Jump to content

Frozen pipes! ( lots of views but not many replies folks!)


the wee p
 Share

Recommended Posts

Hi

We currently rent out house and have had no hot or cold water today, im assuming the pipes are frozen, the pipes are in the garage which isnt insulated, the hot water pipe from the boiler is slightly warm and is covered in the black foam insulation stuff but still no water, all other cooper pipes are not covered, as you can tell im not very clued up on house plumbing.  Should i go to Leroy Merlin and buy some of the black insulation stuff for the pipes?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hello wee, if your pipes are unlagged your best off getting insulation anyway, Bugs was right you really need to turn off the boiler until you get a flow.

Can you get any heat into the garage to up the temp i.e. space heater? In the meantime don't go heating the pipes with blow lamp etc as this is the best way to burst the pipes!!!!!!!

Open  the 1st hot and cold tap in the system until you have a flow.

Hope this helps..

Charlie.........

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you can manage until tomorrow. I would recommend, turn off the boiler then  putting as much heat into the garage (where the boiler is) as possible. If you can, i would also turn off the cold water at the stop tap. If your lucky, the heated room might defrost the pipes overnight.In the morning turn on the cold water first see if its thows out.Without cold water your boiler want work so no cold will mean no hot. You might be frozen outside, in which case you will have to wait for a thow. Hopefully no burst pipes. Can't see what else a plumber would do.

You do need to get all your copper or plastic pipes lagged, to stop it happening again. Unless your really unlucky it shouldn't be the pipes outside. As long as they were sunk to the correct depth when they were fitted.

Good luck

Get the room as warm as you can.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The problems been fixed!!

Phoned a plumber who is to busy but told me to switch water off at mains open taps in house and swtich water on, nothing happened for a good 5-10mins then i took heater and hairdryer to  the garage and attempted to heat the pipes and it all seems to have worked!! :)

So im away to have a cup of much needed coffee!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

No chance of me heating the garage its bigger than any room in the house and is freezing!! Will look into either us or a plumber lagging? the pipes, no doubt this will happen again maybe this week if it stays so cold!

Any tips on how to lag the pipes and where to get the materials?  (my other half doesnt do DIY so its up to me )

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You were lucky this time but there's a possibility that pipes may split when the ice has nowhere to expand to so lagging is a very good idea. Please bear in mind also that hot water freezes quicker than cold so heating the garage dramatically is not needed if the garage is attached to the house it may be that by stopping draughts and insualting windows you may just keep the ambient temp high enough from the borrowed heat from the house.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I had to defrost and add more insulation to my supply pipe in the cellar today after it had frozen overnight, they were more than 80cm below ground level but the wind had been passing through the ventilation openings.

More than 50% of the people at the tills in Bricodepot today had their arms full of pipe insulation like me!

I would lag them with something temporary (loft insulation, blankets etc) before trying your luck in the bricosheds.

I had been forced to stop the outside work on Sunday due to the prolonged freeze, I thought that I would be warmer working inside but it was -4 degrees in my main building this afternoon (thankfully I now live in a small heated dependance),

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote user="BIG MAC"]Please bear in mind also that hot water freezes quicker than cold so heating the garage dramatically is not needed if the garage is attached to the house it may be that by stopping draughts and insulting windows you may just keep the ambient temp high enough from the borrowed heat from the house.[/quote]

I think that you have got that backwards BigMac, the rest of the advice is good, insulting the windows sounds like good fun [6]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...