Frozen Water pipes

discostu1

Hi lads living in Bishopstown, detached house Kenley area. We have no water since this morning, rang my plumber says its frozen pipes, rang City council they say the same. Both advised to put hot water down where the stopcock is. I have done this but still no water. The tank in the attic is empty at this stage.
The stopcock is on the footpath about 30 meters from the front door, and about 3/4 below the surface of the road.
I seem to be the only one effected in the estate, any suggestions or ideas, dont fancy waiting for a thaw

tommmy1979

Have you got a garden tap (on the wall below kitchen window)? These often cause this problem because they're exposed to the elements and they're between mains line and the house feed.. try pouring hot water on the outdoor tap.

T

Gwen10

We are in same situation - living in Douglas. No water since Tues morning. Seem to be only house in estate with no water. Got same advice from council but no luck and have no outside tap on mains.
Anybody got any advice ?

Stargate

discostu1 wrote: »

Hi lads living in Bishopstown, detached house Kenley area. We have no water since this morning, rang my plumber says its frozen pipes, rang City council they say the same. Both advised to put hot water down where the stopcock is. I have done this but still no water. The tank in the attic is empty at this stage.
The stopcock is on the footpath about 30 meters from the front door, and about 3/4 below the surface of the road.
I seem to be the only one effected in the estate, any suggestions or ideas, dont fancy waiting for a thaw

Mine was the same since last monday , do the hot water thing to no avail , it came on last nite after the thaw , letting it trickle now to be sure

discostu1

Hi lads tried hot water on the outside tap still no joy,are there many others in this situation

FunkyMissMonkey

I'm in Grange with no water since Tuesday also. Really hoping it gets a little warmer today to help it thaw!

I'd like to be able to have a shower for Christmas ... :rolleyes:

D-Generate

Pour down salt water maybe?

discostu1

Hi lads, still no water.Was hoping the thaw today would help.Anyone have any idea how long this could take?

Thanks again.

discostu1

Hi chaps sorry to be a bore but still no water, has anyone who had frozen pipes got theirs back or has any one an idea of what if anything I can do, or a time frame for this to thaw. I saw a forcast tonight saying it was ok tonight but getting cold again in the next few days

leahyl

discostu1 wrote: »

Hi chaps sorry to be a bore but still no water, has anyone who had frozen pipes got theirs back or has any one an idea of what if anything I can do, or a time frame for this to thaw. I saw a forcast tonight saying it was ok tonight but getting cold again in the next few days

Hi my friend had no water for 2days and got it back yesterday but she recommended to keep pouring boiling water on the stopcock so maybe keep doing that constantly cos that's what got it back for them:)

rebel.ranter

Just remember you are trying to thaw out days of freezing water, it might need a good bit of hot water on the stop cock. I'd say your outside tap has thawed out at this stage.

discostu1

Hi lads, woke up this morning and had my water back, many thanks for all the replies, off now to have a shower in my own house for the first time in days :D:D

FunkyMissMonkey

Still no water here, really worried it's a burst pipe somewhere now. Eeep.

discostu1

Sorry to hear that FunkyMissMonkey mate of mine has a neighbour in Rochestown in the same position. IF it was a broken pipe, assuming it has thawed where would the water go ???

FunkyMissMonkey

Not a burst pipe, just a longer thawing time apparently! I HAVE WATER, WOOOO!

So needing a shower at this point.

discostu1

Great News Funky, one thing, when they do meter water, I reckon I will be bankrupt I must use a fortune every day you only realise it when you dont have it. Forecast now on the tv Bitterly cold sleet snow, severe frost so I will be letting my tap run over night

nifheorais

No water since Christmas Day in shantalla Galway city.City council is of no use to us. At least 3 houses all neighbours on same street have rang in and no plumber has appeared that I know of. I have left messages on voice mail but no one has got back to us.What can we do? :mad::eek:

discostu1

Sorry to hear that nifheorais, I spoke to the Corpo and my plumber and I am on very good terms with the plumber, basically he reckoned nothing can be done, in my particular case, he did say that in rare enough cases you could put in an electric cable that would run parallel to the pipe but emphasised this would be rare. Like yourself we were just told to sit it out. Looking at the forecast it aint getting a lot better for the next few days

FunkyMissMonkey

discostu1 wrote: »

Great News Funky, one thing, when they do meter water, I reckon I will be bankrupt I must use a fortune every day you only realise it when you dont have it. Forecast now on the tv Bitterly cold sleet snow, severe frost so I will be letting my tap run over night

Tell me about it! We bought 30 2l bottles from Tesco (39c a bottle, it's like the water metering already started!) and the rate we went through it was scary. I dread to think how much the water charges are going to start costing us all.

Outkast_IRE

I would reccomend to anyone whos pipes have frozen to consider digging up along the line during the summer and burying the pipe deeper and insulating it as well at the same time

sunnyside

Does this sound like frozen water pipes?

My taps are working and the cistern re-filled but there is no water coming from the shower.

Is this possibly bacause the taps are working from the tank in the attic but the shower requires too much water?

suppafly

Our pipes froze the other day too. Came back by the middle of the day thankfully. Its ment to be even colder tonight though so hopefully they don't freeze up again

FunkyMissMonkey

I'd advise you keep a tap running, preferably the one that comes straight off the mains supply (kitchen sink in most cases). This *should* stop it freezing, as the constant movement of the water means it doesn't have time to freeze.

With the forecast temperatures we've got coming up this week though, who knows. :rolleyes:

discostu1

Hi lads in Dec last year my water pipes along with lots of others in the city frozen.It turned out it froze at the stopcock where it joined the mains I saw an ad in the Cork Independent the other weel and had a stopcock cosy think of a tea cosy but for a stopcock fitted today. €25.00 and all done by a local bloke.
Well worth the money I reckon barring Siberian frost I should be sorted
the website is
www.stopcockcosy.com

the phone no is 0214546800

I hasten to add I have no connection with this guy but its a good item, its local comparatively cheap and it means I wont smell over Christmas this year well worth a look

Outkast_IRE

as a plumber i can tell you that the idea is flawed , i could see it make a small difference where the stop cock is particularily exposed , but with a lot of the houses with frozen mains its a case where all the pipework and stopcock is far shallower than they should be . so the freeze isnt necessarily at the stopcock at all .
Best of luck anyway, hope it helps for €25 its worth a shot.

Owen

If you have any unused car batteries lying around, connecting a set of jumpleads onto it, and shorting them off your stopcock will pretty much decimate any ice inside too. Word of warning, it can also give you a nasty shock if you don't know what you're doing, but it's a very very quick fix.

deRanged

Outkast_IRE wrote: »

as a plumber i can tell you that the idea is flawed , i could see it make a small difference where the stop cock is particularily exposed , but with a lot of the houses with frozen mains its a case where all the pipework and stopcock is far shallower than they should be . so the freeze isnt necessarily at the stopcock at all .
Best of luck anyway, hope it helps for €25 its worth a shot.

I was about to chip in and agree with this.
our house froze last year and the problem was with the main line just outside the house - whereas the neighbours froze and they were able to thaw it at the stopcock. it's a small enough amount of money to eliminate one possible problem though.

2 stroke

PaintDoctor wrote: »

If you have any unused car batteries lying around, connecting a set of jumpleads onto it, and shorting them off your stopcock will pretty much decimate any ice inside too. Word of warning, it can also give you a nasty shock if you don't know what you're doing, but it's a very very quick fix.

I really wouldn't recomend this.

Oafley Jones

2 stroke wrote: »

I really wouldn't recomend this.

+1

That sort of "advice" shouldn't be posted.

themonboys

2 stroke wrote: »

I really wouldn't recomend this.

Neither would I, a lot more amps in DC, direct short with no load, massive release of hydrogen with possible nearby sparks, potential for current to travel along the water and zap anyone having a shower touching a rad/tap in near by houses.

Owen

Jesus lads, you'd swear it was a move by Al Quaida. You're not talking about clamping it on and letting the current into the water, it's an instantaneous thing, did it with plenty of houses in my estate last year, and no hassles at all.

Where's the hydrogen supposed to come from btw? Genuinely curious.