No Water

mato

can someone help with this problem please. Pipes froze last week and since then we have had no water, both hot and cold tanks now empty (stupid we know) but now that thaw is here we still have no water coming in from mains so no water anywhere in house. Any suggestions?

items

mato wrote: »

can someone help with this problem please. Pipes froze last week and since then we have had no water, both hot and cold tanks now empty (stupid we know) but now that thaw is here we still have no water coming in from mains so no water anywhere in house. Any suggestions?

Your mains could be still frozen, or it could have burst underground. Mains pressure behind a frost plug can bust a plastic pipe. Depending on how badly it could be burst you should still have some kind of supply.

Do you have a Co Council supply? or a Community supply? or a Fresh water well?

Best know where your water comes from first.

mato

Thank for reply items. We are on Cork county council mains supply. We have had a good thaw here in Cork yesterday and today although still very cold so we thought water would have freed. We've tried all the suggestions here of pouring water on stopcock and using hairdryer on incoming pipes and outside tap but still nada. Neighbours water fine.
Could it be airlocked?

items

mato wrote: »

Thank for reply items. We are on Cork county council mains supply. We have had a good thaw here in Cork yesterday and today although still very cold so we thought water would have freed. We've tried all the suggestions here of pouring water on stopcock and using hairdryer on incoming pipes and outside tap but still nada. Neighbours water fine.
Could it be airlocked?

Their is always more than enough pressure in a water main to remove any air.

Have you no supply at all, not even a drip at sink?

While you were at outside stopcock, could you hear water moving through the valve or was their dead silence?

mato

We had very low pressure at the kitchen tap for a day or two early in the week then nothing since. I can't tell whether there were water sounds at stop cock as I didn't do that and no one else here to ask at moment. Guess we'll just have to wait until after weekend & get someone out. No water is the pits! Thanks for help items

items

Try and locate outside stopcock, then try and listen out for moving water, its real obvious. Have a listen to next doors while tap running to compare.

If you can provide Co Council with some proof that water main is bust, they might come out sooner.

If you hear water moving through the valve but have no supply at house then its definitely bust underground. No idea what Cork Co Council is like, if it is bust in your boundary they might just shut off the supply until you have it fixed.

Hard to tell what it really is from here, best of luck.

pipers

Mains pipe frozen in my house in South Dublin. It freezes overnight & appears to thaw out by early afternoon. Tank in the attic has emptied twice since Christmas Eve.

items

pipers wrote: »

Mains pipe frozen in my house in South Dublin. It freezes overnight & appears to thaw out by early afternoon. Tank in the attic has emptied twice since Christmas Eve.

If its happening regular, at night do a load of washing at longest setting, stick on dishwasher before bed, even leave mains slightly open filling a bucket or barrel etc.

If water main is moving water during a freeze, the movement should stop if from freezing over.

Blonde27

Hi All
Came back to my house after a couple of days. I had the heating on timer to make sure the pipes didnt freeze. However, I went to have a shower (electric) this evening and no water came out. Does this sound like a problem with the tank freezing or a dodgy shower?

items

Blonde27 wrote: »

Hi All
Came back to my house after a couple of days. I had the heating on timer to make sure the pipes didnt freeze. However, I went to have a shower (electric) this evening and no water came out. Does this sound like a problem with the tank freezing or a dodgy shower?

Unlikely to have a tank frozen up, could be shower problem. If your showers off mains water supply maybe its being effected by poor mains supply.

Blonde27

the pump is working but no water, there is water coming from the rest of the taps...dont know what to do..

items

Blonde27 wrote: »

the pump is working but no water, there is water coming from the rest of the taps...dont know what to do..

Turn temp on shower to lowest setting, remove shower head,and drop hose down onto shower tray, try running shower that way, might draw some water into motor and have it running. Give that a try running shower max at 30 sec to a min. You can try it a few times but don't go mad. Turning the temp down will save shower from burning out from no water.

Hard to say from here but try that first, let us know what happens, any water at all etc.

Blonde27

Items
Thanks so much! Tried your solution and there is water running through it again, water is back to normal. It nearly seemed that the supply of water was blocked

items

No probs, have nice shower.

422452

Hi
We have fresh water well and water treatment system.
Water went on X MAs eve - we turned off motor and treatment system. However despite good thaw yesterday and today we still have no water.
Our neighbours with the same system thawed yest and have water.
The switch for water pump and tratment system now trips both when you turn on motor/treatment system and when they're off.
We tried using hair dryer and boiling water around treatment system and exposed pipes - to no success
Any suggestions greatly appreciated
Thanks
O

CJhaughey

422452 wrote: »

Hi
We have fresh water well and water treatment system.
Water went on X MAs eve - we turned off motor and treatment system. However despite good thaw yesterday and today we still have no water.
Our neighbours with the same system thawed yest and have water.
The switch for water pump and tratment system now trips both when you turn on motor/treatment system and when they're off.
We tried using hair dryer and boiling water around treatment system and exposed pipes - to no success
Any suggestions greatly appreciated
Thanks
O

Frozen pipework may have burst somewhere, check to see if it's leaking.

items

422452 wrote: »

Hi
We have fresh water well and water treatment system.
Water went on X MAs eve - we turned off motor and treatment system. However despite good thaw yesterday and today we still have no water.
Our neighbours with the same system thawed yest and have water.
The switch for water pump and tratment system now trips both when you turn on motor/treatment system and when they're off.
We tried using hair dryer and boiling water around treatment system and exposed pipes - to no success
Any suggestions greatly appreciated
Thanks
O

I am a bit confused as to what you mean by water went on, then you turned off pump?

Frost may have created a problem but sounds like it led to an electrical problem, as every time you turn on pump, its knocking the supply breaker off.

After you turned off pump, all pressure was lost in water system, when you turned it back on, pump might of had to work too hard to re pressurize the the system.

Weather is abnormal, if you happen to have a temperamental pump maybe it cant handle having to re pressurize a colder than normal water supply, temp effects water density so you could have over loaded well pump.

Have a look at pump control box and see if you can replace any fuses, rule out all the obvious stuff, fuses in control box, spur supply fuses, fuses in plugs.

After you've replaced fuses, if turning on pump is still tripping the breaker you might have to call out someone to service the pump, small electrical component may have burnt out due to pump working to hard.

Hard to tell from here, best advice I can give.

mato

items thanks for help yesterday, glad to say our water is back today, must have been frozen underground as you suggested. The forecast is for more sub-zero weather again over the next few nights and I read that leaving the water dripping is a way to stop it freezing, would it be ok to leave the cold tap in the bath running slightly or should it be in the kitchen?

items

mato wrote: »

items thanks for help yesterday, glad to say our water is back today, must have been frozen underground as you suggested. The forecast is for more sub-zero weather again over the next few nights and I read that leaving the water dripping is a way to stop it freezing, would it be ok to leave the cold tap in the bath running slightly or should it be in the kitchen?

No bother, bath is fine so long as it doesn't make to much sound , your water main will still have to move to replace water thats lost in attic tank.

Reason why I mention use wash machine, dish washer over night is, your not wasting water. Having bath dripping all night is wasting water but due to circumstances with high frost I'm sure not many people would take offense to it.

The amount of water that has to move depends on how big a frost is expected if you get me. You don't have to have water running a full bore, flush a few toilets have a shower etc anything at all just before bed time to lower level of water in tank, then all you need to do is have a tap providing a small trickle.

See how it goes, just a tip, nothing is certain as you wont know how low temperature is going to drop.

422452

items wrote: »

I am a bit confused as to what you mean by water went on, then you turned off pump?

Frost may have created a problem but sounds like it led to an electrical problem, as every time you turn on pump, its knocking the supply breaker off.

After you turned off pump, all pressure was lost in water system, when you turned it back on, pump might of had to work too hard to re pressurize the the system.

Weather is abnormal, if you happen to have a temperamental pump maybe it cant handle having to re pressurize a colder than normal water supply, temp effects water density so you could have over loaded well pump.

Have a look at pump control box and see if you can replace any fuses, rule out all the obvious stuff, fuses in control box, spur supply fuses, fuses in plugs.

After you've replaced fuses, if turning on pump is still tripping the breaker you might have to call out someone to service the pump, small electrical component may have burnt out due to pump working to hard.

Hard to tell from here, best advice I can give.

Thanks Items
I meant we lost our water supply on x mas eve.
Hopefully we'll get electrician to have a look tomor.
One other question please
Our heating system is oil and solid fuel stove with back boiler - can we turn on either of them - I have topped up cold storage tank in attic with buckets of water - however i think hot water tank levels are now low as there is little pressure on hot water tap in kitchen.
I don't want to do any damage as stove only fitted in last month with new hot tank!!!
Thanks
O

items

422452 wrote: »

Thanks Items
I meant we lost our water supply on x mas eve.
Hopefully we'll get electrician to have a look tomor.
One other question please
Our heating system is oil and solid fuel stove with back boiler - can we turn on either of them - I have topped up cold storage tank in attic with buckets of water - however i think hot water tank levels are now low as there is little pressure on hot water tap in kitchen.
I don't want to do any damage as stove only fitted in last month with new hot tank!!!
Thanks
O

You might be a little confused. Cold water storage tanks store water for both cold and hot water services. I doubt you have a separate tank for just hot water, that would be a first for me. You might have a separate tank for heating, but that should be no problem heating wise, as heating requires very little water from tank once heating system is full.

Your hot water might be air locked after cold water storage tank emptied, if you can look back at my older posts, the first 20 or 30 you'll find ways to remove air locks in hot water.

As for running two at same time, if you've ran both at same time before their should be no problem. If they have been piped in a way to both run together it should be ok is what I really mean.

Might be a case where you've had a new hot water cylinder installed along with the stove to make most of the additional heat, hot water cylinders fill from bottom and supply out going pipework from the top so if it is a case where you have a separate tank filling that cylinder, the cylinder is still full.

In a nut shell, heating and plumbing are separate, if you've got some plumbing problems most cases its fine to still use heating provided system is full with water. Unless you've got some heating system leaks your unaware of it should be fine to run heating even though your mains supply is not available at present.

Tanks are in attic, cylinders store your hot water, sinks are for washing dishes, basins can be found in bathrooms.

Royal Seahawk

items wrote: »

Their is always more than enough pressure in a water main to remove any air.

?

Not true, in fact sometimes increased pressure in water mains causes airlocks.

I am a plumber with a local authority and I'm on call over the holidays. It is our duty to respond to any calls regarding no water. I'm pretty sure Cork Co. Co. would do the same. Give them a ring and explain your situation. At the very least they should give you a temporary supply.

items

Royal Seahawk wrote: »

Not true, in fact sometimes increased pressure in water mains causes airlocks.

I am a plumber with a local authority and I'm on call over the holidays. It is our duty to respond to any calls regarding no water. I'm pretty sure Cork Co. Co. would do the same. Give them a ring and explain your situation. At the very least they should give you a temporary supply.

Not sure, maybe you've taken me up wrong. I mean if a water main is turned off by Co Council at plant etc, then comes back on the main in most cases will have enough pressure behind it to force out any air though tap @ sink.

I've never heard a Co Council person saying they can not provide a mains supply because the water main network is air locked. Not saying it cant happen, so far I've never heard of it.

Also, all I fit these days is pressurized water systems, once a pump is in the mix, air locks are never an issue. Gravity supplied pipe work bring air lock issues.

SonasRec

I have a similar problem, hoping 'items' might help.

This morning we woke up to no water. Did the hot water at stopcock & at the outside tap just outside the kitchen window. Got supply to the outside tap going but no joy on the mains to the house.

So i've got mains outside but none inside. Is there any way to free the pipe? I don't know where the supply comes to the house.

Any help appreciated, thanks.

items

SonasRec wrote: »

I have a similar problem, hoping 'items' might help.

This morning we woke up to no water. Did the hot water at stopcock & at the outside tap just outside the kitchen window. Got supply to the outside tap going but no joy on the mains to the house.

So i've got mains outside but none inside. Is there any way to free the pipe? I don't know where the supply comes to the house.

Any help appreciated, thanks.

The pouring water over stopcock valve idea sometimes works but its one of those one in a million things. If you've ever looked at frozen footpaths etc, first places you'll see starting to melt is metal lids esb, eircom etc. Mains stops working after a freeze due to frost plugs, mostly in exposed pipework or underground pipes close to surface. Mains can have more than one frost plug, prob what you have.

Once water moves it will soon clear a frost plug. Could be a case where you've got another frost plug where mains enters @ house. If your outside tap is close, open cold @ kitchen sink, go to outside tap, hold hand firmly over spout, open outside tap. If pressure in outside tap is strong, by holding hand over it, your forcing the pressure against any frost plugs close by. Pressure could be stronger than existing pressure on frost plug, just depends on how outside tap is teed off main. Could be enough pressure to crate a small opening, if any water makes it back @ kitchen sink, wont be long before plug clears.

Best advice I can give with out using tools etc. You could disconnect mains under sink and re pipe using outside tap to supply house. Not sure if your experience stretches that far.

SonasRec

items wrote: »

The pouring water over stopcock valve idea sometimes works but its one of those one in a million things. If you've ever looked at frozen footpaths etc, first places you'll see starting to melt is metal lids esb, eircom etc. Mains stops working after a freeze due to frost plugs, mostly in exposed pipework or underground pipes close to surface. Mains can have more than one frost plug, prob what you have.

Once water moves it will soon clear a frost plug. Could be a case where you've got another frost plug where mains enters @ house. If your outside tap is close, open cold @ kitchen sink, go to outside tap, hold hand firmly over spout, open outside tap. If pressure in outside tap is strong, by holding hand over it, your forcing the pressure against any frost plugs close by. Pressure could be stronger than existing pressure on frost plug, just depends on how outside tap is teed off main. Could be enough pressure to crate a small opening, if any water makes it back @ kitchen sink, wont be long before plug clears.

Best advice I can give with out using tools etc. You could disconnect mains under sink and re pipe using outside tap to supply house. Not sure if your experience stretches that far.

Hey Items.

Great suggestion, thanks. Tried, but failed. The outside tap was already freezing up for the night. Gave it a go but no joy.

Re-plumbing outside tap to the kitchen sink sounds like a great suggestion. I would'nt attempt it myself but I could try to get someone in. I've a feeling this problem ain't going to go away in the next few days.

Thanks again.

items

SonasRec wrote: »

Hey Items.

Great suggestion, thanks. Tried, but failed. The outside tap was already freezing up for the night. Gave it a go but no joy.

Re-plumbing outside tap to the kitchen sink sounds like a great suggestion. I would'nt attempt it myself but I could try to get someone in. I've a feeling this problem ain't going to go away in the next few days.

Thanks again.

Let outside tap run on a bit, connect a hose to water flowers overnight, into bucket for washing car in morning, anything at all. Since you have a supply best try to hold onto it. Over night, provided it's not a massive freeze, once outside tap is running a little, it shouldn't freeze, hopefully you'll still have some supply to work with.

SonasRec

Thanks, had planned to let it on a little.

Was doing that last nite with the kitchen supply but got a water wastage concience and turned it off again.

Amazing how you take stuff for granted till it's not there.

Micky Dolenz

Unfortunately there isn't a whole lot that can be done about frezzing, unless you want to dig up supply pipes and insulate. This is highly impractical considering we don't get this type of weather often enough to justify cost. However insulating stopcock may help for some.

Letting a tap run, if only a dribble will work, but wastes alot of water. When metering rolls out it will be costly.

Maybe not ideal advice, but before a frezze, fill some bottles. The frezze won't last very long.

items

SonasRec wrote: »

Thanks, had planned to let it on a little.

Was doing that last nite with the kitchen supply but got a water wastage concience and turned it off again.

Amazing how you take stuff for granted till it's not there.

I'm amazed a slight frost has left houses all over the country with this kind of trouble, both mains and heating. Awful problem with roads, some Co Councils have ran out of grit.

Your stuff should still be there, bad practice has you without water.

-2 up to -10 is not that big a frost compared to other countries.

If your that conscious, find a few barrels, wheelie bin, anything to hold onto water coming from running tap, you don't have to open it full bore, just a trickle.

SonasRec

Our weather seems to be getting more severe all the time, Micky. Think we're seeing some real climate change. Couple of weeks ago, i had so much water about the place, I was very close to flooding. Now I'm looking for water.

We're just not prepared. I was in the Austrian alps a few days ago with 1 meter of snow & it makes no difference to them. It closes our country down.