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Hot water pipe froze

13Gigatons

13Gigatons

Diamond Member
It's 50 below here and the hot water pipe in a bathroom appears to be frozen, the cold one still works fine.

The bathroom is a new edition and there are two valves that feed it one for the cold and one for the hot in the basement.

Now the the big question should I turn off the water that feeds that bathroom in the basement?

I'm afraid it will leak when it thaws out.
 
Why would it leak? Unless you have a burst pipe or you disconnect something, you should be fine 😕 Just shut off the water (though if it's going to be that damn cold, you should have had water dripping from every faucet to prevent freezing).
 

That is weird.

Makesure the valves under the faucet is fully on. Make sure the the cold wate feed valve for the hot water tank is on.
 
Originally posted by: NoShangriLa

That is weird.

Makesure the valves under the faucet is fully on. Make sure the the cold wate feed valve for the hot water tank is on.
Click to expand...

The rest of the house works fine both cold and hot. The pipes were installed on an outside wall for the new bathroom which could be the problem and the fact that it is very cold.
 
Originally posted by: 13Gigatons
Originally posted by: NoShangriLa

That is weird.

Makesure the valves under the faucet is fully on. Make sure the the cold wate feed valve for the hot water tank is on.
Click to expand...

The rest of the house works fine both cold and hot. The pipes were installed on an outside wall for the new bathroom which could be the problem and the fact that it is very cold.
Click to expand...
Open the hot faucet and put a hair drier/heater/lamp inside the cabinet and to warm up the space and hopefully that would thaw out the pipe. You don't want the pipe to crack and cause flood damage. Also heat the pipe from the other end if you can access it.

PS. Water pipe install on exterior wall must be insulated to prevent frozen pipe.


 
What kind of moron contractor installs a pipe in an outside wall in a place that might see -50 weather? You need to figure out a way to thaw that pipe before it blows and takes out your whole wall...
 
Turn the water off at the valves and open your faucets in the bathroom so the water/ice has room to expand so you pipes don't burst. It will be real tough to thaw without an arc welder with those temps.
 
Originally posted by: 13Gigatons
Originally posted by: NoShangriLa

That is weird.

Makesure the valves under the faucet is fully on. Make sure the the cold wate feed valve for the hot water tank is on.
Click to expand...

The rest of the house works fine both cold and hot. The pipes were installed on an outside wall for the new bathroom which could be the problem and the fact that it is very cold.
Click to expand...
that's a building code violation here and it would never have been passed in an inspection.

can they be re-routed? if not then you are going to have to tear the wall open and insulate it properly with a vapour barrier as well.

I had to do that in my old house. The wall was part of the garage and that is considered an outside wall. The pipes froze and caused problems due to lack of insulation. Last year I had the walls taken apart and properly insulated and new drywall installed due to the mold on the old drywall.
 
Originally posted by: Iron Woode
Originally posted by: 13Gigatons
Originally posted by: NoShangriLa

That is weird.

Makesure the valves under the faucet is fully on. Make sure the the cold wate feed valve for the hot water tank is on.
Click to expand...

The rest of the house works fine both cold and hot. The pipes were installed on an outside wall for the new bathroom which could be the problem and the fact that it is very cold.
Click to expand...
that's a building code violation here and it would never have been passed in an inspection.

can they be re-routed? if not then you are going to have to tear the wall open and insulate it properly with a vapour barrier as well.

I had to do that in my old house. The wall was part of the garage and that is considered an outside wall. The pipes froze and caused problems due to lack of insulation. Last year I had the walls taken apart and properly insulated and new drywall installed due to the mold on the old drywall.
Click to expand...
Codes allow for exterior wall piping with adequate spacing and insulation from cold side (minimum 6" wall here in Canada) and it also subjects to local authority. However the US seems to allow 4" exterior wall which doesn't leave much room for insulation. As suggested the pipe should be reinstall.

Slow heat built up might thaw it out, however it may requires b-tank or acetylene torch to do the job (little more dificulty with PEX or PolyB tubing).

 
Originally posted by: halik
50 below? Where the f are you?

It's -20C (-7 on the retarded scale) here in Michigan.
Click to expand...

If you live in MI and use degrees C, then you my friend, are the retard :evil:
 
Originally posted by: Modular
Originally posted by: halik
50 below? Where the f are you?

It's -20C (-7 on the retarded scale) here in Michigan.
Click to expand...

If you live in MI and use degrees C, then you my friend, are the retard :evil:
Click to expand...
It go to show that he is bilingual, and isn't as ignorance as the rest of the American and 2 other countries on this planet.

 
Originally posted by: NoShangriLa
Originally posted by: Modular
Originally posted by: halik
50 below? Where the f are you?

It's -20C (-7 on the retarded scale) here in Michigan.
Click to expand...

If you live in MI and use degrees C, then you my friend, are the retard :evil:
Click to expand...
It go to show that he is bilingual, and isn't as ignorance as the rest of the American and 2 other countries on this planet.
Click to expand...

I was born in Europe and I am multilingual to begin with, but that's entirely besides the point. Give me one, *ONE* reason why Fahrenheit is a good temperature scale.

(Actually if you look up the history of it and how it was determined, you'd realize how retarded the scale actually is)
 
Originally posted by: halik
Originally posted by: NoShangriLa
Originally posted by: Modular
Originally posted by: halik
50 below? Where the f are you?

It's -20C (-7 on the retarded scale) here in Michigan.
Click to expand...

If you live in MI and use degrees C, then you my friend, are the retard :evil:
Click to expand...
It go to show that he is bilingual, and isn't as ignorance as the rest of the American and 2 other countries on this planet.
Click to expand...

I was born in Europe and I am multilingual to begin with, but that's entirely besides the point. Give me one, *ONE* reason why Fahrenheit is a good temperature scale.

(Actually if you look up the history of it and how it was determined, you'd realize how retarded the scale actually is)
Click to expand...

Here in the USA, we don't really care about doing things better. We just do them AWESOME.

See?
 
Originally posted by: NoShangriLa
Originally posted by: Iron Woode
Originally posted by: 13Gigatons
Originally posted by: NoShangriLa

That is weird.

Makesure the valves under the faucet is fully on. Make sure the the cold wate feed valve for the hot water tank is on.
Click to expand...

The rest of the house works fine both cold and hot. The pipes were installed on an outside wall for the new bathroom which could be the problem and the fact that it is very cold.
Click to expand...
that's a building code violation here and it would never have been passed in an inspection.

can they be re-routed? if not then you are going to have to tear the wall open and insulate it properly with a vapour barrier as well.

I had to do that in my old house. The wall was part of the garage and that is considered an outside wall. The pipes froze and caused problems due to lack of insulation. Last year I had the walls taken apart and properly insulated and new drywall installed due to the mold on the old drywall.
Click to expand...
Codes allow for exterior wall piping with adequate spacing and insulation from cold side (minimum 6" wall here in Canada) and it also subjects to local authority. However the US seems to allow 4" exterior wall which doesn't leave much room for insulation. As suggested the pipe should be reinstall.

Slow heat built up might thaw it out, however it may requires b-tank or acetylene torch to do the job (little more dificulty with PEX or PolyB tubing).
Click to expand...
I assumed a worse case scenario with no insulation at all.
 
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