Several downtown locations have experienced frozen water lines during the last week, said Grand Marais Water & Waste Water Superintendent Tom Nelson.
Nelson came before the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) on Wednesday, February 5, 2014, and said his crew has been working hard to correct the problems.
“We have 6½ feet of frost,” said Nelson when he described what his crew had found when they dug down seven feet, six inches to the water main on Wisconsin Street (next to the World’s Best Donut shop).
Nelson said his crew excavated down to the water main and had to pump about 8 inches of water out of the hole until they could find the valve that was the problem. Workers put electrical leads on the frozen part of the copper pipe and then heated the line with a welder until the line thawed, Nelson said.
When this happens and once the line is thawed, Nelson said the businesses or homeowner needs to let their water run for a day or two to prevent the line from freezing again.
“Do we give them credit on their bill in the cases where the freeze-up is our fault? It’s a lot easier to reimburse them for water than to dig down and thaw it out again,” said Nelson.
The board instructed him to offer reimbursements.
“I have been here 23-24 years and this is the first time I have seen it freeze over and it’s been our responsibility,” Nelson said.
Mike Taylor, Public Utilities electrical superintendent, said the city hit its highest usage of power ever for one month. “We were over 5 megawatts. Last year the most we used was 4.5 megawatts in one month. It will be interesting to see what it is for this month,” he said.
“Those of us that burn propane have all of our electric heaters on now,” said PUC Chairman Karl Hansen.
That and all of the vehicles that have to be plugged in to start, said PUC Secretary Jan Smith.
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