How do you unfreeze pipes?

Most people here in the North country know that when the temps are that cold to leave the facet running just a tiny tiny bit, about the size of the lead in a pencil, the sharpen end. That keeps the water running slow ion the pipe and so no freezing should happen. Been doing this for 50 years now in the cold cold nights of 20, 30 or even getting down as far as 40 Below. Let a facet run slightly no freezing of pipes. Cool...

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\ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY DO NOT USE OPEN FLAME OF ANY TYPE. I do not know ANY insurer that will cover you if you have a fire. All policies I have seen now have a specific exclusion - i.e. if you burn the house down while thawing pipes with open flame (i.e. torch) your insurance is null and void.

I don't know if they still make them but there used to be collar you can use to fix a split metal water pipe. It has a ruber insde and it is 2 piecec that fasten around the pipe with screws. Hope you get your water fixed soon. Sam

What tamsam said. That would be my approach too in this weather. Here's what one style looks like.

http://www.smith-blair.com/html/leak_repair_clamp.html

I'm going through the same thing here in NW Arizona . It's been unusually cold for here ...it got down to 9 above last night and the pipes to the water heater froze up . UGH! I installed heat tape and foam insulation around the pipes this afternoon ....

We'll see what happens tonight as its supposed to be COLD COLD COLD again !

DR-1

Round here it is better to rig something else to supply you with water this season. Wait for spring to thaw your previous piping, and try again with a better designed system.

I've seen the results of running the dryer vent under the house or into a crawl space on a permanent basis. Lift the house and replace the entirely rotten lower wall sections and floor joists and then try to remove all of the mold. This is a clever temporary idea for heat on frozen pipes and a disasterous idea when done permanently.

Hey,pretty nice! it looks to be a about 4-5 inches long,do you know if they come that size?

I think it might be split higher up too though.I will look at it tomorrow.

Also someone suggested using a porta potty,then pouring it into the toilet when full,we have one of those camping toilets,going to dig that out tomorrow too.

As for burning the house down,I left a towel on a friends stove and it almost caught on fire.He was all kinds of upset."I said dont sweat it Tom,if it burns down you can get double paned windows." He replied,"I forgot to send the insurance payment!" Oops.
Then go figure.You almost burn someones house down,and you never hear the end of it.Some People,Geesh!

BooBoo

We use them at work, and yes, they do come in longer length's. The longer ones have two bolts to secure the clamp vs one bolt. Of course, you can always try the tried-and-true method of wrapping it with inner tube rubber and a zillion hose clamps until the weather gets a little better.

My water froze Thursday night and it may be two weeks or more before I get water again. I understand your misery. I don't know what your source is, but last year, when my spring water was frozen, my drains in the house also froze (I was carrying in buckets of water from the creek, but not much water going down the drains, so they froze). I finally had to resort to a little bit of salt in the drain water to clean them out. I would not do that on a regular basis, as salt is contaminant to ground water, but in an emergency, it may work. So, if you can add salt to the water before the freeze, you might just thaw it that way.

Ours is not permanent. There is a vent in the wall and one in the floor. The dryer exhaust can be put in the floor to send the heat under the house to thaw the pipes. It can then be moved back to the wall vent. When using the dryer to put heat under the house, we tell the renter to put a few dry towels in the dryer, not wet clothes. That helps keep the moisture down and the heat where we want it to go. Another idea might be to add a hose under the floor to send the heat to the area where the pipes freeze.

A heat tape would be a better solution, but as this is a rental house and we aren't there to take care of it, there is a problem with animals getting under there and tearing off the tape. It only freezes maybe once every few years, so this solution works for us.

Thanks again to all for the super ideas.I'll go get the inner tube off the wifes car in the morning,along with a zillion hose clamps,LOL

Seriously,I DO have a zillion hose clamps,I suppose I could even take an inner tube off one of the bikes if I cant get this pipe fixed any time soon.

Sure would be a treat if Ace carries those pipe fixers.

BooBoo

Any repair that's done to a copper pipe needs an open flame.

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Speaking of open flame, I read this today and thought of this thread:

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news...62/detail.html

"BOULDER, Colo. -- A Boulder County residence may be a total loss after fire officials said the homeowners were trying to unfreeze a water pipe and started a fire that engulfed the residence."

The dripping water works in most cases.

However, a few years ago it got to 28 below zero here. Next morning, I’m thinking we’re in good shape – water still flowing. Weather warmed up that day, I’m on the road with work, decide to stop by house for some food. Step into house – what’s that sound? Sounds like a pressure washer! While cursing, run to basement to see half inch of water on carpet, water running down wall over sheetrock. Ran to valve to shut off water supply.

Busted pipe was on a dead end line to an outdoor faucet. Still not sure why froze there – had a vent in the ceiling to allow warm air – perhaps a gap in insulation where braces were between joists. Doesn’t take much of a defect to allow freezing in severe cold.

Can’t imagine what our basement (finished) would have been like had I not stopped by.

Next time we have severe cold, and it warms up, I’m going to shut off water supply to our house during the day when we’re not home.

I didn't have insulation in the water meter box and it froze there. Hair dryer (on 200 ft ext cord) and then built a (later planted sweet potatoes there) dirt mound over top of it to prevent recurrences.