How To Unfreeze Pipes
By When the weather starts to get cold more and more people will begin to experience frozen plumbing pipes because of improper installation of the lines pipes or simply just because it was way to cold and preventive measure was not taken were it should have been to avoid this problem, and know you are here and want to know “how to unfreeze pipes”.
If you would like to know how to unfreeze pipes the you should first take a look at our Top Five Ways To UnFreeze Your Plumbing Pipes because that will give you some really effective ways to defrost your frozen plumbing. This guide will show you how to use everything from a portable space heater if your just an average homeowner that wants to do it themselves or if you are a professional plumber and want to use your B tank torch. Either way check out the guide and it is sure to give you some great tips.
In short there are a few things that we can tell you right now before you even get started unfreezing and thawing your pipes. If the pipe that is frozen is a water line you will want to shut the water source off now before the pipe winds up defrosting on its own and if it has damage from the freeze it will start to leak everywhere. This does not mean you have to shut your entire house or building down just locate what is frozen and then use the valve for that fixture or line.
For example, if the lines were frozen on your kitchen sink that was on the outside wall (which by the way is super common in many areas because the water lines were not insulated correctly) and you had a basement, you could go into the basement and shut the feed vales off that should be right under the kitchen. Most plumbers will install isolation valves in many areas of the house to make service calls easy.
Once you have located the water source you can use our handy guide that we mentioned about to unfreeze your pipes with regular household tools and supplies.
Also remember that if a drain line is frozen, you might not want to use that fixture until you unfreeze the actual waste line otherwise you could wind up with waste water or even possibly a sewage spill.
my washer inlet were the water goes to when it drains goes in but it comes out the other pipe and all over the floor
Hi Travis,
To me it sounds like the washer line is clogged and needs to be snaked clean.
Where the clog is I can’t say for sure without being there to examine the drain system of your house and troubleshoot the drainage system. the lowest drain opening before the clog always catches the overflow. In some cases a laundry line can be a clogged main.
A drain cleaning pro onsite should get you fixed up quick!
hi my name is Rachael, my pipes froze when I was gone, I located that my pipes are frozen OUTSIDE of my house, I have tried everything, I found out who ever built this house, thy didn’t use heat tape like thy should have, I have a lil heater outside(KEEPING A CLOSE EYE ON) I have no other Ideas of what to do, can someone please help me with what to do with OUTside pipes and part of ground… because im out of ideas and its been this way for 5days………
Thxs
Hi Rachael,
If you can get the area around that frozen pipe sheltered something like a tent and get the pipe heated you may get it thawed with that heater. Be real careful things don’t get too hot. Hair dryers blowing directly on the frozen area sometimes work well too. If the freeze is underground as well if you have metal pipes a plumber with a electric pipe thawing machine can usually get it thawed quickly. You can then get him to properly insulate and heat tape the pipe.
I have a pipe in the wall of my kitchen (that I share with my neighbor..I live in a condo) that burst two years ago…a plumber came out and fixed it and put insulation in the wall (there was none) and now every year I run into my cold water freezing in my kitchen..I have the space heater on it right now but I dont’ know how long to let that try to take effect until I call a plumber…I have shut the water off at the source..I just hate this keeps happening…although part of the problem is that I live in a very cold state…
Hi Allison,
Is there any opening in the wall where you can direct the air from a hair dryer?
This may get things going quicker.
I would ask if there is a way to reroute the pipe out of the wall and into an area where it doesn’t freeze.
On many occasions I have taken pipes that were in an outside wall that frequently froze and rerouted them to come up through the floor instead curing the problem. Without being there I can’t say for certain how the pipes go or, should go.
If the pipes are metal a plumber that has an electric pipe thawing machine can usually get them thawed very quickly.
Well I actually directed a hairdryer at the wall that I know had the frozen pipe and that worked….I talked to a plumber and he suggested that I cut a hole in that wall and put in a small vent (one that I could cover with a picture or something)..that way when this happens again I can get to it..I am not sure how I would reroute that pipe out of that wall so I am just going to have to watch it when it gets cold here….
Ahh thats great the hair dryer worked…
It usually does!
That is another way of doing it, allowing heat from the room to get in there or, easy access for air from the hair dryer to get in there.
Sometimes 2 holes one at the top and one at the bottom create a chimney effect that allows better circulation of the air.
The hot water in my bathroom will stop working when it gets very cold, but the cold water works just fine. When the temp warms up… the warm water will work again. This bathroom is on an outside wall. I’ve tried using a heater, pointing it into the area under the sink, but that hasn’t worked. This has been going on for 5 days now. I haven’t shut the water off to this bathroom b/c I honeslty didn’t know, until now, that I should do that. (I read some other web sites…)
Any idea what causes this??
Hi Angela,
It sounds like you are on track with the heat and thinking the pipes are freezing.
Hot pipes will usually freeze before cold due to the “Mpemba Effect.”
In areas where there is a freezing danger it is best to avoid having pipes in outside walls.
In areas where there is less danger of freezing sometimes you can get away with having the pipes against the interior sheetrock wall then insulation between the pipes and the exterior wall.
I’m concerned with the repeated freeze cycles and the possibility of pipes bursting.
If you have metal or, CPVC pipes this is a very strong possibility but, if you have some other type of plastic pipe it is less likely. You need to probably open up the wall to get the pipes exposed to allow warm air in the room to reach them. Ultimately if you can have a plumber reroute the pipes to come up through the floor to the sink you will be better off.
Hello, I noticed when I tried to turn on the water to the bath I had none, there is a access panel in the bedroom that allows me to get to the pipes running to the bathtub. The pipes come into the bathroom from under the house,(they are copper) the foam insulation that was on the hot and cold pipes to the bathtub slipped down leaving the pipes bear, and they froze. I noticed ice around the seam of the copper line were it fits into a fitting, I shut all the water off in the house because the knobs would not turn on either line running to the tub. I already had a problem with the heat in the house not work right, I think it got down to 58, but we got it working and this morning the small ice build up was gone. The problem is I have no water in the bath, hot or cold, and just hot water in the bathroom sink. I have hot and cold water in the kitchen. I have had a heat gun blowing on the cold water line just above the valve(from the rear panel) for well over an hour turned on the main water valve and still nothing, the valve on the lines that were/ are frozen will turn now, but I’m not 100% which way to turn them, so I just turned of the main line for now. One thing I left out is though I have water coming out of the hot water faucet, it’s cold because my hot water heater broke down before Christmas, dishwasher and dryer also broke all in the same week!! LOL but the point I’m making is the lines seem not to be froze in the kitchen or the hot water line to the sink in the bathroom. I looked under the house and do not see any large areas of water or ice, there is an area that you can tell was wet, but it’s really not that large an area and if I had a broken pipe wouldn’t I see a pool of water or ice and also hear water running somewhere? I’m wondering if I should get a spot light and place it on the pipe under the sink? I can’t get to the rest of that line it’s under the house, I’m thinking maybe it is froze somewhere between the sink and bath? any ideas? thank s
Hi Don,
If the pipes are broken you won’t see water running out of them until the pipe thaws.
Ice on the outside of a pipe is a pretty good indicator that it is also frozen inside.
With some single handle tub/shower valves if they are pressure balanced when one supply line is frozen nothing will come out of the other side either.
You at least have a cold water line frozen that supplies the sink and the tub. How is the toilet doing?
That may help you narrow down where the freeze up is.
Can you get under the house?
Can you direct heat under the house?
Hi, unfortunately I left a hose attached to a hose bib during this cold spell. I unattached the hose but I can see water frozen in the bib. Should I close the shutoff and attempt to drain now? Or wait until it warms up(whenever that is:P) I really don’t want to deal with frozen pipes. Next year I’ll make sure I drain them earlier! Any tips to prevent a possible nightmare or just wait it out?
Hi Al,
Is is a Frost Proof Faucet?
If it is they turn off deep within the wall where they don’t freeze and if the hose is disconnected the long tube that leads back to where the water shuts off drains so it doesn’t freeze and split. If this is the case you won’t see a leak until you use the faucet next spring when you discover the long tube is split and pouring water in your house.
If it is not a frost proof faucet you will want to shut off the valve feeding it. You could also try thawing it and getting it to drain.
However the damage is probably already done in either case.
Well the problem was a pipe popped apart, it didn’t really break I think it was a compression fitting that came off. I had to get a plumber, but lucky he is a friend of the family and it only cost me 75 bucks, hell it was worth that much to not crawl under the house, and I live on a fixed income! I do have a small problem with a drip at the cold water shut off valve on the line that froze. These two pipes (hot and cold) come into the house through the floor, behind a small access door, it looks like it is dripping from the knob stem, I’ll have to do something about it because it falls on the edge of the floor, a hair more and it would have dripped into the opening and it’s such a small drip I would have left it. Two other things, the black foam that wraps around the pipes under the house, this stuff is used to keep the pipes from busting, but does not keep them from freezing, is that correct? because that is all I have on the pipes under the house, and I have always let the water trickle when it gets below 30, seems I’m ok if it stays in the 30’s, when the pipe came apart someone had told me I didn’t need to run the water because the pipes were wrapped. The last thing is, I have a garden hose, that now that I think of it does not have a cut-off valve that I know of, but I have never had a broken pipe that I remember. Should I take the hose off and let the faucet trickle? is there a way to tell if it is a frost proof faucet? thats for all the help.
Hi Don,
It sounds like you made out pretty well and I agree the $75 was worth every penny not to do the under the house crawl. Keep that plumbers phone number handy and spread the word about this guy, you have a good one!
The dripping stem can probably be cured by tightening the packing nut which will be the first nut you come to behind the handle. Tighten it just enough that the drip stops and no more, frequently all it takes is 1/8 or, 1/4 turn.
The insulation does not heat the pipe, all it does is slow down how fast the pipe can cool off and freeze. This may be enough to keep the pipes from freezing.
Frost proof sillcocks actual shut off sometimes up to a foot inside the wall. they have a long tube running from where the shut off to the knob and hose connection on the outside. This tube as long as the hose is disconnected will drain and the actual shut off is inside where it is warm. Envision the knob connected to a 12″ long bolt that goes straight back into the wall where the valve shuts off. If it could do that and is not on an angle you may have a frost proof sillcock that only requires the hose to be disconnected in the winter to not freeze.
I generally do not advocate allowing water to run anywhere to avoid freezing. Insulation, heat tape and proper construction methods to avoid freezing should be used. However, This winter much of the south is seeing extra low temperatures and that advice may not apply there in those circumstances. The homes there were just not constructed for temperatures that low. The temperatures they are experiencing haven’t been that low for so long since 1989.
I don’t think I have a frost proof sillcock then, I don’t recall seeing anything like you are describing, I have never had a problem though with the hose line freezing or at least it has never broke a pipe, but it does seem to be colder this winter, I live near Washington DC. I’m not to sure what to do about the pipes to the hose, any ideas? I’ll try and tighten the bolt your talking about, for now I placed a cup there to catch the drip which I’m sure my now is a cup of ice! I really don’t know what else I can do other than run the water at a trickle while it’s so cold. All my plumbing is under the house (single level home) as of now all the pipes have on them is the black foam pipe wrap, which I thought absorbed the expansion of the pipe when it froze, so it didn’t burst,but either way, I was sure it didn’t insulate the pipe because it doesn’t have any insulation in it LOL I don’t think I can use heat tape under a house, or I thought that’s what I read some place, is this true? so the only other thing would be to have someone wrap the pipes in pipe insulation, I think I recall it having a white shell with yellow insulation, formed to fit a pipe, would that work, and would it keep the pipes from freezing when we have weeks of weather with it not getting above 30? I thought we used to only run the water when it got down bellow 30, I know 32 is freezing, but I thought it had to be a little colder than that for the pipe to fully freeze. My dad handled most of this stuff and I lost him last summer, I guess I should have asked more questions! Thanks for all the help!
Hi Don,
You are correct heat tape cannot be used in concealed locations or, near combustibles such as wood.
And yes the insulating shell you describe can help.
search Google images for frost proof sillcock and you probably will see how that handle looks that I described.
Don’t worry about the answers we’ll help.
PLEASE HELP ME!! My mom and dad live in ahouse that is over 100 years old it was built badly and has hardly no insulation. My problem is my dad had a massive stroke and is down state and of course my mom is with him. I have been trying my best to take care of their house. We dont have a furnace running all the time because they didnt ahve the money to fix it and it doesnt run right so it is very cold in the house during the night. well the hot water froze first and was froze one night I had a man come to unthaw it for me in the basement , he knew where it was froze. well I walked out in the kitchen and got the suprise of my life, I had water dripping from the kitchen ceiling with a big long crack and sagging. he ran upstairs the bath tub sink and toilet where all over flowing because the sink faucet didnt shut all the way off so it was feeeding water to a frozen sewer line.. OMG I am so upset! I had to get the water deprtment to shut off the water from outside cause we didnt have a main shut off in the house or I just didnt know where it was. anyway they shut it off, and it did stop the water from continuing to over flow upstairs, well the kitchen ceiling came crashing down and I had one BIG BIG mess. now the toilet and water downstairs where working fine it is just the tolilet, tub, and sink upstiars that seemed to be clogged, does this mean there is a frozen sewer line in the wall from the upstairs to the downstairs? PLEASE HELP ME !! What can i do?? I need help I am by myself on this
Hi Dorothy,
To me it sounds like you really need to get heat going to warm the frozen pipe up. I suspect either there was a dripping faucet or, leaking toilet that had water dripping into the drain line that kept freezing in the drain until it made an ice plug. Heat or, warmer weather is the only thing that will fix your problem even if it is only a space heater.
Hi,
Our pipes froze last month and a plumber did come and take a look at it once we’d thawed them out. Due to the damage caused by freezing, the plumber had to change the kitchen faucet.
After the faucet’s been replaced the pressure of water streaming out is much lesser than it used to be. Could this be because some feeder pipe has cracked or burst? Both the cold and hot water supply is down to a thin stream. Also, there seems to be some brown and green sediment coming from these pipes. The sediment is coarse and grainy and can easily be filtered out. So its not making the water muddy or anything.
Also, the water supply to our washing machine seems to have decreased in the force of its flow.
The kitchen faucet and washing machine have the same water line which runs along the side and under the house.
Our questions are:
1. What is this sediment? Is it common among frozen pipes that have been thawed out?
2. Could the decrease in water pressure indicate a broken pipe/ cracked pipe that we haven’t detected yet? Or is it just a plumbing issue?
Thanks in advance.
Hi Annie,
When the chunks of ice when ripping through the pipes no doubt it knocked a bunch of debris loose.
Check for debris in your faucet aerator and the screen on the washer inlet or, hose.
The pipe may have broken as well and if the debris is on going it may be stuff washing in at the break.
Check your meter or well pump to see if water is constantly running even when you are not running water.
Thanks Johnny, I’ll check and get back to you. We’ll probably need to call the plumber again anyway, because the replaced faucet has an incessant drip from the tubing under the sink.
Thanks again. I really appreciate your help.
Hey,
Just checking back in. Turns out the pipe was full of debris. Luckily our pipes didn’t burst.
We got the faucet purged out and now it works fine.
Thanks for all your help!
Howdy! I have a frozen drain line problem and I hope you can help me unfreeze it. We live in a wood frame house that is elevated 4 feet above ground. All drain lines are under the house and are PVC- because of a serious hard freeze last night, the drain line under the tub is now frozen- we didn’t know this until my husband took a shower and the tub wouldn’t drain (never a problem in the past. The kitchen drain is the same deal. What is the best way to thaw PVC pipes? Also, the main shut-off valve is under the house (copper) and I noticed that where the stem from the knob goes into the valve has ice around it- should I worry? Luckily, no water lines are affected as they are all in the attic and insultated. Thank you for all your help!
Is this house skirted?
If so get a heater under there asap!
Negative. Not yet, anyhow *grumble* That was my next project when fundage ran dry. BUT! Good news is the pipes just unfroze because this side of the house has been in the sun all day so I guess what I need to do until this uncommon freeze is over is keep the water on trickle. Thanks for your help though!! Be well!
Hi Dawn,
Actually in some cases a trickle of water can cause bigger freezing problems.
like a frozen drain that takes a lot of work to thaw.
I have a new house(1.5 yrs old). The well house is about 50-75 feet from the house. Both sit on mainly rock. Because of this, the water line between the well house and house is only about 18 inches below ground. The line is 1 inch pex. We are in a suburb of Dallas that has been hit with unusually cold weather the last few days. We awoke to no water at 6am this morning. At this point, we know the well isn’t frozen and we’ve had a heater on the tankless water heater (in the attic) for hours. Any tips on what we might do now?
All you can do is try to warm up that ground.
A dark tarp and a sunny day may help.
Once it thaws mound dirt or hay on top of the pipe to build insulation.
Hello,
My house was built in 1938 and our main water pipe leaving our house is apparently frozen 10 ft. into the ground. We had a plumer come out and he snaked the pipe but said that he could only get 10ft. into the pipe. He then said the pipe was either frozen or crushed. Since the part that is frozen is underground he told us to slowly pour hot water and high proof grain alcohol in to melt the ice. Is that wise? Also if we have a crushed pipe how will we know? Thanks for any help you can give us.
Jake
Hi Jacob,
Find a plumbing company that does high pressure water jetting. The jetter will make short work of a frozen drain. In addition have them camera the line once clear to see if the line has a sag or, belly in the line that causes the freeze up. Additional causes could be a dripping faucet or, leaking toilet with a low flow that freezes in the drain.
Hi! I live in Southeast Texas and we have had freezing temperatures these last few days. I turned off my water last night and opened all my faucets in the house. When I turned on the water this morning, all my faucets are running except the kitchen sink. It’s just dripping. The washing machine, which is next to the kitchen is working fine. Any suggestions as to what could be wrong? Thanks in advance for your help!
Hi Anne,
I’d open up the cabinet and blow heat under there.
Worse case you need to trace the path of the pipes and warm with a hair dryer.
hi, we have our own well,a have found that the pipe is frozen underground between the well and the house.
any ideas other than digging up the drive to get defrost it?
If you are in the deep south a dark tarp above it and a sunny day may help.
Running a tube into the line with warmer water flowing against the ice plug can melt through it.
Other than that its a dig it up.