Frozen water lines....do you have them?
By ladyljs
@ladyljs (1303)
United States
January 17, 2009 3:10pm CST
We have been a deep freeze here for days, with the last 2 night at 0 and below...which of course meant that my pipes might freeze!
I took all of the precautions, tarping up around the deck, putting heat trace on my well pump house lines and carefully situating electric heaters at every sink door opening! I left the kitchen sink faucet drip...that was my first mistake! I should have let them all drip!
Well, I got up yesterday morning to find that I had cold water at the kitchen sink and absolutely nothing everywhere else in the house!
I know that the pump house lines aren't frozen, or I wouldn't be getting any water at the kitchen sink! So, I have had those crazy space heater at my sink openings for the last 48 hours to no avail! Still no water!!!!
I can't believe that the lines are so hot, that you can't hold your hand on them, yet somewhere down under the house, they are still frozen! Sad thing is, to get to the crawl space, I would have to shimmy on my belly about 20 feet under the deck...and I don't relish doing that at 10 degrees!
My biggest fear is that I will have a line bust and when the temps go up have bigger problems! This old house has a crawl space of about 2 feet in the biggest area of the house, with about 6 inches where the kitchen sink is! They will have to tear up my whole kitchen floor to get to those lines if that is where the leak is....oh!!!! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE SAY A PRAYER THAT THIS ISn'T THE CASE~
Has anyone else had water line problems with this horrible cold winter?
2 people like this
10 responses
@manleyjoe (1597)
• United States
17 Jan 09
You have my prayers that you will be given the strength to deal with whatever the outcome of your frozen pipes. Just try and remember that God will not give us any tribulation that he has not given us the means to deal with through him.
Sometimes he does this so we will depend on his strength and learn to trust him more.
This has been a cold spell, the first time in two years that it has fallen below 0 here in the middle of Missouri, USA. But I fear that more may come as it is only January and here our worst winter weather usually comes in Jan and Feb.
Keep the faith and may your pipes thaw soon.
@delmeg10 (112)
• United States
17 Jan 09
We have that same problem every winter when it gets below 0. We've lucked out most of this winter so far, but yesterday morning my husband woke me up and told me we had no water...AGAIN! Surprise, surprise. I normally leave the kitchen sink dripping also when our water comes back on, but it just hasn't happened recently, so I haven't. Well it was out when we woke up at 7am yesterday morning and its now 5pm the following day. So, it's been 34 hours and still no water. Sometimes it just lasts a few hours, but it's been known to last up to 3 whole days! I just hope it warms up around here so they will un-freeze soon. I have too many dirty dishes sitting in my kitchen sink. Its driving me crazy! The worst part is, my son has pooped through four different outfits between yesterday and today. Not only can I not do the laundry, but I can't even give him a bath. So I've just been using a ton of baby wipes all over him. Poor little guy. :( I definitely feel your pain! I hope everything gets better and it works out for you!
1 person likes this
@Sissygrl (10912)
• Canada
17 Jan 09
We have not had that problem yet, but we are freezing here too in canada, its -25 without the windchill and almost -40 with teh wind at some points.. now i dont know my F fgrom my C but i DO knnow that -40 is -40 in both C adn F.
Good luck with your pipes and i hope you dont have broken pipes.
@sunshine4 (8703)
• United States
26 Jan 09
My mom use to own a restaurant and when the temps got way down, we would have to leave the water dripping when we left at night so the lines wouldn['t freeze.
Fortunately, at my house we haven't had to worry about frozen lines. We have a full basement. I know if your house has a crawl space you really do have to take precautions.
@fasttalker (2796)
• United States
17 Jan 09
We are having the arctic weather too. So far so good with our water pipes. Last year we froze up and when we got up the morning that they were frozen we took a little cramic heater and put it in the crawl space and closed it back off. It thawed in about 3-4 hours. Now we put the heater there BEFORE they froze! LOL We have an entrance to the crawlspace from right outside and we just run an extension cord to the ceramic heater and let it run all night on low. It keeps them wam enough not freeze even in this weather.
If your cold water freezes too don't forget to turn your hot water heater off so it wont burn the element up. Good Luck and I hope they thaw soon for you.
@Nadinest1 (2016)
• Canada
26 Jan 09
Hi.
I know it has been a few days since you have posted this, but I hope everything worked out OK for you and your frozen pipes.
I live in Canada and frozen pipes are nothing new to us. When I read your post, I felt bad for you so i just had to say Good Luck in the future.
Maybe there are a few other things that can be done to keep them from freezing under your house. Ask friends, neighbors, go online etc for ideas.
Have faith that spring will come.
Nadine
@ladyljs (1303)
• United States
26 Jan 09
Thanks for your post! I did indeed have a line that burst about a week ago. I could hear the spewing underneath the house. So, at midnight, I shut off my water pump and hot water heater and was running all through the house opening every spigot so that the water would go down the drain and not under the house!
I had a plumber out to fix the what was no more than an 1/8" break, it took him 20 minutes and cost me $120. Oh well! It is fixed!
I have been running the faucets everynight that it gets below 30 since then!
@srhelmer (7029)
• Beaver Dam, Wisconsin
17 Jan 09
when I was growing up we had issues with that. Now I know to insulate around the house as well as the pipes. Hay bales work great if you have access to them.
@stephcjh (38473)
• United States
18 Jan 09
I will say a prayer for you. I would hate to have busted water lines. We have had some really cold temperatures here this year and have been lucky so far.
@ANTIQUELADY (36440)
• United States
17 Jan 09
OH MY, BLESS YOUR HEART. I HOPE THEY THAW OUT ON THERE OWN. MAYBE THEY WILL. I HATE PROBLEMS LIKE THAT. YOU HAVE THAT PRAYER LADY 7 wishing u alot of good luck. i haven't ever had any frozen pipes since i have lived here but mind u i'm not bragging. we have haD some cold temps to the last few days & the wind is blowing a gale which to me makes it seem twice as cold,
