Living sustainably is not simple.
Does anyone have any ideas? We are using a hose that attaches to the big house we are parked next to. It got cold! So the hose is full of water and frozen and we can’t get any water into the tiny house.
We looked up some options such as heat tape, foam insulation, or both! We already tried using the foam, but we didn’t tape it on….the heat tape could be very useful but that uses more energy than we were hoping.
We are thinking maybe we should just use the water in the big house until the cold weather is over. I have read on other tiny house blogs that this living style requires a lot of work with friends and neighbors. I think this is certainly a situation to be grateful for our resources and be aware of how luxurious it is to have running water and energy and heat whenever we want it. I appreciate these lessons, but I do want to brainstorm a solution! Humans don’t have these brains for accepting situations as failures! It’s just a sustainability challenge! Maybe we should move next to a river like people use to.
The Nautilus 
One easy way to avoid water from freezing is to leave it running very slightly. Moving water will not freeze as easily. Perhaps you could set up a system where clean water is constantly moving during the night – but you can also capture it and use it later for some purpose like washing dishes or as waste water.
Another method might be to evacuate the water completely when you know you will not be using water for a while, like at night. Maybe just force all the water out of the hose using air pressure? With no water in the hose, nothing can freeeeeze!
yeah! those are very good ideas! I think after we get the hose insulated a little better we will try those as well!
An easy way to evacuate the house is gravity–run the hose out off the big house near the roof to your inlet farther down. Just make sure no water backs up in the hose.
thanks for the tips! we got it all working now! and I took my first shower in the house it was so cool! beautiful shower..
What solution did you employ? I am moving into my tiny house in June and will be worried about this in the coming winter months? One heated hose I found had a 180W draw which will cost quite a bit if I have it powered 24/7. Would love to hear how you solved this efficiently.
Hey Brett,
First of all, congratz on the future move to a tiny house! I hope your excited 🙂 Im not sure where you will be moving to, but the climate where ever you will be, will really determine the solutions available. Where I live in Washington doesn’t get to cold. I was able to get away with just insulating my hose. I wrapped pipe insulation around the outside of the hose. I then used duct tape and sealed it. With that said, i definitely still had problems on the nights when i got to 12 degrees fahrenheit. On really cold nights i applied to drip method. I just let my sink drip a tiny tiny bit because running water is much harder to freeze. Honestly, if I were back home in illinois, where it getting super cold, I would have had to buy electric heat tape…. that or bury most of the hose below the frost line and only insulate the connection with electric tape. I hope this helps bud.
Great blog and beautiful house. Just prepping my house for its first winter. I too live in the northwest of Washington and am wondering what length of hose you were able to get away with just insulating it?
http://www.doversaddlery.com/100'-pirit-heated-hose/p/X1-27670/?eid=X18A00U1000&utm_source=froogle&utm_medium=CSE&utm_campaign=MerchantAdv&zmam=1460880&zmas=1&zmac=114&zmap=0027670000000X1-27670&gclid=CNzjtuj7qcECFa5cMgodzXwAAw
I know I’m almost a year late in sharing this, but this is what I plan to use, when I get my project underway… I’m just now reading your blog, and will probably have read it entirely come lunch, unless we get busy here at work today… heh
thanks for that suggestion!!!! we’re not sure how this winter will be. we’re hoping our insulation tubes will do the job.. but we might have to switch to that kind of hose! just expensive!
I agree that it is expensive, but that was for 100 feet, if you’re looking for 50 feet, it’s a bit less… I know that in the Pacific Northwest each winter is unpredictable, and you never know how bad or how mild it will be!
I think that when it comes to how important a good clean water source can be, speaking from a survivalist point of view, a big expense is worth it, when it comes to needing a life sustaining item like water…