This morning our cold water pipes are frozen. We cannot find a live plumber.....only recorded messages. Where do we begin to thaw the pipes, and what can we do to prevent future problems?

Betty Hyser, February 2006

Funny you should say this ... my rainwater supply pipes on the outside of the house kept freezing.
When water freezes it forms giant molecules which take up about 10% more volume than the water from which they formed. The forces involved are enormous and you will only be aware of cracked pipes when the water thaws.
Here are some ideas .... push joints at regular intervals
which can easily be rejoined after the thaw.
Or an internal air pipe notted at each end which will be compressed when freezing occurs - this pipe to fill as much of the internal pipe diameter as possible.
Or blowing air into the pipe via a valve when freezing likely to displace the water.
Or use of water solenoids which cut the water off and another which opens to drain the supply pipe.
Or increasing the diameter of the pipe will mean it will take longer to freeze - the heat content will vary as the square of the radius while the heat lost will vary as the radius of the pipe.

Nyge, April 2011

My father was a Master Plumber and I grew up doing plumbing repairs. I hope this helps you out. To help thaw out currently frozen pipes, it would help to know where they are and what kind of house you live in. Living in a mobile home will have different solutions than living in a house. If the frozen pipes are located under your kitchen sink, open up the cabinets so that the colder air inside there can escape out to the rest of the room. This will take a little while. You could also attempt to slowly warm the pipes with a hair dryer. Ultimately, you need to get some warmth to the pipes. If your frozen pipes are under a mobile home, you will need to get bundled up to go under the mobile home and slowly heat the pipes until it thaws. If those pipes are plastic, apply heat to them with caution. Here are some suggestions to prevent future problems. When you have cold weather coming in, open the cupboards that contain water pipes. This will allow the room temperature to mix in with the colder air in the cabinet (this is extremely effective if your water pipes are on an outside wall). You can leave the cold water dribbling in one of the sinks. Running water is harder to freeze. Wrapping the pipes with insulation will ultimately help. And again if you live in a mobile home, insulating the piping under the home and putting extra insulation around the perimeter of the base will help out tremendously.

Jacob, February 2006