Hi, We are having trouble with our upstairs bathroom. Today we are not getting any hot or cold water from the tub or toilet and the sink faucet only has cold water. This problem just started today and the rest of the house is fine.
Please help !

Hi Mschryer...

How cold is it where you live?

It has been very cold and I was thinking along the same lines too. It is a town home but where the bathroon is, it is all outside walls and I have noticedd that it feels very cold in there.

Turn up the heat in the house and then take a hair dryer and start to warm the toilet water pipe... see if that frees it up. Copper pipe acts as a great conductor and will let the heat travel along the pipe for quite a distance... may fix this up for you. You will also want to disconnect the toilet supply tube so you can allow water to flow as the toilet pipe thaws. When it starts to thaw, tighten the supply tube back up.

Open up the lavatory base doors and let warm air flow into the base... use the hair dryer to free up the hot water pipe. It is VERY IMPORTANT that you have the hot water side of the faucet OPEN at all times while thawing or pipe will just refreeze as quick as you thaw it.

In terms of the shower valve, take off the trim plate from around the shower valve and use the hair dryer to warm the space behind the wall... again, opening the shower valve so hot and cold will flow when the water unfreezes... ;)

Do not run the hair dryer indefinitely... take breaks between so you don't burn the element out.

If this fails to thaw the pipe syou may need to rent a paint stripping heat gun... much hotter here. If you end up soing this be careful NOT to burn the house down as these can get very very hot!

Let me know how you make out.. OK?

MARK

Hi Mark, Thank you for your suggestion, it seems to be working. I guess we are going to have to get the bathroom insulated properly. Darn builders ( the house is only 9 years) Anyway, thank you very much... greatly appreciated. Happy New Year

Happy New Year to you, too! Thank you for updating me. Glad you're up and flushing!

MARK