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matheny9 · Dec 4, 2005, 11:22 AM

This past Wednesday, for some unknown reason, the cold water has stopped coming out of my kitchen faucet, (on 2nd floor) as well as no cold water in going to the washer (1st floor) or the outside spigot. There is still cold water in the bathrooms on all three floors of the house (built 1991) and the hot water works like normal. My husband has tried blowing out the lines by turning the water off at the outside cutoff, and blowing air through the lines, but it hasn't helped. There must be something blocking off part of our waterlines? What could possibly get in there? How do we fix it? What a nightmare, and right here at holiday time (company coming, budget already stretched, and dirty laundry is mounting up! ) Can anyone Help? Thanks! :)

labman · Dec 4, 2005, 08:26 PM

Tom must have taken the weekend off. Which way did your husband blow the air? With the line broken, blowing air in the faucet, should blow the crud blocking the line out where it is broken. Air did come out the faucets that aren't leaking? It is possible a cold water line is frozen somewhere. Crud blocking the line is fairly common. For more ideas, look back through past threads.

matheny9 · Dec 5, 2005, 12:41 AM

Hi and thanks for the reply- He turned the water off, then opened the 3 non-working faucets and blew through those lines.. air came out of each, but then still didn't work. Next, we blew into a nonworking one with one of the working bathroom faucets open.. very little air came through; lastly, we tried blowing through one of the bathroom lines that does work- and some air came out of non-working faucets- not as much as when blowing just through the blocked lines, and still no water flow (other than a trickle, which it's been doing all along).

We live in Alabama, and haven't had a hard freeze yet, so I don't think frozen lines are the culprit. As for a broken line.. wouldn't we be seeing some evidence after 5 days of leakage? It was so weird. I came home from work, turned on the kitchen faucet and it just didn't work. No cold water other than a trickle. Further exploration revealed the other non-working faucets. I can't imagine what could be in there blocking it so completely (what can get into a water supply line anyway?)

I think it's just blocked.. and lordy am I nervous about having to call a plumber. (Ho-ho-ho) My husband usually fixes things without having to do that, but we've no idea where to start looking for the blockage, and gosh, I hope they don't have to tear out walls or ceilings to get to it!

Still hoping for our own mini Christmas miracle.. I keep checking them, but to no avail! (Dern it!) :eek:

speedball1 · Dec 5, 2005, 06:09 AM

"Tom must have taken the weekend off." It's nice to be missed. But I'm back now with a few questions. Pump or city water? Galvanized or copper water pipes? Did this come on gradually or all of a sudden? Has your husband tried tapping, (not beating them to death) the blocked lines down to loosen any blockage and then blowing the lines again from the blocked faucets to see what might come out? Let us know if you come up with anything and in the meantime answer my questions and we'll see if we can dig you out of this without involving the cost of hiring a plumber. Cheers, tom

matheny9 · Dec 5, 2005, 09:46 PM

The only pipe material I know of is pvc-

We have county water, no well. (Noel- Merry Christmas.. Ha!)
He can't "tap" the pipes as they all run within the space between the ceiling of our first floor and the floor of our 2nd story. We're going to have to take the ceiling apart to find the "T" where the clog is, I fear, and have not one clue as to where to begin looking for it. The area where these pipes run encompasses 4 rooms and an under-the-stairs- closet. No way to tell where the pipes are without hacking into the drywall? It was a sudden onset event. The water was fine Wednesday morning, then when I attempted to use it (in the kitchen) after work (I'm a school teacher) it just wasn't there. We get a slight trickle when you first turn any of the affected faucets on, from what builds up over the few hours, then it peters out to nothing. :rolleyes: This is certainly going to be a Christmas to remember!

speedball1 · Dec 6, 2005, 12:56 PM

Has your husband taken the non-working faucets apart and then turn the water back on to try to flush out the supplies and valve body or did he just blow back through the spout? If it were my call I would start opening cold water lines until I ran into pressure and then track back to where it was lost. Regards, Tom

jovegas13 · Mar 31, 2009, 08:35 AM

Originally Posted by matheny9

Hi and thanks for the reply- He turned the water off, then opened the 3 non-working faucets and blew through those lines.. air came out of each, but then still didn't work. Next, we blew into a nonworking one with one of the working bathroom faucets open.. very little air came through; lastly, we tried blowing through one of the bathroom lines that does work- and some air came out of non-working faucets- not as much as when blowing just through the blocked lines, and still no water flow (other than a trickle, which it's been doing all along).

We live in Alabama, and haven't had a hard freeze yet, so I don't think frozen lines are the culprit. As for a broken line.. wouldn't we be seeing some evidence after 5 days of leakage? It was so weird. I came home from work, turned on the kitchen faucet and it just didn't work. No cold water other than a trickle. Further exploration revealed the other non-working faucets. I can't imagine what could be in there blocking it so completely (what can get into a water supply line anyway?)

I think it's just blocked.. and lordy am I nervous about having to call a plumber. (Ho-ho-ho) My husband usually fixes things without having to do that, but we've no idea where to start looking for the blockage, and gosh, I hope they don't have to tear out walls or ceilings to get to it!

Still hoping for our own mini Christmas miracle.. I keep checking them, but to no avail! (Dern it!) :eek:

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