frozen bathroom

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JBloggs

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HELP
DD = DUFUS Daughter turned off the heat in the cottage it is 34 in there right now, and the toilet water is frozen solid. I have guests in there tonight.
I have the heat on in the bathroom and the room and a secondary oil coil heater in there, any other advice? Have never had this before. THANK YOU!
 
warm water down sink and toilet - not boiling as can crack if too fast
 
You have been given the best advice. When my lines freeze (no way to get heat tape around them, folks) I have lowered an electric heater with fan (part of heater) directed toward the water line through a convenient trap door in the kitchen floor. It needs to heat slowly to try to keep it from bursting. Likewise with the toilet the salt will melt the ice without cracking the bowl.
 
You might have to move the guests. If the pipes froze as well, they will let loose as soon as the water warms up. DH agrees with the warm water in the toilet a little at a time. Scoop the water out as it thaws and add more warm water. He also agrees with the hair dryer. Is the water running in the sink and shower? Or is that frozen, too?
 
Yikes! In addition to the other suggestions, a heating pad on the sink pipes, if you have access, should speed things along. But you might need to relocate your guests since the surfaces in the cottage will take quite a while to warm, especially if you have a forced hot air system like many southern locations.
 
So the thing that is supposed to keep the pipes from freezing from the basement to the cottage was turned off. The heat was also turned off in the cottage. So they all froze on the way over, and then once there. Dh believes they are in thaw mode.
Fortunately we had a room open to move the guests for tonight, before they got here. and the best part is that the only place those pipes go is from the water heater and one foot and three foot from it, to the sink, toilet & shower
Thanks everyone!
 
No advice from this deep southerner of course. But I will keep fingers crossed for no residual issues from the thawing process.
 
My sister is taking a few weeks off from her store, so she turned the heat off! (This is her first winter in this building.)
It has been 4F/-15C here the last two nights, so she went down to check today. The water to the bathroom was frozen up (duh) so she turned the heat on, said she'd go check it tomorrow.
I said no, I'll go check it tonight! If a pipe was split the whole place could be flooding! Hope that doesn't happen in your cottage.
 
Arks said:
My sister is taking a few weeks off from her store, so she turned the heat off! (This is her first winter in this building.)
It has been 4F/-15C here the last two nights, so she went down to check today. The water to the bathroom was frozen up (duh) so she turned the heat on, said she'd go check it tomorrow.
I said no, I'll go check it tonight! If a pipe was split the whole place could be flooding! Hope that doesn't happen in your cottage..
Click to expand...
That is why I will be pulling all-nighters for the next few nights. Himself will not allow the gas heater in the kitchen to be on unless someone is conscious. Without that heater, it is frozen for sure even with dripping faucet and sink cabinet doors open.
Several sets of sheets came with the king bed. I brought them down today and about 3 AM for the next few days a load of laundry will be done to help keep water flowing. I might even (shudder) finish up all the pillowcases during the vigil.
 
Arks said:
My sister is taking a few weeks off from her store, so she turned the heat off! (This is her first winter in this building.)
It has been 4F/-15C here the last two nights, so she went down to check today. The water to the bathroom was frozen up (duh) so she turned the heat on, said she'd go check it tomorrow.
I said no, I'll go check it tonight! If a pipe was split the whole place could be flooding! Hope that doesn't happen in your cottage..
Click to expand...
our building is entirely stone - if you turn all the heating off it takes about 3 days to warm through - just isn't worth it, we put it down to low and thats as far as it goes.
 
So have things thawed out yet? When dealing with frozen pipes I always turn the water off at a shut-off valve upstream of the frozen area. Then if things do thaw out and there is a burst pipe, I won't be inundated with water showing up in unexpected places. When you do turn the water back on, either have observers stationed or have a very keen ear. When you turn the water on, if no pipes are burst and all the faucets, etc..., are closed, then you should not hear water running. If you do, you've got a problem.
 
Copperhead said:
No advice from this deep southerner of course. But I will keep fingers crossed for no residual issues from the thawing process..
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Amen! Unfortunately, we had pipes bust in a rental property. Plummer is coming tomorrow.
Cooperhead, where are you located?
 
Hi! I'm new. But we have an old trick for frozen pipes. Hair dryers! I grew up in a house that the kitchen sink pipes froze every night in the cold New England winter. (until dad started draining the pipes every night before going to bed.) We never lost the pipes. Last week we had the apartment and Room # 5's pipes frozen solid. The plumber got the apartment going but not 5. He said we would just have to wait for the thaw and clean up the mess. I stuck two hair dryers down the pipes to the tub, the plumber didn't think it would work. (changing them out every 15 minutes to keep from over heating. Positive for having an inn, lots of hair dryers.) We had water running twenty minutes after he left!
 

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