No water coming into the house

lubo_moravcik

Was reading through the 'tips for dealing with cold weather' thread and thought I better go check my water supplies. So ran the taps and lo and behold, they done their best and then stopped, no more water came out of them. I checked the tank up in the attic, there is a small amount of water in the bottom of it (i put insulation around and on top of it as it had frozen in January) but it's not frozen. There is just no water going into it.

What can i do?


Thank you

ps, the heating still seems to be on thank God

Dr_Phil

Any relation to this?
http://dublincity.wordpress.com/

PCPhoto

its possible that the supply is turned off ....local councils have been restricting water because supply is dwindling - due to people using loads of water to clear their cars/pathways.

or a supply pipe could be frozen - and will defrost once temperatures pick up.

Sierra Oscar

Your main water line into the house is frozen most likely, it can be tricky to sort that out. What you could try doing is heating the stop Valve at the pipes connection from your house to the road. You may not have a blow torch handy though . . .

Also, do not let that water-tank run out of water. You could run into some issues with your central heating if you do.

Matt Simis

What is your water source, mains supply or private well? Are you in a large town or country lane?
Have you checked the tap at the point of entry (usually kitchen sink)?

Your heating and DHW (taps) are on separate systems so you shouldnt have an issue with both as such, as long as you are actually using your heating.

lubo_moravcik

Dr_Phil wrote: »

Any relation to this?
http://dublincity.wordpress.com/

I'm in County Meath, not on that list Dr_Phil. Even at that, aren't those restrictions in place over night?

lubo_moravcik

Sierra Oscar wrote: »

Your main water line into the house is frozen most likely, it can be tricky to sort that out. What you could try doing is heating the stop Valve at the pipes connection from your house to the road. You may not have a blow torch handy though . . .

Also, do not let that water-tank run out of water. You could run into some issues with your central heating if you do.

What issues could i run into???

Matt Simis wrote: »

What is your water source, mains supply or private well? Are you in a large town or country lane?
Have you checked the tap at the point of entry (usually kitchen sink)?

Your heating and DHW (taps) are on separate systems so you shouldnt have an issue with both as such, as long as you are actually using your heating.

It's a mains supply in a village in County Meath.

PCPhoto wrote: »

its possible that the supply is turned off ....local councils have been restricting water because supply is dwindling - due to people using loads of water to clear their cars/pathways.

or a supply pipe could be frozen - and will defrost once temperatures pick up.

Water is starting to fill up in it now.
Hopefully it is the council cutting the supply, that I can handle.

Given that i'll be out of the house for durations over the festive season, what are the best plans of action to ensure that the house doesn't freeze over while am gone please.
Will leaving a tap dripping cause more problems than it prevents?
I was going to put the heating on timer to come on at a low heat for short periods.
I usually leave my immersion on non stop, is this right or wrong regarding cold weather and potential frozen pipes??
It's v cold in the attic, should i leave the entrance to the attic open slightly to allow hot(ter) air to travel up.


thank you very much

Dr_Phil

lubo_moravcik wrote: »

I'm in County Meath, not on that list Dr_Phil. Even at that, aren't those restrictions in place over night?

Sorry, didn't know whereabouts you live. Restrictions over night, yeah... I wish they were from 7 to 7 as they say...

Mayo Exile

Insulate the area around your stopcock. I got a couple of bags and filled them with that white polystyrene foam used with packaging and filled the hole where the stopcock was located. It might help.

lubo_moravcik

Mayo Exile wrote: »

Insulate the area around your stopcock. I got a couple of bags and filled them with that white polystyrene foam used with packaging and filled the hole where the stopcock was located. It might help.

sorry mate, i'm a dumbass, is that the stopcock under the sink??

thanks by the way

Mayo Exile

No. Its outside, where the supply can be turned on or off going into the house. Should be a small cover somewhere in the ground/lawn/pavement etc. Normally circular, about 10 inches wide.

Also as you have said above leave your attic door slightly open to let warm air up.

fulmer1984

i know your in meath but thought id make people aware of this

http://twitter.com/sdublincoco/

chris2007

Snowing lightly in Dublin 5

Rob A. Bank

The stopcock is usually on the footpath outside your house and may look like this...



And the reason it freezes...




Mine froze a few years ago but ever since I stuffed an old wool sweater down the opening as insulation, I have had no problems since.

Hope this helps.

Matt Simis

Anyone familar with Well Plumbing, cos even though I took lots of precautions from last year Im without water again? Last year the pipes in the well house froze, so I insulated the Well house and put in a Bulb. No freezing there.. but the damn thing just froze somewhere else.

I doubt there is anything other than the underground Well plastic pipe going to the under Sink connection in my setup though.

Cantona's Collars

Here's a tip for the future-not much help if you have frozen pipes now though.

Surround any outdoor pipes with 3" or 4" wavin which you can pre-drill holes along it.Get expanding foam and spray into the holes in the wavin surrounding the waterpipe as it goes in.Keeps them well insulated and won't freeze.

Fingers Mcginty

We had the same issue last year. This year I placed an old mat over the stopcock on the driveway and have left the cabinet door under the sink ajar at nighttime and no issues at all this year thank God.
Also last year the water had frozen under the sink at the brass fitting where the red stop valve is. I heated it with a hair dryer and eventually got water flowing. Hope this helps I feel your pain. We were the only house affected in the whole estate and had to move out for a week.

littlebug

We were one of the few houses in the estate where the pipes didn't freeze last year. I think we got complacent this year and we're the first to go
Realistically we could be looking at many many more days without water.
Getting to the stopcock will involve some digging to find it :rolleyes:

Min

The plastic wraps for silage bales makes great insulation.

Matt Simis

zerks wrote: »

Here's a tip for the future-not much help if you have frozen pipes now though.

Surround any outdoor pipes with 3" or 4" wavin which you can pre-drill holes along it.Get expanding foam and spray into the holes in the wavin surrounding the waterpipe as it goes in.Keeps them well insulated and won't freeze.

I did insulate outdoor pipes (and then some, used thermal bulbs too) and was fine for the first week of minus -5 to -10. Then on the latest batch of -8 to -12 nights the pipes just froze somewhere in the ground instead. I live in boggy area so lots of moisture in the ground, but I hoped the cold wouldnt penetrate this deep.

I could have easily left a tap on, but didnt want to waste water. Now I have no water at all as a reward. :rolleyes:

lubo_moravcik

the water came back in on sunday, but now seems to have gone again. there is till half a tank full in the attic, but it's not filling at all when i use any.
i'll be out the house for a week or so from tomoro night, should i just let it run dry and turn the valve under the sink to off and hope for the best for my return????

thanks for all the replies up there by the way?


EDIT: water now coming back into the tank. i had hair dryer on the stop cock thing under the sink for a while, have heating turned up and it seems to be flowing again
thing is, i can never get meath coco on the phone so don't know if it's them turning it on and off or is it freezing.

as i ask up there, what are the best suggestions while the house is empty for Christmas?