Think pipes have frozen, help!

highrisklowreturn

I can't get my oil burner to work. Can anyone help? I'm switching it on inside but no result - if I go out and hit the reset key it's firing up, stays on for about 5 seconds, then sounds like it's wavering, then dies off. To compound this I went to have a bath last night heated with the immersion and got no water out of either tap - funnily enough the other taps in the house are working to pipe both warm and cold but not the bath - which is higher up and closer to the wall and thus the cold. Could the pipes be frozen?

nzmegs

It is a possibility. My advice is to turn off your water at the stop !!!! and find the section of pipe where you think the frozen bit might be. Warm it with a hair dryer for a while to see if you can get things moving. Then cover the pipe with insulation to prevent it happening again.

The parts of the pipe which are most vulnerable to splitting are corners or connections so carefully check these to see if you have any hairline cracks or water seepage. if the water is backing up behind a frozen section it could burst at these points and then you have a major problem.

Try googling burst pipes or frozen pipes for more advice.Insurance companies in particular offer good advice on what to do.

I don't have any advice about the oil burner though. Are you sure you have enough oil in it? I would get someone in about it. Do you have another way to warm your house in the meantime?

anniebea

I unfroze pipes in a flat that I let out yesterday. Bring in heaters to warm up the room if you have no heating and use a hairdryer on the affected pipes. It took a while but it appears to have thawed without any problems.

Tenant had gone away over the weekend and left the heating to come on for an hour in the morning and evening. Dont think she realised the consequences of her actions!!!!:mad:

highrisklowreturn

well I hope it's as simple as sticking a radiator in the room and hoping the pipe will unfreeze - don't have a hairdryer unfortunately. Do you know where the stop-!!!! would be if I need to cut the water off if it does burst or how do I go about generally stopping a flood?

Tupperware_Queen

highrisklowreturn wrote: »

well I hope it's as simple as sticking a radiator in the room and hoping the pipe will unfreeze - don't have a hairdryer unfortunately. Do you know where the stop-!!!! would be if I need to cut the water off if it does burst or how do I go about generally stopping a flood?

find that stop !!!! asap!!! it is often in the kitchen, ours was beind the washing machine, a right pain to have to pull it out every time!! alternatively, some new properties only have them at the inlet into the house - so you have to go outside - brrrr

Tupperware_Queen

lol its so funny, the swear filter obviously dislikes the four letter word beginning with 'C' and ending in 'ock' .....I appreciate that in another context it could be offensive, but it renders this thread almost gibberish!!

highrisklowreturn

what on earth does a stop co ck look like anyway?