Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Water Pipes - what to do ???

I already have one toilet on the north side of house that is frozen by pouring water vut it isn't filling. Guessing I should leave the valve open and for now I put a heating pad on it but.....anything I should be doing? Only pace heater is at my camper...doing nothing. Worried about my line to my water heater and to my washing machine...... any advice. for us warm weather Texans.

Pray for warmer weather. Not trying to be a smartazz, but the time to worry about is before they freeze. Afterwards is too late

Space heater? Insulate pipes if ongoing problem

Turn heat up . Get heat to any lines possible

This dad gum it global warming is for Oregon

Bwahahaha

Kill the water to your house and drain all lines to the best of your ability.

Open your other faucets to a trickle.
Flowing water won't freeze as easily and may help thaw the frozen spot
Ur lady got hair dryer?

Some stores sell "heat trace" essentially high resistance extension cords.

Go buy two or three space heaters and put them where they need to be.

Friggin heating pad ain't gonna do schit.

If you have metalic pipe a women's hair dryer blown onto the stop valve at the wall (remove the escutcheon if you can) and that will heat the piping to the point you may get it flowing again. If you have pex the heat transfer is not nearly as good but still may work if the freeze point is close to the stop valve.

Now the danger in all of this is if the pipe froze and split but is not leaking because of the ice holding the water you will spring a leak when you thaw it, of course this leak is going to appear sooner or later anyway. The good news is now you know where the freezing point was in the pipe after you tear into your wall or ceiling below to find and fix the leak.

Open all the doors under the sinks and let the faucets do a steady small stream of water. a little higher water bill is nothing compared to broken frozen pipes. Good luck to all you Southern guys. Global warming you say? I've never seen the jet stream dipping down this low.

If the pipes are inside cupboards, especially on outside walls, and the house is above freezing, it sometimes helps to leave the cupboard doors open.

Dripping the hot water taps will circulate water through the hot water feeder line. At this point I would run the clothes washer, might be a good time to do laundry 🙂

Disconnect any outdoor water hose .

I get it JamesJr- didn't take it as smart assed.


Other than cover the outdoor spigots, leave doors and cabinets open and leave a sink dripping what else? >

This is also the best way to find the low spots in your plumbing. When things thaw out and you turn the water back on, the pipes will be split at the low spots.

Cabinets open, faucets dripping. Heat from whatever source you can find directed onto pipes. Cross your fingers the line isn’t cracked.

Ok- heard I should run cold water instead - hot makes more sense. I did at least think of the washing and did it all before the sub freezing stuff hit. Am worried about the pipes for the washer though.

If there’s a sink in the room turn the water on. If there’s a cabinet below the sink open it. Anything to get the water moving and give a pressure relief valve for the pipes in that area.
I don’t remember which forum it was on but someone posted a good video about how much the pressure builds.

I had a water line in a wall that froze once, and I shut the room off, put a space heater in it, and turned the heat up. Thawed out in a few hours with no damage.


Good luck, been there before.

Wash some clothes. Or unhook the hoses and trickle into the tub manually.

If I was dripping water, I’d do it both on hot and cold, both can and will freeze if wall insulation isn’t up to snuff.