Post here if your boiler has failed or your pipes have frozen!

Nanoc

Well my head is melted with the pipes, we have mains water {as in from the tap in the sink} but the water tank in the attic is empty! have had a heater in the attic all day and then also into the back of the sink where they come from the outside but still nothing! Any more Ideas as to where I can blast heat? house is like a furnace now too

Sierra Oscar

Nanoc wrote: »

Well my head is melted with the pipes, we have mains water {as in from the tap in the sink} but the water tank in the attic is empty! have had a heater in the attic all day and then also into the back of the sink where they come from the outside but still nothing! Any more Ideas as to where I can blast heat? house is like a furnace now too

Is the mains pipe in the attic leading into the water tank still actually frozen, when you feel them and give them a slight nudge do they feel stiff/crackle? Might be a good idea to give mad DIY's idea with the hot towels soaked in water a go.

Nanoc

Sierra Oscar wrote: »

Is the mains pipe in the attic leading into the water tank still actually frozen, when you feel them and give them a slight nudge do they feel stiff/crackle? Might be a good idea to give mad DIY's idea with the hot towels soaked in water a go.

Nah pretty sure they're empty gave them a good twist and shake also had a blow heater on the pipe at the ballcock for about 5mins so would have thought that it would have loosened it up at least! oh well still at least we have the mains just means no showers for a while and manual toilet filling

Sponge Bob

Sierra Oscar wrote: »

I knew where my water mains ran underground, so I got myself a bale of hay off of the neighbor and spread it out along the surface of the ground where the water mains is running underneath. I then got my blowtorch, and lit the hay on fire and kept it burning away until after around twenty minutes my water started flowing again.

LOL

Quick physics lesson if you cannot get a bale of hay If your pipe is located where the sun can warm the ground then remember that white reflects sun and dark attracts.

Scrape off the white ice and sprinkle coal dust along the ground to attract that extra solar heat.

ghosttown

Put €450 oil in week before xmas, and now have lock out on boiler.. went and checked , only about 3 inches of oil left in tank !!! Use a firebird super-q, heats 6 rads in house only, is it gonna cost me that every three weeks ? bloody hell ! gonna be cold now !!

angeldaisy

well, we've water from a well supply and so far so good, although my shower isn't working, but the bathroom is in a corner of the house and the shower is on an outside wall, so I'm guessing a pipe has frozen. my main problem is that my gas cylinder outside keeps freezing, tonight it froze and I put a kettle of hot water over it and it worked, but about half an hour later it stopped again. I have the pipe lagged but not the cylinder, can you buy lagging jackets for these???

Berthram

angeldaisy wrote: »

my main problem is that my gas cylinder outside keeps freezing, tonight it froze and I put a kettle of hot water over it and it worked, but about half an hour later it stopped again. I have the pipe lagged but not the cylinder, can you buy lagging jackets for these???

I dont think a lagging jacket would work. These cylinders 'freeze' also due to the rapid evaporation of gas that takes place inside the cylinder itself.

whiteandlight

Hi all, water still gone here. Checked attic alls well, found a air gap under the sink beside the pipe which has now been sealed and had a heater running under there for the day. Finally found our stopcock and have spent the last half an hour putting hot water in and taking it out trying to get it started. Anyone who this worked for, how long did it take? Trying to decide whether to keep at it or not. We know its not the house pipes so its either the outside stopcock or the pipe under the ground

poolboy

Just spent an hour out in the shed with a hairdryer on the pipes going into my water softner we have lift off:D. My heart goes out to anyone still struggling with this.

Matt Simis

Ciaran500 wrote: »

Is all mains water in your house softened? Softened water isn't suitable for human consumption...

Why do you say this out of interest? We have a Softener set on minimal settings and have drank the water for past year. If its regarding the Sodium content, Im aware of that, but not too concerned.
http://www.doityourself.com/stry/softwater

On the thread topic:

Source: Well Water
4 days ago fixed 2 leaks (unrelated to the freeze)
3 days ago water stopped refilling
1 day ago cold and hot water tanks ran dry
Today tried to unfreeze pipes in well house, got the pump pressurising the line again but no water flow. Left a 60w bulb on in the well house overnight and poured some car deicer into one of the pipes (dont plan drinking for a while..). Hoping tomorrow the temp stays above 0 just long enough to get it flowing.

Well is about 30m from the house, have absolutely no idea on the course the pipe takes underground to get to the house. The pipe appears to be about 75cm underground, is this enough to avoid freezing?

Harpy

ended up with a burst pipe in the kitchen last night..went out to the kitchen and heard loud dripping on my way out and thought the water had come back.. then saw what had actually happened burst pipe up above the door.. not fun..

mp22

Mains into the house frozen tried the tips re stopcock ect no good.Next door to the rescue this morning hose connecting there outside tap to mine.

Graces7

Yes; here there was some water through the ceiling then it froze and has not thawed since, and no way to sort it until it thaws now. I think and hope I have isolated that part of the plumbing.

And this is a cottage . ground floor only and the water system is only above one room...

Sierra Oscar wrote: »

My advice to everyone is to stay with your house for the coming days. There are countless amounts of people around here whose water pipes have burst in the attic leading to extensive flooding. Make sure you know where the valve is for your water mains leading into the house in case you need to shut it off in an emergency.

The biggest problem for people is leaking once the thaw actually begins. Your pipes may be burst now, but because they are frozen you will not notice any leaks. Once the thaw begins the leaks may also begin - that is why you need to have someone watching your house. It only takes a matter of hours for a burst pipe in your attic to bring down all your roofs - Iv seen it happen to six houses so far this week and it is not nice.

Themadhouse

We have had no water since xmas day and as we have gas heating we have had so heat since then either.
The pipes froze at the mains,we had the pipes thaw after 6 days and then after a day and a half froze again at the mains after the council guy forgot to put the stryofoam back around the pipe.
Have done the hot water down the pipes for hrs at a time and nothing. Waiting for the thaw now.

Ciaran500

Matt Simis wrote: »

Why do you say this out of interest? We have a Softener set on minimal settings and have drank the water for past year. If its regarding the Sodium content, Im aware of that, but not too concerned.
http://www.doityourself.com/stry/softwater

Its the sodium, I was always warned by lecturers that putting a softener in the drinking supply can leave you open to a law suit. According to that link the amount of sodium in 2L of water is about the same as 1g of salt and as the water gets harder this amount increases. Its not a huge source of sodium but I would prefer to not have extra sodium in my diet. There's already enough heart problems with the amount of salt in a western diet.

Wibbs

Sierra Oscar wrote: »

My advice to everyone is to stay with your house for the coming days. There are countless amounts of people around here whose water pipes have burst in the attic leading to extensive flooding. Make sure you know where the valve is for your water mains leading into the house in case you need to shut it off in an emergency.

The biggest problem for people is leaking once the thaw actually begins. Your pipes may be burst now, but because they are frozen you will not notice any leaks. Once the thaw begins the leaks may also begin - that is why you need to have someone watching your house. It only takes a matter of hours for a burst pipe in your attic to bring down all your roofs - Iv seen it happen to six houses so far this week and it is not nice.

QFT. I know of one woman in a house share. Her housemates buggered off for three weeks at christmas, she went away for 2 weeks. They all came back at the same time turned on the heating and soon after water dripping all over the place.

Also QFT is knowing where the mains on off is. I've been shocked how few actually know. Double that for renters. Also find out where the fusebox is. I would imagine there may be risk of electric shock if there's water about?

Pangea

My outside tap is flushing out with water this morning , its not turned on or anything , its closed but the water is gushing out , we are not sure what to do. Any tips?

Ciaran500

Pangea wrote: »

My outside tap is flushing out with water this morning , its not turned on or anything , its closed but the water is gushing out , we are not sure what to do. Any tips?

Unless there is a separate valve to isolate your outside tap you'll have to turn off the water for the whole house, take off the broken tap and either replace it or but a blank on it.

Pangea

Ciaran500 wrote: »

Unless there is a separate valve to isolate your outside tap you'll have to turn off the water for the whole house, take off the broken tap and either replace it or but a blank on it.

Thanks Ciaran , yes it looks like we will have to turn off the mains then,
Any idea why this would happen , cold weather is it?

Cherrycola

Hot water now gone, we still seem to have mains water, but im afraid to let it run to see, in case it runs out too.

Is the general consensus that we cant use our central heating(oil fired) as it heats the water now?
Is there anyway to bypass the water tank and just heat the rads, or is that not possible either?

When is this goddamn thaw gonna come?!!!:mad:

davidoco

Cherrycola wrote: »

Hot water now gone, we still seem to have mains water, but im afraid to let it run to see, in case it runs out too.

Is the general consensus that we cant use our central heating(oil fired) as it heats the water now?
Is there anyway to bypass the water tank and just heat the rads, or is that not possible either?

When is this goddamn thaw gonna come?!!!:mad:

You can use your heating.
It seems your water is frozen in the attic as you have water at your kitchen sink. Open you loft access door to let some heat in there or get up there and check for exposed pipes around the cold water storage tank.

Cherrycola

Should i let my mains run for a while(and collect the water in pots ) just to be sure our mains is still working?

What is the dangers of running the central heating without working water? explosion? busted boiler?

We also have a solid fuel cooker, can that be lit?

I suppose what im asking is will there be water in the hot water tank in the airing press for the heating to heat?

Sierra Oscar

Cherrycola wrote: »

What is the dangers of running the central heating without working water? explosion? busted boiler?

Your central heating should have its own internal system so you should be ok to run it. The boiler unit should cut out itself anyway if the water level drops.

Rob!

even the piping to our septic tank in frozen now! Any idea's on what to do here besides just wait for it to thaw over the next week?

webels

Cherrycola wrote: »

Hot water now gone, we still seem to have mains water, but im afraid to let it run to see, in case it runs out too.

Is the general consensus that we cant use our central heating(oil fired) as it heats the water now?
Is there anyway to bypass the water tank and just heat the rads, or is that not possible either?

When is this goddamn thaw gonna come?!!!:mad:

Also get up in the attic, pull insulation up or back around any pipes (if not covering pipes) and around tank to let the heat come up to the tank and pipes. Don't forget to replace it back when the extreme cold weather is over. Also insulate any of those exposed pipes.

DiarmaidGNR

Would leaving the boiler on all the time on a low setting stop this from occuring?

Sierra Oscar

DiarmaidGNR wrote: »

Would leaving the boiler on all the time on a low setting stop this from occuring?

It will stop the central heating system from freezing over. You would need to leave your attic trap door open to allow the heat up there to prevent the attic plumbing from freezing over.

That will make your house downstairs a lot colder though.

Cherrycola

webels wrote: »

Also get up in the attic, pull insulation up or back around any pipes (if not covering pipes) and around tank to let the heat come up to the tank and pipes. Don't forget to replace it back when the extreme cold weather is over. Also insulate any of those exposed pipes.

We're in a rented house and i dont have any ladder to get up to the attic, not that i would even know what to look for when im up there.
I have cracked open the loft entrance to try and get some heat up there, see if that helps.

Ok, gonna keep using my heating until it shuts itself off, fingers crossed it wont.

ellieh1

I am flying home today to frozen outside main water pipes. Any advice on locating the outside stopcock, what exactly am I looking for? Been told to pour hot water on it, is this a good idea? SHould the cold water tap in the kitchen be turned on when I do this? Thanks in advance

force eleven

Mains frozen since yesterday, and now attic tank probably empty from flushing toilet etc. I have a T bar valve to the mains under the sink. Trouble is, I don't know which way is off or on. It seems to be set at a default setting of halfway so I know where it should be when normality returns Obviously with no water, I can't tell which is on or off, fully clockwise or fully anti-clockwise, is there a standard for these?