One needs water in our desert. . .

The embers were finally out on my Wednesday night Virtual Campfire and the temperature kept plunging here30 miles south of Albuquerque.

I awoke early yesterday morning and it was -15 and not a spigot in the house had water flowing. 

Somewhere between our meter which is about 10' from the street and 18" down and without any insulation  'cept the 2" plastic lid, we were frozen solid. The NM Water Co service man came and told me the water was frozen in the meter. He thawed it out. Still no water last evening and it never got above +15 yesterday. Friday was to be warmer.

It turns out that the unused shed, the size of a "1 Holer" on the SE wall has a tall metal cyl, that was originally installed at the same time as the house was plumed. It did something but without any electricity or input of chemicals.  ???

The water from the street goes directly into the tank and then looped into the top part of the tank and then into the house. It's old insulation allowed the copper connections to freeze and one of them burst when it got warm.  I called the plumber's cell and the Water Co who sent a man to turn it off at the street.

Dennis, our plumber, explained the setup but never has seen anything in all his years like it. He replaced the split pipe and gave it a new connector and put in a shutoff valve so we can shut the water off without calling the NM Water Co. The shutoff is before the meter on their side.

The cyl is about 15" in diameter. Do you have any idea what it is? ???

So, after 38 hours we finally have water again. A stream in the desert. . . thank you Lord!  :

I'm not a expert on water systems, but I know a little.

It could be a salt reservoir for treating the water coming into the house.  Did the house have a pump at some time in the past?  Did it look like this?  http://www.petersonsalt.com/index.htm

It could also be a  water pressure tank like this.  http://www.watertanks.com/category/49/  Such a tank would even out the pressure of the house's water supply in a case where the source was inconsistent and causing pipe knocking.

Or, it could be something else entirely.  Could you post a picture?

EKB

I'll get a pic tomorrow. Tonight it's laundry, showers and dishwasher!  ;D

Showers? You get showers? We'll be back in Pahrump on Wednesday and that'll be shower day. In the meantime, it's baby-wipes

Wendy

Could be part of a water softener set-up (apparently no longer used), or simply a pressure tank (accumulator). The latter is likely if the house had well water and a pump in an earlier life.

Probably should have had the plumber eliminate it as long as he was replacing burst fittings.

the main line to the house goes through it and would take a jackhammering of the foundation to set it up to go straight in. That's not a mid winter project  --esp since he's got a list of leaky pipes a mile long. Every week link came out at  -15, something no one has seen for 50 years around here.

Something I?ve done for years to prevent pipes from freezing is to let each, or one depending on the setup, running a constant small amount. As an estimate and depending on the temperature about the amount that would go thru a straw. My cold water temp is around 52 degrees, so far so good.

Sounds like you had an Evis Water Conditioner installed at your place.  See:  http://www.richardhouriganinc.com/pdf/1958AWWAlr.pdf.
"
Back in the 1950's this was the rage. It was suppose to "magically" magnetically align the electrons of the hardness in the water so they would not scale out in the pipes or stain the fixtures.

Chet, I think you have nailed it. It was probably one of the last such units made and I'll see if I can find a label anywhere when it gets warmer.

Since it has no power to it and nothing is added to the water flow, it fits.

Son Scott Ross, told me yesterday aftn another reason it probably was not removed is because, since we are on the upper slope of the east mesa, when water was pumped up the pipes to the house it would drain quickly if there was a loss of pressure until turned off at the house. By holding extrea water higher than all the spigots, that water would flow in quickly to replace the water lost.