I haven’t had water since Monday. The temperature dropped quickly (when I wasn’t home, naturally), and my pipes have frozen. I have a member of maintenance coming by SOMETIME today to take a look at it, but I have no idea when. He looked at the pipes yesterday, and decided to replace the “heat stick” (the house is built on what used to be a trailer park, and apparently still uses the heat stick…a wire that runs from the ground, along the length of the water pipe to keep it warm). Apparently, the heat stick isn’t working properly.
However, since I have had no water since Monday night, I’m a little tired of waiting. The thought of crawling under the house with a hair dryer has occured to me (though I have to confess that it also holds no real appeal).
If I were to use the hair dryer method, how long would I have to hold the hair dryer at a particular point to ensure flow (at the time that I type this - 1:07pm - it’s 32 degrees outside). Would I need to cover every inch of the pipe, or could I do it at regular intervals?
The thought of using a small torch occured to me, too. But since I was kicked out of both the Boy Scouts AND college for accidentally starting fires, perhaps open flame isn’t the best idea.
First of all, make sure that you open up the taps in your home. If all your taps are closed you do not have a chance, since it is flow under pressure which will give you the break through.
Secondly, unless you warm up the entire length of the exposed pipe you do not have a chance.
Do not heat a particular spot too long. Keep moving the torch. Severe temperature gradients can cause the pipe to burst.
Hair dryer is safer all round, but it takes at least ten time longer than a small propane torch.
Why not purchase a heat tape that wraps around the pipe? It slowly thaws the pipe and keeps the water (that will eventually flow through it) from freezing.
While a hair dryer is painfully slow, and a open flame torch presumably faster, are you sure you want to risk burning down your home using the latter? I know the inconvenience of not having water in winter. However, don’t forget to weigh the risks if you make a mistake.
You can purchase electrical heat tape from your local building supply. Wrap it around the pipe, plug it in, open the taps and wait. I used hair dryers on my own pipes, but I knew where the frozen section was.
If it’s only 32 degrees, then a hair dryer should do the job pretty quickly. You might even be able to just put a small space heater (something safe, like a ceramic heater) under there and get the ambient temperature up high enough.
You might also check the power to the heat stick and make sure it isn’t something as simple as a tripped breaker.
I had a similar problem at my old house. What I did was rent a salamander heater and blow hot air into my basement where the pipes had frozen. After an hour of that, I had water again.