frozen water pipes

biffoman

last night i noticed the water was dribbling from the tap.i filled as many containers up with water as i could for fear of the taps freezing up alltogether.i live in rahoon.anyone else got frozen pipes.any tips of what to do?

gaeilgegrinds

Same prob here...filled bath, has icicles in it! Our bath is way away from the main house so is a wee bit colder! Any advice please?

biko

Leave your attic door open and turn the heating up for a few hours.
The heat from downstairs will thaw the pipes hopefully.

biffoman

ISNT IT THE MAINS COMMING INTO THE HOUSE?

biffoman

biffoman wrote: »

ISNT IT THE MAINS COMMING INTO THE HOUSE?

That's what I presumed too.

The pipes in the ground outside the house are frozen?

haines35

Most water freeze at the stopcock(due to it being brass),if you can locate that pour copious amounts of boiling water on it,shoud free it,also if you have an outside tap beside the kitchen sink its probably mains fed,this can cause the freezing also.

biko

The mains is in the ground so probably not frozen.
Try the attic door open and heat on.

haines35

It will freeze at kitchen sink first,
before the feed goes up to the attic.

biffoman

cheers people im going to try both the open attic +the boiling water trick.

dnme

biffoman wrote: »

cheers people im going to try both the open attic +the boiling water trick.

any luck? same problem here

niceirishfella

Magnus wrote: »

The mains is in the ground so probably not frozen.
Try the attic door open and heat on.

Waste of time.
This would only work if the opening to the attic was directly under the water tanks and pipes.

Das Kitty

Tried dousing the stopcock this morning, going to give it one last go as I don't think we're going to see a thaw at all before the middle of next week. Going to go at it with a sponge and boiling water. There's no sound of moving water out there at all so hopefully it is the stopcock and I'm not risking my pregnant ass for nothing on the ice.

It doesn't feel too cold outside but the watering can out the back is pretty much frozen solid and it wasn't before all this fun began.

EDIT -

Well it's not the stopcock as the neighbour has their water so it's somewhere between there and the house

This is not fun, hopefully the baby will stay inside for another week or so.

dnme

I located out stopcock out on the road, its deep, pipes terminate about a foof and a half down, would not be able to get at it and I fear chucking water down there would just make the problem worse.

Das Kitty

Don't worry it will drain away, otherwise it would fill up everytime it rains. Worth a shot dnme. Hope you have better luck than me.

Just started snowing here now. Never thought I'd feel sad seeing it snow!

Frankie Lee

I have the same trouble with frozen pipes somewhere between the mains and the house. I'm pretty certain our stopcock is free so the only other place we have brass is a t-piece out the back of the house under a couple of feet of concrete. I've tried a long shot of using a kerosene heater under a turf cover to try thaw it out. Otherwise I will be up **** creek with frozen pipes eventually bursting.

biffoman

dnme wrote: »

any luck? same problem here

no luck.the attic door has being open a good few hrs now +i poured warm water over the outside tap including the stopcock.

Frankie Lee

biffoman wrote: »

no luck.the attic door has being open a good few hrs now +i poured warm water over the outside tap including the stopcock.

Try a serious amount of boiling boiling, getting a slow drip here now so fingers crossed.

biffoman

im doing just that frank.heres hoping one of us gets back on supply at least.

The weather man said the ground across the country is frozen to a foot deep.

biko

niceirishfella wrote: »

Waste of time.
This would only work if the opening to the attic was directly under the water tanks and pipes.

I know what you mean but it worked for this guy

DublinWriter wrote: »

A lot of people are now experiencing problems with frozen pipes in their attics.

A simple way to prevent this is to leave your attic door open!

It happened to us this morning. A couple of hours with the heating full on soon fixed the problem.

This will also reduce the chances of pipes bursting and eventually flooding.

galah

great...how long will that take to thaw?

Without water since Tuesday night, and strongly suspecting the mains to be frozen or some other problem - water came and went very unpredictably...(didnt have water around new years, then back for last weekend, and now it's gone again...)

dnme

I live in garage apt at the back of a main house. The folks in the main house have water so the problem lies in the underground pipe that travels from the house to my apt.

I have no stopcock coming into the apt that is accessable. Also no valve under kitchen sink. I reckon the pipe in the ground is frozen.

Edit: Also have no car, as fuel system needs to be rebuilt so its in pieces, and I live 2 miles outside Athenry so I'm starting to feel a little vulnerable right now.

Das Kitty

Current forecasts are saying Monday will be the first day to stay above zero in the daylight. Supposed to be better again Tuesday and Wednesday. We're relying on the ground temp getting up a bit to thaw the pipe going up to the house. Hopefully the deeper soil will irradiate some heat though. Sick of bathing in the sink!

Chris_533976

According to BBC weather at - http://news.bbc.co.uk/weather/forecast/10209 theres a pile of snow coming on Tue.

Sponge Bob

Das Kitty wrote: »

. Hopefully the deeper soil will irradiate some heat though. Sick of bathing in the sink!

If you think you know where the pipe is buried then scrape ALL snow and white ice off in the morning, dark ground absorbs sunlight where white ground reflects it and never heats up at all. If the pipe is on the north side of the house then tough until we get a a good thaw.

Sponge Bob

Chris_533976 wrote: »

According to BBC weather at - http://news.bbc.co.uk/weather/forecast/10209 theres a pile of snow coming on Tue.

Not in Galway, it will fall as ( maybe freezing ) rain initially and eventually as real rain later tuesday.

The GALWAY 5 day weather forecast from the BBC is HERE

http://news.bbc.co.uk/weather/forecast/2299?&search=galway&itemsPerPage=10&region=world

vulcan57

Had no water since Monday lunch time. Its the pipes coming into the house alright because it was the water in the kitchen sink that went first. I could still use the hot water and the bathroom taps until all that was used up. Houses both sides of me are OK and the ones 2 doors away in each direction have no water.

Sponge Bob

vulcan57 wrote: »

Houses both sides of me are OK and the ones 2 doors away in each direction have no water.

Rig a hose from the ones that HAVE water to the attic tanks of the ones that have NO water and fill the main cold tanks in the attics one by one ( which should fill the hot water tanks too). Then disconnect the hoses and empty them of water and store indoors where they are warm.

B and Q have lots of garden hoses on reels that will do the trick nicely, get up there now if they are open.

Also ensure there is a bit of water in the expansion tank in the attic ( the small one) so your central heating works.

Draining the whole system clean is _really_ stupid. Don't do that again. Once water stops coming in you must conserve what you have.

biffoman

im gona fill my tank up from next doors tap.it means running a hose up to the attic.it should get us by for a few days and hopefully it will warm up a bit between now and then.fingers crossed.
just saw what you posted.

toadfly

this has gone beyond a joke now havent had water since 29th. driving me crazy. was like a mad woman today after reading this had the hairdryer on under d sink and pouring boiling water on outside tap. no good. gonna try it again tomo tho.

we arent too bad as we have a gym to go to for showers but heat is dodgy and getting sick of having to go to friends houses looking for water. I'm afraid theres is gonna go and it'll be my fault for using all of theres!

is that 5 day forcast right? gonna be better from Tuesday??

niceirishfella

Hairdriers are useless, you need one of these......

http://cgi.ebay.ie/MAKITA-HG5002K-HOT-AIR-HEAT-GUN-240volt-BRAND-NEW_W0QQitemZ170430226666QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Home_Garden_PowerTools_SM?hash=item27ae6ee0ea

Sponge Bob

The temp last night was -8 to -10 and the ground is generally frozen down about 200mm to 400mm in Galway now depending on whether the sun ever gets to it or not. The ground will start to thaw slowly from tuesday.

The Irish building standards apparently only specify a depth of 300mm for water pipes which is 9 or 10 inches.

Like I said, Woodies and B and Q have long hoses on reels 30m 40m or even 60m. Pool together to buy a long neighbourhood hose of 50m or 60m then fill up yeer attic tanks in sequence and arrange to keep filling them up every 2 or 3 days.

Try to do so in daylight when it is sunny and safe to leave doors and windows slightly open and not freeze the kind neighbours who are kindly supplying water. Use open windows not open doors, lots of cold rats around nowadays If your neighbour is being an asshole tell them you are afraid a pipe may burst and flood their house too.

frisket

Frankie Lee wrote: »

I have the same trouble with frozen pipes somewhere between the mains and the house. I'm pretty certain our stopcock is free so the only other place we have brass is a t-piece out the back of the house under a couple of feet of concrete. I've tried a long shot of using a kerosene heater under a turf cover to try thaw it out. Otherwise I will be up **** creek with frozen pipes eventually bursting.

My neighbours' water was frozen yesterday but mine wasn't, so I lent them a hose from my outside tap to fill their cold tank. Today I also have no water, so we've been tracing things back, trying to unfreeze the stopcock at the end of the drive with a blowtorch, to no effect. These are 60s houses in an estate in Cork city, so the mains from the stockcock to the house is likely deep.

We also tried the flamethrower on the outside tap, to see if the heat would conduct back up the pipes to the inside stopcock in the kitchen, but that turned out to be pointless, as most of the pipework under the sink is new, and is all plastic. But the outside tap did do a lot of hissing and gurgling, and gave some steam, so maybe a little heat was travelling back up the column of ice in the pipes. I now have a fan heater under the sink in the kitchen to warm the whole thing and see if that has any effect. The pipework in the house seems to be unfrozen, so presumably if the main has frozen, there would still have been enough air or water expansion space up the pipework to prevent any bursts.

Oh, and best wishes with the baby, Kitty :-)

RedLedbetter

It looks like ours is frozen at the stopcock, but I cannot remove the WSC-R cover (see the round WSC-R cover on the left of http://www.iplgroup.ie/assets/miscmedia/ORBITAL_DuctileIron_01.pdf). I can turn the keyhole 45 degrees, but although the cover shifts it will not come off altogether?

Anybody any ideas? Major help!!!!

biffoman

RedLedbetter wrote: »

It looks like ours is frozen at the stopcock, but I cannot remove the WSC-R cover (see the round WSC-R cover on the left of http://www.iplgroup.ie/assets/miscmedia/ORBITAL_DuctileIron_01.pdf). I can turn the keyhole 45 degrees, but although the cover shifts it will not come off altogether?

Anybody any ideas? Major help!!!!

i poured boiling water over mine.seemed to work for me.

manas

Hi all,


I have been having the same problem with frozen pipes since last Monday. We had called in a few plumbers and they said that there wasnt a whole lot we could have been doing, apart from pouring hot water on the main pipe gauge and top up the water level inside the house to keep the radiator and the hot water running.
when is this weather going to improve
M

frisket

manas wrote: »

when is this weather going to improve/QUOTE]
Not for a week at least. Then a thaw, and back to freezing at the end of the first week of Feb for a few more days.

WooPeeA

Frozen water pipe means that someone made a s**y work building a house. Don't blame the weather.

niceirishfella

WooPeeA wrote: »

Frozen water pipe means that someone made a s**y work building a house. Don't blame the weather.

in some cases, yes.

But not all, Irish building reg's don't cover down to -12 to -15 which is what we were getting there last week at night.

DD67

biffoman wrote: »

im gona fill my tank up from next doors tap.it means running a hose up to the attic.it should get us by for a few days and hopefully it will warm up a bit between now and then.fingers crossed.
just saw what you posted.

You don`t necessarily have to run the hose up to your attic if you have an outside tap connect the hose from your neighbours to your tap you also need to turn of the mains at your stop cock.

Turn on your neighbours tap and the water will force its way up into your tank via your outside tap, save you from messing about with running hoses through your house.

But if your pipes are frozen in your house it might not get through but it would help get things thaw out your pipes.

niceirishfella

DD67 wrote: »

You don`t necessarily have to run the hose up to your attic if you have an outside tap connect the hose from your neighbours to your tap you also need to turn of the mains at your stop cock.

Turn on your neighbours tap and the water will force its way up into your tank via your outside tap, save you from messing about with running hoses through your house.

But if your pipes are frozen in your house it might not get through but it would help get things thaw out your pipes.

PLEASE - don't do this.
If you have ruptured pipes due to the freezing, you will have a major leak on your hands.:eek:

chizzle82

I have water in the cold tap in the kitchen but nothing in the hot tap or both taps upstairs in the bathroom.
I thought if my water was frozen the cold tap would freeze first?
Am a bit confused!

RedLedbetter

I called up the company that manufacture the lids for the meter box (WSC-R) and they say just to keep trying as it's probably jammed! Great! Poured boiling water over, hit it a few smacks of a hammer to loosen..... nothing. Still just turns a bit but no lift.

This morning however our outside tap is working - but should your outside tap run off the mains directly or off the tank also?

niceirishfella

off the mains.

niceirishfella

chizzle82 wrote: »

I have water in the cold tap in the kitchen but nothing in the hot tap or both taps upstairs in the bathroom.
I thought if my water was frozen the cold tap would freeze first?
Am a bit confused!

that would be because the pipe feed to your cold tap in the kitchen come direct from the mains feed to the house (whereever it enters your property) and the rest of the taps may come fro the attic which could be frozen.

Das Kitty

So it's pretty much thawed here at ground level and still no mains water. Is there any chance the pipe's still frozen or is it definitely burst? Any telltale signs of a burst pipe? Hoping to get a plumber tomorrow.

If it's a mains leak on our property will the council want to know?

Chris_533976

It'll still be frozen as the ground underneath the surface will still be frozen for a few days probably. Try digging a hole in the garden and see.

Das Kitty

We gave a dig of about a foot to the flower bed that the pipe runs under and it was grand.

niceirishfella

Das Kitty wrote: »

If it's a mains leak on our property will the council want to know?

No.


Re; get a plumber - when he comes out and surveys the issue, ask him for a price to fix it first before he sets to work.
That way he'll not charge you what he likes once the job is done.;)
They are CLEANING up @ present.

Das Kitty

Yeah, it'll be up to our landlord to pay so I'll pass him on your advice. I'm sure he knows a plumber who owes him a favour IYKWIM!

It's funny in an estate of 20 houses only two of us have been affected and we were both here all through the cold snap and using our supply, both went last Wednesday.

Sponge Bob

Ye have shallow pipes, if sub 450mm ( the Homebond depth) at any point then tell the developer to come back and ensure they are the right depth or you will see them in court for the considerable cost of fixing it.