Easy frozen water main cure.

[WorldCitizen]

Anyone out there who was as foolish as I by not covering your outdoor pipes may have a frozen water main. I learned if you have an older house and can’t figure where the water main enters, its probably outside where the spogot is for your hose. I wrapped those hand warmer packets you keep in your gloves or coat when skiing around the spigot and five minutes later the water ran freely. No sitting outside with a hair dryer!

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[B-squared]

Wow, i wish i had read this a while ago. Was under neighbors house with a hair dryer:(

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[JoB]

what a great idea…

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[JanS]

excellent idea…landlord neglects to wrap our outside spigot…he’ll pay bigtime someday.

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[Franci]

If you don’t happen to have hand warmers.. This worked for me last year… I was out of town when the freeze in early December hit, found one of my outside spigot’s frozen.. I wrapped it in a bath towel that had been soaked in hot water, got the water running again before putting the faucet cover in place. :)

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[metrognome]

for those of you who still have metal pipes, you can also use a battery charger to gently thaw frozen pipes by running a low voltage current thru the pipe to warm it (altho if the pipe cracked, you will get a gusher.) Since the +/- clamps won’t spread far enough on their own, attach one clamp to a wire that you can attach to the pipe past the frozen portion. I understand arc welders work too, but how many of us have one laying around …

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[Garden_nymph]

Excellent tip WorldCitizen! Thank you for sharing!

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[redblack]

a better tip is to shut off the gate valve that controls the outside spigot that’s inside the house or crawl space when freezing temps are forecast. or have a plumber install a frost-free sillcock.

“an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” and all that…

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[meg]

I have an outdoor spigot that is frozen and not running. I checked my water shut off and there is only 1 valve and that is to my whole house. Does anyone know if I should look elsewhere for one?

And since it seems to be frozen- should I leave the spigot open for when it does thaw?

The pipe itself is in a fairly inaccessible crawl space.

Agh.

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[WorldCitizen]

Wrap the pipe and let the water slowly drip out of an interior faucet over night. In the morning thaw the spigot with something hot. Or thaw it tonight to help prevent it from potentially bursting then wrap it immediately afterward.

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[redblack]

or like my grandfather used to say, “hang a rosary on it and pray.”

if the pipe is in that crawl space, amy, then there should be a gate valve down there, too; most likely it’s wherever that pipe exits the house on its way to your outdoor spigot, or at a corresponding location inside the house. so it may not be directly behind that spigot.

you could call a handyman to crawl in there for you. while he’s at it, he can install a new frost-free sillcock and you can sleep without worries.

like WC said, though, running water doesn’t freeze; so keep a tap – any tap – open. but if you hear water running anywhere it’s not supposed to be, shut off the house main valve and call a plumber.

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[JoB]

redblack

frost free sillcocks are great..

but don’t count on them to keep your pipes unfrozen in a protracted cold spell…

we learned that one the hard way in Minnesota:(

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[meg]

Thanks! I got both outdoor spigots running this morning. Insulated them and wrapped them up too. Thanks!

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[Author]

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