no water upstairs

mcgsp

We were away for a few days during the really cold weather. When we returned there was no water available upstairs (none in the sink, wc or shower). All the water is fine downstairs and the upstairs water tank is working normally.

My guess was a frozen pipe (or pipes) where the upstairs pipes are inaccessible and pass very close to the roof but the problem is still there a week later despite opening the entrances into the loft area and relying on the heat from the house rising.

Can anyone suggest what the problem might be or do I have to search out a plumber (difficult to find as there have been a lot of burst pipes in the surrounding area)?

ormus

leave the loft hatch open/off, turn the heating full on, and get some heat up there.

27col

A plumber will not be able to do anything that you cannot do, free of charge. If necessary, put a blower heater up there. Probably a good idea to watch it. Be ready to turn the stopcock off, just in case the freeze has caused a pipe burst. Make sure that you apply some lagging, no matter how difficult it is to apply it.

mcgsp

Thanks for the advice to persevere. After using a hairdryer on an accessible pipe I've managed to get the upstairs shower to work.

The other pipes, hot and cold, present a more difficult challenge. For about 8ft they run in a 4" gap between a sloping loft room wall and the roof. I've got the heating on with the loft hatch open and at times have used a fan heater but the big problem is to try to direct the heat into the 4" gap (which is also between joists). It is a very slow process getting heat to where it is needed.

I am more hopeful now that heat will be the answer after getting the shower to work.

ormus

i would be taking the wall down and either rerouting the pipe, or insulating it.

mcgsp

There is some insulation on all the pipes but it seems not enough.

I wanted to be sure I knew the reason for the problem before doing cutting holes in walls or getting a plumber to reroute pipes.

I was told that the local water pressure dropped for a couple of days and our water was cut off at one stage while were not in the house and I have been wondering if that could have had anything to do with the problems.

mcgsp

It turned out that air (and perhaps dirt) was in the hot and cold pipes due to the water having been turned off and possibly due to the pipes having frozen and then slowly thawed.

Using a foot pump air was blown into the cold tap till it cleared and then the cold and hot taps were joined by a hose and the hot tap was cleared.

Thanks to those who offered help.