Frost proofing with incandescent bulb

[Hv&Lv]

Yes from what I have read they must be kept wet

So you get your bulbs setup and it works great...
Do you go enough to keep water from evaporating out off the pump?

 

[flashlight]

So you get your bulbs setup and it works great...
Do you go enough to keep water from evaporating out off the pump?

Yes I am up there frequently. Some people in area keep their places heated to 50, I don't want to waste energy like that
Main heat is wood stove but I have a lot of electric heat too. I drain everything, let it freeze, heat everything with wood stove
and then turn on plumbing. Had this place for years, am used to drill. But now we are gentrifying with dishwasher, and washer/dryer
to come.

 

[retirede]

From what little I've read, RV antifreeze is good for the pump seals. But IMHO flashlight is good to be concerned about this because it isn't a no-brainer.

You _don't_ want to drain out the pump; if the seals dry out then they shrink and crack, and then they _will_ leak.

-Jon

Basic buna-n lip seals do not dry out. My pool pump sits dry every winter - going on 10 years. No leaks.

 

[Coppersmith]

Heat tape.

 

[drcampbell]

... wire two in series ... they'll last forever.

They'll last forever, but won't provide a significant amount of heat.
(or maybe I should say, "They'll last forever, because they won't provide a significant amount of heat.")

 

[Eddie702]

Put a tee in the water line between the water shut off and the dishwasher inlet. Put a compressed air fitting on the branch of the tee with a valve between it and the tee. Put a little air pressure on it and run the dishwasher.

 

[drcampbell]

... Put a compressed air fitting ...

Sure, install an air compressor, or haul one with you when you go on "vacation".

If the trap is on the drainage side, compressed air in the water-supply line won't eliminate standing water there.
(short of pressurizing the entire dishwasher ... which I enthusiastically do not recommend)

 

[winnie]

(short of pressurizing the entire dishwasher ... which I enthusiastically do not recommend)

But if you do pressurize the entire dishwasher then we want video.....

 

[kwired]

But if you do pressurize the entire dishwasher then we want video.....

They do have a vent typically in top wall, as well as in the door - drying cycle needs inlet and outlet for air flow drying fan typically in line with the top wall vent. So you either going to need a massive air supply and send a big surge of air or find way to plug those vents.

 

[drcampbell]

If you only supply compressed air through the (8 millimeter?) supply line, about all that will happen is that the case will bulge a little, causing the door gasket will leak.

When I worked on Chrysler's electric minivan, we had a video of a battery-submergence test. U-boat batteries were notorious for doing bad things when flooded with seawater and we wanted to assure that the same wouldn't happen with ours. So we set up a camera on a tripod and filled a six-hour videotape with a submerged battery doing nothing except discharging a tiny bubble now & then. We used that tape to haze new hires.

Before offering a "least of your problems" comment, consider that somebody might back partway down a boat-launching ramp, submerging the batteries but not otherwise putting the occupants at risk of anything more than wet feet.

 

[kwired]

Put a tee in the water line between the water shut off and the dishwasher inlet. Put a compressed air fitting on the branch of the tee with a valve between it and the tee. Put a little air pressure on it and run the dishwasher.

OP's concern was to purge water from the drain pump and the lower portion of drain pipe. He already mentioned draining all the water supply lines. If DW supply line comes from above the DW then might want to turn it on and let it purge the water out of the low spots. If DW supply line comes from below the DW he probably already is eliminating water in the supply line, though there could still be small amount of water that gets left between the DW water valve and inlet to the "tub", so turning it on to allow that to drain out might still be good idea.

 

[junkhound]

if the seals dry out then they shrink and crack, and then they _will_ leak.

Old 19th century gutta percha seals maybe, but as someone else already replied, modern elastomer seals (e.g buna-n) do not dry out and crack.

Reminds me of a visitor to a 102 year old lady, asking how she achieved old age:
The old lady pointed to a bowl of water on her piano with a condom floating in it. Said she found this package, and it said on it "place on organ and keep wet". Went on to further explain: "I Did not have an organ so put it on the piano and have kept it wet, have not been sick since. "

 

[grich]

If you use an incandescent ligt bulb, but the extra long life ones. They are typically 130V, have an orange tinge, but can last quite a long time...

My first thought was 116W traffic signal bulbs, which are usually rated at 8000 hours. However, the quality is getting worse. The bulbs we're using for tower obstruction lights are having a higher premature failure rate...usually the bulb seal fails, which makes pretty smoke patterns in the glass.

 

[hbiss]

Because we're us. Why use a simple solution when there are myriad complicated ones for us to debate?

Sounds like my wife. "Honey, I want a dishwasher".

But we have no place to put one.

"Can't you remove the cabinets next to the sink?"

But what will we do with everything that's in them? Know what? I can wash dishes faster than any machine, it costs nothing and we'll still have our cabinets.

Don't get me started on garbage disposals...

-Hal

 

[kwired]

Sounds like my wife. "Honey, I want a dishwasher".

But we have no place to put one.

"Can't you remove the cabinets next to the sink?"

But what will we do with everything that's in them? Know what? I can wash dishes faster than any machine, it costs nothing and we'll still have our cabinets.

Don't get me started on garbage disposals...

-Hal

Down side to that is you likely committed to washing every dish that ever needs washed from then on.

We were on a little vacation a couple weeks ago, cooking provisions in the room we stayed in as well as some basic dishes, you need to wash and put those dishes away is the general rules. Room also did have a dishwasher.

My wife and I went to a grocery store in the area and bought some food items. Had to go back and look for plastic tableware before checking out - she was on vacation and was not going to wash dishes, even in a dishwasher.

I had no say in this.

 

[kwired]

My first thought was 116W traffic signal bulbs, which are usually rated at 8000 hours. However, the quality is getting worse. The bulbs we're using for tower obstruction lights are having a higher premature failure rate...usually the bulb seal fails, which makes pretty smoke patterns in the glass.

Incandescent lamps (what used to be the good ones) are difficult to find anymore, not saying impossible but not stocked in all the places that once carried them.

 

[Coppersmith]

Let me say this again. Heat tape. Heat tape is designed for exactly the purpose of keeping pipes unfrozen. It's not a safety hazard to run. It will not burn out in a few thousand hours. It does not require an enclosure around the dishwasher. It requires no mods to the dishwasher. I have used heat tape to keep my RV water and sewage lines unfrozen in the middle of winter in NC. It works well.

 

[mbrooke]

Hal, I was concerned about pump seals, maybe not an issue?

Larry, when I first started as an electrician in mid eighties, an old timer showed me how to make
a tester from 2 pigtail bulbs in series. Glowed dim, 120, glowed bright, 240.

But I hadn't considered bulb life in that setup

Order a 250 volt bulb from Amazon.

 

[wwhitney]

They'll last forever, but won't provide a significant amount of heat.

If incandescent bulb resistance were constant, two in series would provide half the heat of a single bulb. Since I understand the resistance significantly increases with operating temperature, two in series would provide somewhat more than half the heat of a single bulb.

Cheers, Wayne

 

[drcampbell]

If you wire two Edison-base lightbulbs in series, you create the possibility that the shell of one of them will be hot while being installed, changed or tightened.