Have water in whole house except in master bath. Pipes are in exterior wall. Any advice?

My kitchen sink (hot only) was frozen this morning. I ran a blow dryer into the hole the pipe comes through. Took about 10 minutes but it did the trick. As mentioned above if your pipes are split open it will be bad regardless of when they thaw. Worse if you're not home.

I'm in a similar situation. Oddly, the cold water on my wife's side won't run and the hot water on my side of the master bath won't run. The tub in between the 2 sinks works fine for both hot and cold. Weird. We've been dripping all the faucets and leaving the frozen ones open. Our house is only a few months old. All PEX pipes. Does that make any difference about how this will turn out...??

Well being the way things are should I try and melt the clog? Or ride it out and let it thaw naturally when temps rise? Am I pretty much guaranteed a busted pipe?

Doubt any plumbers are available until it warms up this weekend

agingcowboy said:

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I'm in a similar situation. Oddly, the cold water on my wife's side won't run and the hot water on my side of the master bath won't run. The tub in between the 2 sinks works fine for both hot and cold. Weird. We've been dripping all the faucets and leaving the frozen ones open. Our house is only a few months old. All PEX pipes. Does that make any difference about how this will turn out...??

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PEX pipes should expand and not crack. Also, you should have one of those manifolds where you can shut off water to individual areas, which you can use to shut off water to any leaky pipes (if they do leak)

Pex pipe freezes/ thaws ok but the fittings can leak if allowed to freeze.

I've got a copper pipe in the garage that's froze. I wrapped it in insulation before last night about 6foot up into the wall, and put a wrap on the faucet, but the faucet was frozen shut this morning. The faucet will turn now but no flow is coming out.... I'm hoping the frozen point is at the faucet and not halfway up into the wall somewhere. We had the indoor faucets running up until the point power failed, I turned the water off at the well at that point.

Weird situation here...

Similar to what's been posted above, we lost hot water on one faucet, cold in another, both at another. Two toilets fill lines froze up as well.

All faucets have started running again today but toilet fill lines have not. I'd closed off the valve at the wall just to stop flow in the night but today when I go to check and see if water flow had returned as I crack the valve open I hear water start to trickle in the toilet tank, but the pipe very loudly and suddenly knocks like a washer basin out of balance.

I close off the valve and it stops.

Thoughts?

Sounds to me like you've got some hammering going on. Try running everything else and see if you can get any air out of the lines.

Blindside05 said:

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Well being the way things are should I try and melt the clog? Or ride it out and let it thaw naturally when temps rise? Am I pretty much guaranteed a busted pipe?

Doubt any plumbers are available until it warms up this weekend

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Thoughts?

We have Pex pipes. One half of house, including water heater, was mostly frozen up except for two CW faucets and Master shower CW. The Sun came out today and I guess started heating up the attic. Got water from the HW setting on a tub. Turned water heater back on to low heat and gradually started opening faucets. It is disconcerting, to say the least, to hear the popcorn in your ceiling as the Pex starts thawing. That damn shower still not getting HW though.

So, if you get a frozen faucet line to come back on, can you assume there is no pipe damage?

I can't hear anything hissing in the wall under the sink. It is copper line.

What's your plan of action for trying to melt it since it's in the exterior wall? Can you get at the line in the attic? I had a neighbor who's water was froze solid in his attic when I went to help find the problem. Yours might have froze there vs the wall. Assuming your water lines are aerial.

Yes as long as youre not seeing water run out from the bottom of wall or hearing anything in the wall, you're good.

Nothing frozen at my house, but thinking of turning water off preemptively and running water out of pipes

We have no power.

Would y'all advise this?

Unless you're gunna blow all the excess out with air then no. Which if you're hooked up to a PRV, water meter, etc...I doubt you are. Just drip some faucets and ride it out.

TH36 said:

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What's your plan of action for trying to melt it since it's in the exterior wall? Can you get at the line in the attic? I had a neighbor who's water was froze solid in his attic when I went to help find the problem. Yours might have froze there vs the wall. Assuming your water lines are aerial.

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No they are in the slab.... thought about taking shower handle off and putting a blow dryer up to the hole.

Concern would be it thawing out and a burst pipe Inside the wall. I would have to cut water to whole house and be without til this is all over with

With water off there's no water pressure to push the water all the way through the pipes, I take it?

So my faucet is now running, with good pressure, and we're not seeing water anywhere... hoping that we dodged the bullet.

Turned my bathroom heater on this morning when I first noticed the freeze... sinks are now running normally but shower is only a drizzle. Guess I'll find out soon whether or not I've got to shut it all down

TH36 said:

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Sounds to me like you've got some hammering going on. Try running everything else and see if you can get any air out of the lines.

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That did it! It was air.

Thank you sir! Every house I've ever owned was PVC piped. I'm just a year and half in this home and this is our first freeze event like this. Wasn't sure what was going on!

Blindside05 said:

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Blindside05 said:

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Well being the way things are should I try and melt the clog? Or ride it out and let it thaw naturally when temps rise? Am I pretty much guaranteed a busted pipe?

Doubt any plumbers are available until it warms up this weekend

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Thoughts?

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LEAVE IT ALONE - if you try to thaw it rapidly you risk bursting the pipe if it hasn't yet. Let the temperatures warm it slowly thus thaw slowly.

We have no water in San Antonio and it's been hours. Do I need to turn off water at the meter anyway?

I had the exact same issue. I placed a space heater in my shower, opened the shower valve, and closed the bathroom door. The heater ran for about 5 or 6 hours before I finally heard it spitting air. The air bled off and hot water started flowing.

We have water leak somewhere behind a wall or more likely in space between first and second floor. Water was coming from under cabinets in kitchen which share wall with garage. Noticed water leaking from under baseboard in garage as well. Had a drip from exhaust fan cutout in guest bath close to this wall, and noticed tape and bed seam on garage ceiling showing evidence of wetting. Couldn't ID water pipes in attic above 2nd floor so thinking pipes may run in space (2x6?) between floors. This would explain leak from exhaust cutout in 1st floor ceiling, possibly running down space between walls and coming out of baseboard. Sound feasible? I shut off water at main and waiting for plumber.
Insurance company suggested I call dryout company, but water is either behind wall or between floors. Do I need to have them come and cut into wall/ ceiling and dry out to prevent mold?

cena05 said:

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Nothing frozen at my house, but thinking of turning water off preemptively and running water out of pipes

We have no power.

Would y'all advise this?

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This is what we did. You don't need the pipes completely empty. As long as the ice has room to expand then it's fine.

Old RV Ag said:

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Bird93 said:

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I had the exact same issue. I placed a space heater in my shower, opened the shower valve, and closed the bathroom door. The heater ran for about 5 or 6 hours before I finally heard it spitting air. The air bled off and hot water started flowing.

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Some Aggie jokes just write themselves

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Not literally in my shower. Set it outside the door...blowing into the shower.

BlackLab said:

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We have no water in San Antonio and it's been hours. Do I need to turn off water at the meter anyway?

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That is the situation I am in and am curious if it would be best to turn off water at the meter. Any suggestions?

Canyon99 said:

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BlackLab said:

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We have no water in San Antonio and it's been hours. Do I need to turn off water at the meter anyway?

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That is the situation I am in and am curious if it would be best to turn off water at the meter. Any suggestions?

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Not sure if it's any better than not getting any water coming in but I went ahead and turned off my water and drained the lines. Southlake has been without water for a few hours now.

agingcowboy said:

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I'm in a similar situation. Oddly, the cold water on my wife's side won't run and the hot water on my side of the master bath won't run. The tub in between the 2 sinks works fine for both hot and cold. Weird. We've been dripping all the faucets and leaving the frozen ones open. Our house is only a few months old. All PEX pipes. Does that make any difference about how this will turn out...??

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Similar problem. Went into the attic and every affected faucet or toilet had an exposed section of PEX, Those that where running had fully insulated PEX. Able to thaw them out and wrapped with foam pipe insulation or towels. Last night no problems. Everyplace was out of foam pipe insulation so will have to go back later and replace the towels.

Toilet is sloooowwwwly draining. Goes super slow almost pauses then drains. But it's draining. P -Trap frozen? Water and hot water fine. Filled bowl with water water a few times and flushed am still the same