Is there a plumber in the house?

[wade moore]

Ugh..

Woke up this morning and in one bathroom the cold water works, but the hot water doesn't.

In the rest of the house, no water works.

By works, I mean nothing comes out.

It is 8 degrees right now and by far the coldest it has been this winter. My assumption is that there is a pipe frozen somewhere. I've looked in my crawl space (can't find any exposed pipes, but I didn't actually crawl in there), looked in my attic, etc. and can't find exposed pipes that would be frozen.

So, I'm calling around and a bunch of plumbers are not open yet or booked up and I'm waiting on a call back from one place now.

In the meantime, any suggestions? I've looked up and understand what to do if I find the frozen pipe, I just can't find it.

[Telle]

Do you have any pipes that run through outside walls? If you have an older house you might not have very good insulation (or none at all) and thus those pipes wouldn't be adequately protected.

[wade moore]

Originally Posted by Telle

Do you have any pipes that run through outside walls? If you have an older house you might not have very good insulation (or none at all) and thus those pipes wouldn't be adequately protected.

Is 77 years old an old house? ...

It's quite possible... I have a well, it runs to the house, and then does god knows what.. I really have no idea what the piping is like in this house, which is why I was trying to look in the crawl space..

What I do know:

A) The Water Heater is in the attic (ugh).
B) It is relatively close to the middle of the house, and the pipes come up to the water heater through the wall there.
C) I cannot find an exterior entrance for the water pipes from the Well, so my guess is it goes underground and then up somewhere underneath.

The only pipes I can find anywhere are at the well, inside, and at the water heater in the attic. The pipes on the water heater have that insulated wrap around them.

[KevinNU7]

All I can tell you is that once you get this fixed you should leave something on drip mode to keep the water running.

I hope you don't get a burst.

Try jacking up the heat in the house.

[wade moore]

Originally Posted by KevinNU7

All I can tell you is that once you get this fixed you should leave something on drip mode to keep the water running.

I hope you don't get a burst.

Try jacking up the heat in the house.

I'm praying for no burst also... *crosses fingers*

[Raiders Army]

That sucks. I'm sorry I'm no help in this department. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you.

[Telle]

Can you trace where the line that feeds the working sink goes to? The problem has to be between there and the next sink or hot water heater. Trying to trace it would probably mean having to go into your crawlspace.

[Castlerock]

Make sure that someone is around until you find the cause. The pipe could be cracked but it might not be leaking now because it is frozen. Once it thaws, it might start leaking.

I had something similar happen to me. Third floor bathroom that no one uses froze. Once the cold snap let up, the pipe thawed and I woke up to the sound of rain. Only it was coming from the kitchen and living room instead of outside.

Now is the time to make sure you know where the water shutoff valve is.

[wade moore]

Originally Posted by Telle

Can you trace where the line that feeds the working sink goes to? The problem has to be between there and the next sink or hot water heater. Trying to trace it would probably mean having to go into your crawlspace.

Originally Posted by Castlerock

Make sure that someone is around until you find the cause. The pipe could be cracked but it might not be leaking now because it is frozen. Once it thaws, it might start leaking.

I had something similar happen to me. Third floor bathroom that no one uses froze. Once the cold snap let up, the pipe thawed and I woke up to the sound of rain. Only it was coming from the kitchen and living room instead of outside.

Now is the time to make sure you know where the water shutoff valve is.

I took another stab at the crawlspace, but from a different entrance.

I found that I have feet upon feet of copper tubing with no insulation. ugh. So, I think I found the likely source, but making any attempts at thawing it I think would be fruitless as I could be down there all night.

I've spoken to a few plumbing places, but they're all booked.. however, they all pretty much say the same thing - you have to wait and see. They have said what Castlerock says - it's possible when it thaws, I could find that there's a leak. ugh. The good news is, I'm guessing if there is it is in the crawlspace.. which to me means I won't have the upstairs bathroom leaking problem that CR had, but leaking into the dirt in my crawlspace - of all the scenarios, this is pretty tollerable. I do know where my shutoff is (at the well) if the worst case scenario does happen.

So, anyway.. Luckily I have cold running water in one bathroom and a toilet that works. I'll still probably look for a hotel tonight if it doesn't get above freezing enough today (calling for 35).

Thanks for all of the advice and keep it coming if anyone has naything to add. I have a plumber scheduled to come out tomorrow (earliest I could get) which will be perfect if it turns out I have a leak.

[DolphinFan1]

Just to make you feel you are not alone. I got home last night and my wife told me the downstairs shower didn't work. No water came out. The downstairs bathroom sink, kictchen sink and upstairs bathroom shower and sink all have water. Just the downstairs shower has no water. I went in the basement and couldn't find any frozen pipes. But I figure it's frozen somewhere between the downstairs sink and shower. But like you it's only going to get my basement crawlspace wet if it burst.

[wade moore]

Originally Posted by DolphinFan1

Just to make you feel you are not alone. I got home last night and my wife told me the downstairs shower didn't work. No water came out. The downstairs bathroom sink, kictchen sink and upstairs bathroom shower and sink all have water. Just the downstairs shower has no water. I went in the basement and couldn't find any frozen pipes. But I figure it's frozen somewhere between the downstairs sink and shower. But like you it's only going to get my basement crawlspace wet if it burst.

That does make me feel at least a little better .

[Bee]

I had a pipe burst on me a couple years ago. I was very lucky to be home that weekend since we had originally planned on going away for a few days. I was sitting in front of the computer and suddenly heard a loud pop and then what sounded like a fire hose in the next room over. Water was shooting out about 10 feet from the wall. I have no idea how bad it would have been if I hadn't been home and been able to shut off the water within 30 seconds, but I would think it would have destroyed most of the lower level of my house. Good luck wade, hopefully you just have frozen pipes and no damage.

[MizzouRah]

DEFINTILY know where your water shutoff valve is!

We had our dishwasher leak one morning and my wife was basically in tears as the water was pouring onto our kitchen floor and since it was a new house, we didn't quite know where the shutoff valve was - plus the water was extremely hot and my wife's feet were burning as she's looking under the sink.

Needless to say, the shutoff valve is in the basement and we now know exactly where it is.

[wade moore]

Originally Posted by MizzouRah

DEFINTILY know where your water shutoff valve is!

We had our dishwasher leak one morning and my wife was basically in tears as the water was pouring onto our kitchen floor and since it was a new house, we didn't quite know where the shutoff valve was - plus the water was extremely hot and my wife's feet were burning as she's looking under the sink.

Needless to say, the shutoff valve is in the basement and we now know exactly where it is.

Yeah, with a well it's pretty straight forward - you can just shut it off at the pump house.

[DolphinFan1]

Originally Posted by wade moore

Yeah, with a well it's pretty straight forward - you can just shut it off at the pump house.

If that's your only shutoff you should add a few when the weather warms up. I have 2 bathrooms and the kitchen and I have separate shutoffs to each room so if something happens I can just shut off the water to there and still have water elsewhere in the house.

Of course it helps having a father-in-law who knows how to do plumbling work. Saves me a lot of money. He's teaching me how to do it. He's not professional, just learned over the years doing it himself.

[wade moore]

Originally Posted by DolphinFan1

If that's your only shutoff you should add a few when the weather warms up. I have 2 bathrooms and the kitchen and I have separate shutoffs to each room so if something happens I can just shut off the water to there and still have water elsewhere in the house.

Of course it helps having a father-in-law who knows how to do plumbling work. Saves me a lot of money. He's teaching me how to do it. He's not professional, just learned over the years doing it himself.

This is unmm... well.. a fixer upper where I have a ton of things to worry about, so unfortunately a convenience like that probably gets pushed back farther than it normally would.

I of course have the nomral shutoffs that are attached to various sinks, etc, etc. But in an emergency, I'll always go to the well first.

[lordscarlet]

Originally Posted by KevinNU7

Try jacking up the heat in the house.

HAHHAHAhahaAHahAHaHHAHAHAaHAHAahaHAHAHAHAHaAHahahah

Sorry. If you've slept in Wade's house during the winter you would understand.

[wade moore]

Originally Posted by lordscarlet

HAHHAHAhahaAHahAHaHHAHAHAaHAHAahaHAHAHAHAHaAHahahah

Sorry. If you've slept in Wade's house during the winter you would understand.

Yeah... maybe it's worth noting that my house would have been at 65 when this happened over night.

I've put a space heater in the crawl space to see if that helps.

[stevew]

I just thank god that the line comes directly from my well almost directly into the hot water heater, which is by the furnace. It's hot enough to hopefully prevent pipe freezing. Man, it's fucking cold here, Kids have been off school 2 straight days due to it being too f'n cold.

[wade moore]

Originally Posted by stevew

I just thank god that the line comes directly from my well almost directly into the hot water heater, which is by the furnace. It's hot enough to hopefully prevent pipe freezing. Man, it's fucking cold here, Kids have been off school 2 straight days due to it being too f'n cold.

I have a 77 year old house that started out as like a 600ish Sq ft. house, had like 400ish more sq ft added at some point, then 400ish more sq ft. added again later on.

So, it's a bit of a cluster where I often don't know what the *#(%& is going on. This is one of those instances.

[wade moore]

w00t!

The space heater worked.. about 30 minutes down there and the water started running!

Now I have to try and see if there are any leaks, which could be tough, but we'll see.

[stevew]

Might be wise to install some of that "heating tape" to those pipes in the future. Basically, some shit that has a warming coil in it which you turn on in event of it being way too f'n cold.

http://www.mygreathome.com/fix-it_guide/heat_tape.htm

[Butter]

If that actually worked, you are lucky.

[wade moore]

Originally Posted by stevew

Might be wise to install some of that "heating tape" to those pipes in the future. Basically, some shit that has a warming coil in it which you turn on in event of it being way too f'n cold.

http://www.mygreathome.com/fix-it_guide/heat_tape.htm

Well, or even just the insulation wrap that they make for pipes. It is RARE that it gets below even 20, let alone in the single digits like it did here last night. I'm going to look into it, but I'll probably pay someon else to go trudging around in a 75 year old crawl space .

[spleen1015]

When you know that the temperature is going to be <10 through the night, it is a damn good idea to close your garage door. Well, last night, ours was left open. We can only assume that I left it open when I cam home at 8pm.

So, 5:30 this morning the wife is waking me up letting me know we are without water. As she is walking the dog, she sees that the garage is open. The water heater and the water softener are in there. So, it has to be one of those things! The main line into the hose runs to the water softener.

So, she heads out to get a heater to thaw things out. About 90 minutes later we see water dripping from a pipe about 8 inches from the shutoff value to the house.

Mother fucker! The pipe broke between the house shutoff and the one 2 feet into the ground by the street. Off I go calling plumbers while the wife continues the thawing. At 7:30, I got a commitment from a plumber to be there at 8:45.

Next an argument ensues between me and the wife. I don't want these pipes to thaw because I am worried this break is going to flood the garage. Eventually she agrees and we put the heater away and open the garage to make sure it stays cold.

20 minutes later, she goes out the garage to head to work and I hear water spraying every where.

YES!!!!!!!!! We have major water all over the garage. It is running down the driveway into the street. Excellent! Now I have to turn the water off at the street. Scamble out there and can't get the damn thing to turn off. I'm yelling and cussing when the neighbor comes out. He's stronger than me I guess because he got it closed.

To make a long story short, pipe is fixed, they get $140, the driveway is a sheet of ice and we're going to get 8 inches of snow today.

Just keep smilin'!

[wade moore]

yikes! Worked out better for me it seems. I'm still not 100% sure we don't have a leak, but so far it doesn't seem that way - and it seems any major damage would effect water pressure inside.

All things considered though, $140 and some ice seems like a lucky break.

[spleen1015]

Originally Posted by wade moore

yikes! Worked out better for me it seems. I'm still not 100% sure we don't have a leak, but so far it doesn't seem that way - and it seems any major damage would effect water pressure inside.

All things considered though, $140 and some ice seems like a lucky break.

Yeah. I was pleased that it turned out to only be $140. It could have been much worse.

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by spleen1015

When you know that the temperature is going to be <10 through the night, it is a damn good idea to close your garage door. Well, last night, ours was left open. We can only assume that I left it open when I cam home at 8pm.

So, 5:30 this morning the wife is waking me up letting me know we are without water. As she is walking the dog, she sees that the garage is open. The water heater and the water softener are in there. So, it has to be one of those things! The main line into the hose runs to the water softener.

So, she heads out to get a heater to thaw things out. About 90 minutes later we see water dripping from a pipe about 8 inches from the shutoff value to the house.

Mother fucker! The pipe broke between the house shutoff and the one 2 feet into the ground by the street. Off I go calling plumbers while the wife continues the thawing. At 7:30, I got a commitment from a plumber to be there at 8:45.

Next an argument ensues between me and the wife. I don't want these pipes to thaw because I am worried this break is going to flood the garage. Eventually she agrees and we put the heater away and open the garage to make sure it stays cold.

20 minutes later, she goes out the garage to head to work and I hear water spraying every where.

YES!!!!!!!!! We have major water all over the garage. It is running down the driveway into the street. Excellent! Now I have to turn the water off at the street. Scamble out there and can't get the damn thing to turn off. I'm yelling and cussing when the neighbor comes out. He's stronger than me I guess because he got it closed.

To make a long story short, pipe is fixed, they get $140, the driveway is a sheet of ice and we're going to get 8 inches of snow today.

Just keep smilin'!

Talk about pissing you off! Seem to work out ok for you.

[KevinNU7]

Buy some skates and try to enough the driveway... I got nothing