Frozen outside Faucet....Now I have no running water...now what?

Question

Like an idiot I forgot to remove a hose from an outside faucet that's attached to the house. Well, it's 19 degrees outside and we've been at the hospital for 4 days. I came home and have no water inside the house.

I've boiled some water, wrapped a rag around the outside faucet, and poured it over and I think it's all thawed out of the faucet. I've turned the heat in the house up to 80 degrees. I don't know if I have any burst pipes or not. If I do, I'll of course turn off the water main.

So.............what should I do now? (My wife was going to come home from the hospital tonight, but is staying an extra day because of this).

Suggestions???

The pipe comes into the house about a foot above the ground. The pipes are behind drywall. The ones that I can see in the utility room are PVC not copper (the house was built in 2000). There's no crawl space. I can't tell exactly where the pipes do and don't go.

Well, I called a plumber and got it fixed.

The main coming into the house was originally laid close to the intake for the furnace/hot water heater. The cool air froze the pipes.

I fixed it by plugging up the air intake and in about 30 minutes I had running water

Answer 1

Sorry to hear your problem But Im a Plumber so here is your answer
DONT USE A TORCH!!!!!!! Only someone who knows plumbing really good should do this.
Now im takin a guess that the water faucet is a tee off of the main where it goes into the house.
WHat happened if thats it is since you have not run the water much since your wife is not there and so on it had time to freeze up on you.
Also never pour water on the pipes.
But what you can do is use a hair dryer on the pipes
or go to Home Depot or Lows and get heat wire ( You wrap it around the pipes like tape and it heats the pipe up slowly it wont get HOT But it makes sure it will not freeze up on you again.
Also the wire will not turn on if not needed so you can leave it on the pipe.
But back to the probelm at hand. If you use a HD (Hair dryer) it will heat the pipe up and melt the water inside and work it way through the rest of the ice. The biggest thing is people dont understand is that when you do this you need to open a faucet up in the house this way when the ice melts even if its only a pin hole through the ice the water will come out the faucet and that water from the city is above 32deg so it will also help melt the ice along with the HD.
this is your best way to do this at this point there are more ways but this should do it for you.
I dont think you have a broken pipe most of the time it will take longer then 4days and 19deg to cause that.
When you use the HD you can set it on bricks so you dont have to sit there and hold it. if its only a foot from the ground point it at the ground level for 10 min or so then move it up half way and so on when you get 2 the house leave it there till water comes into the house if this dont work repeat it again. and if that dont work drop me a line at
[e-mail]
Goodluck and hope this helped you and also I Hope your wife is doing good

Answer 2

I lived on the Minnesota/Canadian border most of my life, we're speaking of 50 and even 60 below zero, I've had to figure the wind chills by hand, at 112 and 120 below. The sub-arctic has nothing on us up here.
I've had my pipes freeze, all of them for most of the winter, under the same circumstances you've had.
Do not use a torch unless your fire insurance is paid. Use a hair dryer, it's not fast but, will work. Put heaters, electrics are the safest. Put heat tape.
I would start with the heat tape as much as I can with the highest safest wattage as possible. Follow directions, these can be dangerous too. Do not overlap the wire, I've seen it overheat and burn. Open a connected drain although it will not expand this much.
When all the yelling and screaming is over, caulk, put in insulation of somekind, heat tape, something and hope.

Answer 3

crawl under the house with a bernzomatic torch, and carefully warm up the pipes. it doesn't take too long for the ice to melt. Leave a faucet on upstairs, so when it starts to cut loose, it will keep running.

Insulate those pipes once you've got it, and let some water drip in a sink all night if it's way cold like that. You might even block off the vents temporarily, and heat up the crawlspace to do the job.

careful with the torch. If it burns down, your insurance will not cover you!

Answer 4

Caution, someone told you to use a torch to heat your pipes. Not a good idea, as it could cause your pipes to expand and burst. Since you need to ask on here the best thing to do (yes it is the costly thing) is to have a plumber come and deal with it for you.

If your plumbing is in the basement then yes warm the basement using your furnace, open the vents to warm the basement. It will take some time but do it slowly, heat expands & cold contracts so if you heat it to quickly you could bust the pipes.

Good luck but be cautious.

Answer 5

Call your water company--they can thaw the pipes coming to your house, if that's where the blockage is. If you think the problem is within your house, and you have access to an electric welder, try clamping the wires from the welder to two different places on your cold water line, as far apart as the wires will allow. Then slowly turn up the current on the welder. This will cause current to flow in the pipes, heating them up. Move the welder clamps from zone to zone until you've thawed any ice in the pipes. Instead, you might prefer to get a heating wire from your hardware store. Wrap it around your pipes and plug it in.

Answer 6

It is actually lots of fun to go out in the winter weather, provided that you're wearing wicking layers and have covered your head and hands so they're comfy. The air is crisp and clean, and you get to enjoy looking at the world while everyone else is trapped inside or in their cars. Your body will feel great after the run, and so will your mind. Here's how I get out the door in the morning at 0500: I sleep in my base layer running gear. No kidding. My shoes, socks, gloves, and outer layer are on the floor right next to my bed, and my watch is ON TOP of the snooze button. Alarm goes off, I put on the clothes, and go out the door. By the time I'm back, the coffee is ready to go, and I've had a super start to the day. You can do it!

Answer 7

If your pipes are in the basement, you have to get your basement up above freezing to thaw your pipes. Get a heater down there and warm it up. That is usually the source of frozen pipes. If you have a burst pipe, your basement or the outside of your slab would be flooded. You really should call a plumber if you don't feel comfortable about thawing pipes yourself. Good Luck.

Answer 8

one more idea, put an electric blanket around the faucet. Plug in and leave for several hours. Turn on an inside faucet. Did you loose hat water also? May be more involved that a frozen pipe.

Answer 9

Call A Plumber

Answer 10

The outside faucet should hve no bearing on water pressure inside the house.If your own well pump or circuit breaker.City water,don't have a clue.Have to be frozen in the line someplace.