Home: Single wide trailer in upstate NY.

History: Aug/Sept started seeing sediment in kitchen sink aerator. Cold water flow to all faucets decreased, but still good. Nov pipes ended up blocked. Plumber came out to clear, showed landlord how to clear in the future, as ground was already freezing and underground work wouldn't be possible until the spring. December pipes froze (luckily a thaw came 1-2 days later, which opened pipes up again). Early Jan heat tape and new insulation was put on exposed pipes under the trailer.

Current: A week ago, cold water all but disappeared. Still have hot water at full pressure. Occasional cold water drip from kitchen, thin stream from bathroom sink, nothing from bathtub.

Odd part: When hot water is turned on in the bathroom sink, it also comes out of the kitchen sink, even though the hot water is not turned on in the kitchen.

Everything I've read has indicated that frozen pipes would disrupt cold AND hot water, but our water problem is only affecting the cold water.

So... based on this info, would you think the pipes are frozen or blocked?

At this point I would say frozen until you know for sure. Is the faucet at the kitchen sink open when you get the hot water coming out of it? Example: Turn on hot water in bathroom and cold water is on in kitchen. Then kitchen water comes out hot. Or is both valves closed and your still getting water in the kitchen when you turn hot on in bathroom?

Is the faucet at the kitchen sink open when you get the hot water coming out of it? Example: Turn on hot water in bathroom and cold water is on in kitchen. Then kitchen water comes out hot. Yes, the cold water is on in kitchen (though only a rare drip coming out of it) when the hot water thing happens.

We were sitting above freezing for most of the day today (reached 35 or 36) with no change in water accessibility in the home. Actually, the toilet is no longer filling, so it's actually decreased.

If the pipes were frozen, though, wouldn't we have no water?

We do have a steady trickle in the bathroom sink and have all week. (Water was lost 1 week ago today.) And the water heater is obviously refilling, so there is water getting to it somehow. That's what confusing me on this whole thing.

It depends on how the brachs are laid out. Lets say water line main runs directly to hot water heater. A T in the mainline is your cold supply. The freeze can be after the T but not on the main line. You could also have a blockage depending on how the pipes were thawed previously. Its possible there were deposits and the hardened with air in the line then broke loose to form a clog.

Do you have an outside faucet or a way to see how the pipes are routed?

Now why didn't we think of checking the outdoor spigot? :rolleyes: lol THANK YOU!

Full pressure from the outdoor spigot, which branches off the under-trailer pipe right before it enters the trailer. That would point to a clogged pipe somewhere inside the trailer, I would think.

Oh yeah... all of the splits in the piping happen inside the trailer. Only one line from ground to trailer.

Now your getting it to tracing where the problem is.
I think you see how it works now.

Only problem is that whoever did the plumbing in this trailer (it's pretty old), or rather RE-did it, had absolutely no rhyme or reason to how they organized it. Tracing it is a nightmare once it makes it inside.

I know the landlord will appreciate us trying to narrow it down, though.

Hi all..

Califdadof3 has you started in a good direction!

The next step I would suggest would be to start to chase the cold water piping that goes past the water heater. Here, you'll want to start at the water heater where you know you have full cold water feeding into the heater and then follow the cold water main past the heater and see if you can find a water shutoff valve or some kind of valve that is located in the water line in such a way that it causes issues with so many fixtures. I'm thinkin' that a shutoff may be clogged with sediment... if so, it'll need to be disassembled and cleared of any sediment/debris.

I'm also wondering if you have a pressure reducing valve... see image. If this valve is inline after the heater, it wouldn't be piped right, but if it is present then this would certainly be a reasonable culprit to your problem as they are famous for clogging at the internal strainer.

Check for the shutoff and quickly check for the pressure reducing valve... let us know what you find.

MARK

Are the supply lines inside the walls? Sorry Im not real familer with how a trailer is put together.

No indoor shutoff and no pressure reducing valve. The only thing other than plain pipe that is on or near the water heater is a regular 'ole spigot (what you'd expect to see outside) on it.

Like I said before, whoever re-did the plumbing in this trailer did it in such a convoluted and whacked out way, lol. The landlord is actually considering just redoing it all this spring.

The odd part is most plumbing is outside the home ( underneath ) and then supply lines go up to the respective rooms. But main supply lines should be underneath the structure. Then you just look for the T's or elbows heading into the walls.

Yeah, we're just lucky to have a place pretty much as abnormally plumbed as possible. :rolleyes: