Cold keeps plumbers busy

Just as the remaining customers affected by the ice storm have had their power restored, many people woke up Friday with no running water. The frigid temperatures meant frozen pipes for some Hamilton homeowners and plumbers spent a busy day turning the taps back on.

When Maria Draak discovered her pipes were frozen, the decision to act was easy: “I phoned, I just immediately phoned”

But by the time the plumber arrived, pipes had burst in the basement.

After a quick assessment and some soldering, the problem was fixed. But Gerry O’Shaughnessy of Thomas R. Birnie and Sons says the pipe is vulnerable because the walls aren’t insulated. And they’ve received more than a couple dozen similar calls over the past two days: “We expect it. We’re prepared for it. We have our machines and technicians ready for the roads. That’s all we’re dealing with today.”

To avoid frozen pipes O’Shaughnessy recommends insulation, and letting a faucet run to keep water flowing.

The temperature drop is taking its toll on roads as well. By 9 o’clock this morning CAA had already received 1,000 service calls. Shaping up to be a very similar day to Thursday where they received 7,000 calls in total.

And most of them were for the same problem Todd Roth had Friday morning; battery issues. “Yesterday it did the same thing and I got it jumped but it just hasn’t been the same now. There’s just not enough heat and warmth to get it going again.”

But with a little persistence and an expected rise in temperatures Saturday.

Hopefully things will be back up and running across the province within the next few days.