Submitted by Campwithchamp t3_zua0i6 in rva
I'm trying to figure out if my pipes are frozen or if there's a larger issue in the neighborhood. Woke up to find we have no running water. This is our first winter in this house (near Manchester), and I've never dealt with this issue in any other place.
Update: A pipe burst...
Thanks! Headed down there now. Cold water is working again, but still nothing on the hot
Also, just adding as a fellow homeowner who bought a house with pipes that used to freeze, fix it before the next cod snap. Fill all the gaps under your house and wrap your pipes. It really doesn't take long and will make a huge difference.
Thanks so much! I appreciate all the advice
And like 6 foot of pipe wrap is like $5, it’s cheap and easy even for a noob.
Oh then you need to follow the warm (red likely) line from your hot water heater both ways. That's good news about the cold, not that bad of a freeze!
Did you leave your faucets dripping?
Sure didn't. Mistake #1
If you have a crawl space you can try sticking a lamp in there if the space is sealed up pretty well.
I also did not leave a drip and now have a frozen line.
Ugh...welcome to the crawl space club. Hope you get it fixed without too much trouble
Is that what you had to do
Im working on it now. Just sitting down here with a heater on it. But I think I found the spot...we'll see in a sec
Did it work
Nope lol currently at lowes buying all manner of insulation
Found an exposed iron(?) pipe under the deck that lines up with the hot line inside. Wrapped that and used some fiber glass to fill in the gaps as much as possible. We'll see if that works.
Your hot line shouldn’t go outside, that sounds like a gas line
It's probably copper. Im a renter so I'm afraid to do something and unintentionally build up pressure down the line and blow some shit up.
As long as you don't use a crazy heater you'll be fine it's when you use a torch that you tend to blow s*** up
Also found this
If your pipes are frozen make sure to turn all the faucets on before you attempt to defrost. To keep the pipes from bursting when they defrost.
So the pipes will only burst when they start to thaw? I have all the faucets open, so it would make me feel much better if the bursting part was preventable.
no it can burst through freezing. It's the most likely. Won't be an issue if you have pex though, it's usually the copper hot
I’m in forest hill with no water
no water is almost certainly frozen pipes. Probably under crawl. You want to deal with this soonest
A homie in Randolph left a fossil dripping but still froze. He used a space heater but burst his pipes. Raining in his basement right now.
Be safe out there.
Somehow my crawlspace door got opened last night and the main water line froze and split "copper". Its 9:45 and the plumber I called at 10:00am just got here about an hour ago to fix it. I turned the water off at the meter and used a heat gun to thaw the lines as best I could. I feel awful someone is out here working on Christmas Eve but I do at least have a pretty decent tip for him.
I'm sorry for both of you
It's fixed now and he was very happy with the Christmas bonus.
Mine came back about an hour ago. There’s a lightbulb down there I assume for light not for warmth but I’ve had it on.
Running all my fossils rn and will be leader of the drip gang tonight.
I haven’t seen avatar 2 but I do know the Way of Water
I woke up to find my water was shut off aswell in museum district Richmond. I live in an apartment. Do I just wait it out?
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Your pipes are probably frozen. The city only delivers cold water and that also supplies the water heater.
It’s Christmas Eve. While the city still delivers the water. The guys who receive the water and put it in the pipes are off.
The elves?
water elves. The tree elves deliver trees
Excuse me - the term is Dryad.
nice! Not enough coffee to remember that.
Is there a male equivalent? Or can Dryads be male?
I think the actual answer is - it’s complicated and are we talking DND or Greek mythology or WoW.
Short answer is - Satyr
I think of Satyr as forest? But the D&D/myth thing does get all mixed up
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If pipes are frozen turn the faucets all the way on. That way when they thaw the water will have somewhere to go.
its determined. Easy to diagnose from what you said. You've got a frozen cold pipe. not the main, as you still have hot water.
Drip your faucets
ExtremeHobo t1_j1hy3i5 wrote
Your main pipe is probably frozen in your basement. Crawl down there with a hairdryer and hit that thing until it opens up. Probably frozen near the edge of your house where the is an air gap in your foundation.
Just give it a good look and make sure it isn't bulging or something but it's likely a thick metal pipe and will be fine.