Frozen hot water pipes?

Question

I live in MO and my water pipes are right under the house. It is freezing down there and my pipes are freezing. I have been defrosting them by dropping a space heater down a hole in the floor but am afraid the pipes are going to burst eventually. Should I keep a space heater down there? Leave the hot or cold water dripping? To get new pipes put in to prevent this will cost quite a bit and will not be able to be done until Spring. This is past annoying.

Answer 1

the first thing I would do is to go around the outside of the house and make sure there are no drafts coming in from cracks, pipe holes, wire holes, or vents. If you have vents in your foundation close them or block them off with something. Eliminating drafts will help considerably.

secondly, if you use a forced air furnace for heat, you might be able to cut in a vent that will blow heat into the crawl space near where the freezing problem is. I don't recommend the space heater and am not fond of heat tapes. Another option is to insulate the walls of your crawl space (if possible to move around in there) with 1 inch thick styrofoam insulation.

You may be able to just get some pipe insulation, if you choose this option make sure you completely cover all exposed copper piping. copper pipe transfers temperature very rapidly, so even if you leave a small portion uncovered, it can still freeze if it gets a draft. seal the insulation with duct tape.

if you're only having a freezing problem in certain areas, chances are this is the best place to start looking for drafts from the foundation.

expanding foam or some type of silicone caulk will fill most cracks or holes. it may also be easier to do this from the crawl space as it will be easier to see light coming in from the outside. get a pair of coveralls and something you can push around to lay on and fill them in. good luck.

Answer 2

First what type of heater? They all can start fires and also poison you with Carbon Monoxide if they are using a fuel type of heater ! Keeping the water moving by leaving a faucet on at the other end is a good way to prevent freezing. Costly but less than pipe replacement. Airsealing the crawl space and insulating the walls above grade at least down four feet will help. Insulating the pipes is the right direction to head, just moving the pipes in the spring will still leave a cold floor ! Air Seal and Insulate ! Another idea is to get some heat tape and apply them to the pipes they plug in and keep the pipe warm. Temp fix

Answer 3

The water heater is fed directly from the cold water line, so both systems recieve equal water pressure. As far as the hot water line reaching the same temperature as the cold water line, yes, depending on the insulation, the hot water pipe, if no water is drawn through it, will eventually reach ambient temperature. The local radio station has been advising people to leave their cupboard doors open to allow heat to get to the wall where the pipes are, but I am kind of taking this with a grain of salt. It is true that any little bit helps, but if cabinet doors were good insulation, we would be lining our walls with them. as far as one pipe freezing before the other, I would almost think that if a person is going to put pipe insulation on only ONE pipe, they would put it on the hot line and not the cold line, which would give it more freezing protection. I would think that with a new, well insulated house, in weather that is not unusually cold for the region, there would not be a great deal of danger, though you say that you are letting the interior temperature stay cooler than is usual for an inhabited house; and that invites the possibility of a freeze-up. sounds like you may be away from the house? I'd suggest if you have an emergency contact, you think about having them boost the temperature a bit, and run some water from each tap, just to check for a frozen pipe.

Answer 4

Be very cautious with that space heater as it has the capability of over heating and could start a fire.
Can you run an electrical extension cord down there and set up 2 or 3, 60 watt bulbs.
If you can access the pipes you could get foam insulators from the hardware store to cover them.
Can you bank the outside of the basement walls to stop air flow into the crawl space.
You are correct in your thinking, if the pipes freeze they will break. Letting the water run a bit can help also. Could be costly if you are on a water meter.

Answer 5

Space heater is good idea, for temp. use, but left on all the time can be a fire hazard. Can you get under the house to wrap pipes with cloth, and put in light bulbs?? (light bulbs put out a lot of heat for very little energy use, and yes let the cold water drip, running water can't freeze, and hot water drip, will wear out your water heater faster, I live in Ks., don't you just hate our winter so far?? And that mess on I35 on Tuesday, some friends got caught in it, stuck for like 3 hr.s Pipes are a problem this year.

Answer 6

One of the best things I have done to prevent water lines from freezing is install a re-circulation pump. It is expensive, but easy to do and much easier than getting to pipes that are in hard to reach areas. The pump is installed at the hot water tank and when turned on, circulates the water thru both the hot and cold lines. You have to install these special backflow valves at some sinks. The pump has a timer on it so you can set it to come on whenever it is coldest. I just leave mine on all the time during cold months. An added bonus, you don't have to "wait" for hot water to reach those sinks that are far away from the HWT. You have instant hot water. I think this is actually the purpose of the pump and the pipes not freezing is a side effect. I thought it would run my electric bill up but I have not noticed any difference. Now if your power goes out.....you are out of luck.

Answer 7

There's a frozen section of pipe somewhere between the water heater and faucet. Start from the WH and work your way toward the faucet, esp. if and where the line runs under the floor, or near an exterior wall, where it would most likely freeze.

Answer 8

I know exactly what you mean. I am in Indiana and I am having the exact same problem. I have water dripping out of the faucets which help for the cold, but I still have no hot water either.

Answer 9

Heat tape, made for this purpose, inexpensive! Wrap around your pipe, plug it in and forget it. Very easy remedy, buy at any hardware store

Answer 10

get a rremote thermometer from walmart=$20. u can see temp down under from remote unit.block wind from getting under house.insulation & or heat taape 4 pipes.just a fan blowing room air down into crawlspace may do the trick.u can tell after installing remote thermometer