Pipes in house have frozen - Advice plse

ally18

Hi,

Sorry, another daft question for you folks please. Please bear with me.

Woke up this morning to find that there was no cold water to upstairs taps, shower and toilets so I assume the pipes leading from the water tank in the loft have frozen?

I do have cold water in the tap in the kitchen so the mains is ok.

I have a loft conversion as well with a little trap door to get to the cold water tank. I've never even seen the tank so a bit of advice would be welcome before I make the attempt to find it please.

I know there should be two tanks, a big one for cold water and a small one for c/h. Am I right so far?

Is there going to be one main pipe that leads from the large tank to the rest of the house? I have some of that foam lagging that goes around pipes which I plan to put over the pipe concerned to help stop this happening again if I can. Or is there something better I can do?

I can't attempt this until tonight when i get home from work so have left the heating on low to help warm the house. It was registering -13 c on my car dashboard this morning btw and this has never happened before.

Any advice would be welcome please. I haven't much knowledge on these things so thanks in advance.

Ally

lou06

Feel for you Ally, we are in the same position, kitchen tap frozen for 4 days now, Scottish Water can't find shut off toby. They said to keep the cold water tap just open to allow any thawing to escape without too much pressure coming through quickly. Of course I'm worried for the fatal burst pipe and looking at advice too.

Lou x

ally18

Hi Lou,

You poor things, I paniced today and thats only one day without water! I'm worried about the pipes bursting as well but I didn't think to leave a tap open slightly. Oh h*ll!

lou06

Don't think there is a thaw happening anytime soon. It was -18 this morning walking the kids to school only a 3 minute walk but they were crying
Fingers crossed for both of us then

Hopefully get some good advice from others soon x

Risinfromthegutter

...I awoke this morning to find that I have no water except from the cold tap in the kitchen... my toilet won't flush but my cetral heating works?

What may the problem be and how can I rectify it?

I have rung my water company they said that it doesn't sound like frozen pipes and as I am getting water from the kitchen tap it is not their problem. It is a private problem and I should get a plumber!

lynni_2

lou06 wrote: »

Don't think there is a thaw happening anytime soon. It was -18 this morning walking the kids to school only a 3 minute walk but they were crying
Fingers crossed for both of us then

Hopefully get some good advice from others soon x

Thaw to start Thurs

Hope your pipes are ok Ally

ally18

Going home at lunchtime to open up a tap!

I feel for the kids, the pain in my fingers this morning when trying to defrost the car really hurt.

Take care.

A.Penny.Saved

What heating system do you have? Newer Combi boilers don't require tanks. Cold water is usually mains fed and does not go to a tank. I do seem to remember my parents older combi boiler having a small tank in the loft to feed the boiler but that was removed when the boiler was replaced with a newer model.

It did get quite cold her last night, my browser weather monitor showed -12 which I didn't believe but going outside early this morning with a digital temp monitor showed -10.7C.

I tried my show which is most at risk due to micro bore piping going down a southerly facing solid wall and thankfully it was okay.

So what heating system do you have? Is there a boiler? Does it heat hot water when you need it?

Where does water enter your premises? Where is the mains water tap?

ally18

Hi apennysaved,

My c/h is an old baxi boiler run by gas which is working fine, no problem with that at all. The cold water comes into the house in the kitchen where the stopcock is and that was running this morning.
There is a cold water tank in the loft and thats where I think the problem is as the cold water is not reaching the upstairs taps, shower and toilet cisterns.

ally18

Risinfromthegutter,

Yep, sounds like the same problem. I am not paying for a plumber just yet! Can't afford it.

ally

zzzLazyDaisy

Risinfromthegutter wrote: »

...I awoke this morning to find that I have no water except from the cold tap in the kitchen... my toilet won't flush but my cetral heating works?

What may the problem be and how can I rectify it?

I have rung my water company they said that it doesn't sound like frozen pipes and as I am getting water from the kitchen tap it is not their problem. It is a private problem and I should get a plumber!

It could still be frozen pipes. Do you have a water tank and water pipes in your attic? If so, the insulation could be stopping the heat from the house getting into the attic (that's the intention after all!) but this could have caused your pipes to freeze up.

The central heating is probably on a closed loop system which would mean that as long as it is kept running, it won't freeze.

The water company is right - they are delivering water to the house through the mains, so the problem is inside the house, and therefore not their responsibility.

Watch out for burst pipes when the thaw starts, and as someone else has said, leave the taps slightly open so the water can drain off as it thaws which might help to minimise any damage if you do have a burst.

In the meantime, if you can get up into the loft with a blow air heater, or even a hair dryer, you might be able to thaw the pipes out. Once you are back to normal, you need to lag all the pipes to help stop this happening again.

NB - I'm not a plumber or even an expert - I'm just someone who has had this problem in the past