Plumbing experts: I screwed up - am I at risk for a burst/frozen pipe?

[Don Vito Corleone]

I live in a modest 100-year-old home in Minneapolis. As is obvious, we get very severe winter weather here.

The pipe leading to my hose faucet is a newish copper pipe running through the ceiling of my unfinished basement. The basement is always heated to 60 degrees or more. In the normal course of business, as winter is coming I shut off the water to the pipe, remove my hose, and open the hose faucet to bleed out the bit of water in the roughly 2 feet of pipe between the valve in my basement and the hose faucet.

This year I have had a lot of issues going on - I had an illness in the family that took me out of town, and when I got back I was ill myself. In the course of all of that I totally forgot my usual ritual with the hose pipe.

It is currently 18 degrees outside and getting colder.

I have shut off the valve in my basement leading to the hose faucet. I have attempted to remove my hose and open my hose faucet but both are firmly frozen in place. If I need to I can use a professional hair dryer to try to heat up the faucet outside, but will not be able to get to it until AFTER we get zero-degree weather tomorrow night.

The pipe in my basement is not cold to the touch as it enters the outer wall - just a bit cool.

Should I treat this as an emergency? Am I at real risk for a burst pipe?

 

[Rubycon]

If the water is shut off and the pipe breaks no real damage is done. When a charged line is broken and thaws you can have real damage as the water sprays everywhere and if this goes on unnoticed for days...

Does the inside shutoff valve have a drain hole? It will be about the size of a tire valve stem cap. After you shut the valve off you remove this cap (with the outside faucet OPEN) and it will backdrain the feed line. That's the safest way to do it.

Alternatively you can install a frostproof silcock. These have the actual valve inside the wall so you never have to turn off the water.

 

[Born2bwire]

Why not heat a kettle of water and pour it on the faucet and hose to thaw it out?

 

[Red Squirrel]

Why not heat a kettle of water and pour it on the faucet and hose to thaw it out?

That would probably "shock" it and cause damage. kinda like when you put an ice cube in warm water it cracks.

 

[Rubycon]

That would probably "shock" it and cause damage. kinda like when you put an ice cube in warm water it cracks.

Not likely to cause any problems other than if it's near a walkway and the excess water runs across it will freeze creating a slip hazard.

 

[GuitarDaddy]

Why not heat a kettle of water and pour it on the faucet and hose to thaw it out?

Just use hot tap water (water heater temp), thats perfect temp for thawing without cracking. Using water heated on the stove can be too hot and cause a break. With hot water from the tap you may have to do it two or three times in a row

The trick is just warming it slowly, you can even do it with a torch if your careful

 

[Jeff7]

Huh, interesting - I wondered how freezing water could cause a burst pipe, besides the thing of the expanding ice literally pushing the pipe apart.
This PDF explained it:

Rather, following a complete ice blockage in a pipe, continued freezing and expansion inside the pipe cause water pressure to increase downstream - between the ice blockage and a closed faucet at the end. It's this increase in water pressure, literally thousands of pounds of pressure, that leads to pipe failure.

So the ice expands, and as it does, it starts acting on the water in the enclosed pipe section like a piston acts on the fluid in a hydraulic cylinder. Nifty.

What then, do you just open up the faucets past the frozen section in order to alleviate the pressure until the ice is thawed?

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

Thanks, guys! Hot tap water worked like a charm. One kettle was all it took to bust everything loose (as usual, not much water emerged when I closed the valve, but there was definitely some). It seems like a pretty obvious fix, but sometimes you just get a little paralyzed by worrying, you know? I will sleep better tonight knowing that I don't have to worry about a busted pipe. This is why I love the Internet . . .

 

[Capt Caveman]

That would probably "shock" it and cause damage. kinda like when you put an ice cube in warm water it cracks.

Copper pipe <> Ice cube

 

[Born2bwire]

Thanks, guys! Hot tap water worked like a charm. One kettle was all it took to bust everything loose (as usual, not much water emerged when I closed the valve, but there was definitely some). It seems like a pretty obvious fix, but sometimes you just get a little paralyzed by worrying, you know? I will sleep better tonight knowing that I don't have to worry about a busted pipe. This is why I love the Internet . . .

Dammit, I was helpful. D:

 

[iGas]

That would probably "shock" it and cause damage. kinda like when you put an ice cube in warm water it cracks.

That wouldn't crack copper pipe temperature variant isn't that far apart.

Get a propane torch to heat the pipe in the basement as close as possible to the out side wall with hose bib open.

I wouldn't worry too much if outside water supply line is shutoff somewhere in the house. Cut the pipe off in the basement to prevent crack pipe if you must, then repair it in the spring.