I think we need a “chat” section in here too. Talking about which, does anyone know what to do about frozen pipes?
Chat/frozen pipes
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If it’s frozen and not yet burst (and you know where it’s frozen) you need to thaw it ASAP.
* Open the tap supplied by the frozen pipe even if you do not yet know where it is frozen.
* Identify the frozen water supply pipe and find the location of the blockage.
* Follow the pipe back from the tap to where it runs through cold areas such as an exterior wall, unheated crawl space or in some cases an unheated basement if the pipe is near an outside wall.
* Often the frozen area of the pipe will be frosted or have ice on it. If the situation is getting critical the pipe may be slightly bulged or look slightly fissured.
If the pipe is behind a wall, your best bet (other than ripping out bits of wall) is to just stick on the heating and wait. If you can get to the pipe easily, leave the taps on and work towards the frozen section with a hairdryer to thaw it out.
If the pipe bursts turn off the water at the mains immediately and call a plumber!
The water pipes run behind the kitchen cabinets and inside the interior walls. Since this is a rental, I can’t tear apart the kitchen or the walls looking for frozen parts of the pipe. Our building management company is useless. However, I did crank the heating (which still has water in it) up to maximum all night, and in the morning we had cold water to the bathroom, but still no water to the kitchen and no hot water. I think that we may have empty flats with the heating turned off next to us and above us right now. That might be part of the problem. Today is supposed to be warmer than yesterday. Hopefully, the pipes will thaw during the day.
We don’t have water mains in our flat, so I can’t turn off the water. Hopefully the pipes won’t burst.
Phew! All the water’s back on now. And sorry – tried to post this in the forums, but it came out on the front page. Maybe it’s okay that it’s here, in case other people are having the same problem.
Lucky you. We’ve had several cold-related problems and only temporary solutions made. Regarding the forum section, we could add additional topics like home maintenance and misc. New chat subject titles will show up in the right-hand column under “Recent Forum Activity”.
Glad it all worked out OK. Frozen pipes is a hassle but burst ones, in flats, are a nightmare. Quite often the water supply is communal and you switch it off outside the block – there’ll be a wee ‘keyhole’ in a slab outside your front door but, obviously, it’s a last resort to switch off water to an entire block! Empty flats are a menace in situations like this. Anyway to find out who the owners are so you can get hold of them if it happens again?