I'm Afraid of That "Pop!"

No, I'm not expecting Arab terrorist missiles from Gaza, thank G-d. As the sun rose, strong and bright this morning, I was afraid of something else.





Last night, it was freezing. No, I don't mean just cold. It was below zero Celsius, below 32 degrees Fahrenheit. Even when my husband went down to shop after 10pm, he reported ice.

Israeli building methods don't take into account that we sometimes get this sort of weather, at least in the mountains. This is the sort of day when the plumbers get rich. Pipes freeze and explode.

A few years ago, on a day just like today, I suddenly heard an explosion from my roof, over the merpeset, terrace, and immediately glass and water poured down from the solar panels, the solar water heaters. We needed emergency repairs and replacements. Some people just had plugs pop, and then the water goes out. So we've bought spare plugs.

The recommended methods to prevent this are to either keep the hot water boiler going all night or let hot water drip all night. We sort of did both. We left water dripping and we had the boiler on a timer, going on and off. Thank G-d for leaky faucets. The main bathroom sink is almost always dripping.

So far, it's after 8am. And all is quiet from the roof.