Okay we’ll try the hair dryer thing–had some fear about that after some comments above but it seems it’s probably okay.
As for the plumber, that should just cost us $60! Yay home warranties! (Or I am forgetting what I read a year ago when i signed the thing…)
ETA: No but seriously this home warranty thing is magic. I called a few weeks ago just to confirm this: If our heater breaks down–and it will, guaranteed practically, ever 10 years or so, is what I read–they come out and replace the whole thing for sixty bucks. Total. That’s amazing to me.)
Really?! My house was built in 1956 and still has the boiler that was originally installed. It might be a little inefficient but it works like a charm. I figure, if it ain’t broke, no need to fix it.
Really? Why? Does the water there corrode the heater? If so, does it also corrode the pipes?
One of my hot water heaters was built in 1955, & I have the warranty card to prove it, just in case it fails. The POs of my house kept ALL of the records for EVERYTHING that they bought for this house. It is an amazing read. I have kept up the files as I do repairs.
I’m confused. If there is no water running anywhere in the house, wouldn’t the problem be before the plumbing splits off to all the rooms? Or is it all the faucets and toilets in that one bathroom? Multiple faucets in a bathroom I get but multiple toilets?
Your experience with home warranties is different from mine. In my experience, they’ll come out and put a band-aid on the heater and call it working, so no further repairs are necessary. It is only when they cannot find a band-aid solution that will work that they consider replacement. When they do decide to replace, it isn’t with the top-of-the-line equipment.
For the one that seems to have low pressure, the partial freeze may have chunked off some rust and mung from here and there-- take off the faucet aerator and see if some grotty chunks need flushing from that area.
And as a northwesterner now in MO (warmish with moments of WTF super cold surprise time so underprepared architecture) I feel your pain-- we live in houses with crawlspaces and UGH. Leave the taps open a bit and in some days they will thaw out but it is very slow. if you can get under the house with a hairdryer or open cabinets or stick a space heater close to your voids that will help, but it’s a waiting game. Make friends with the neighbors… and seal the vents to the underside of the house very well for the winter if you have a crawlspace.
Upon losing power at the “trailer in the woods”, restoration of power and thawing required the disassembly of pipe to the pump, resulting in a cylinder of iron, magnesium and various other things sliding out of the outlet from the pump, resembling something that I am sure you can imagine in a toilet.
:dubious:
Some more advice – we’ve been drizzling the water in the bathroom round the clock for about two week or so now, (I live in Pittsburgh). However, our toilet hasn’t been flushing, so we’ve been doing it with a bucket. Just a tip if you need it.
Good luck! And don’t stop the drizzle even after you fix it. Now is not the time to worry about water bills. Make sure you have an even mix of hot and cold.
Often the culprit is an outside faucet adjacent to an indoor plumbing fixture. The fastest way to thaw it is to boil water to soak rags with and place on pipes closest to outside fixture. If you can get into the crawl space take a bucket of the warm water and some rags and run them the length of pipe.
