhere, the main waterline leading to your home is probably froze. This picture shows a new heat tape being installed (click here for related article...  

[brattsgirl]

I just saw that commercial with a guy named Joe Kennedy (I think) with the free oil for the needy from Venezuela. Perhaps you could try a google search and see what it takes to get into it. My thoughts and prayers are with you.

[cindim]

If you can find an old car radiator and attached some piping to it - set the radiator inside a wood box - painted black inside- and put a piece of glass over the top of the box. Put some water in the radiator and the piping attached to it. This piping should wrap around your water pipes and can run under your floor.

Place the box up on your roof, where the sun can get to it for most of the day. the use of a pump - solar powered pond pumps work well. This will circulate hot/warm water around your pipes and under the floor. It will keep your pipes from freezing and also warm your house. No additional costs involved.

As far as heating oil. You can use cooking oil from your local resturants. Filter it and put it in the oil tank. The furnace will work and you will be helping the enviroment. Your local resturant will thank you too - they don't have to pay to dispose of it.

Hope this helps!