Current cold snap in portland or. Yesterday morning I had no hot water in the kitchen sink. Cold water works but not a drip when you move the handle to the hot side. Dishwasher is right by the sink and when I turn it on no water makes it to the dishwasher. Hot water works in the rest of the house. I put a small heater under the kitchen sink for several hours and left the cabinet doors open and turned the heat up in the house over night. Still nothing out of the fawcet. Suggestions

Hi Wando...

Best bet here will be to OPEN the faucet to hot side first and leave it open... ok?

Then, if you have copper water pipes, I want you to get under the sink with a hair dryer, or better yet, a paint stripping heat gun, and get right up on the hot water pipe where it goes into the floor/wall and begin to heat the pipe directly. Get right up on the pipe, but don't start burning anything... ;) May need to work this from the basement end as well..?

If not copper pipes let us know what kind of pipes you have, but basic principle will stay the same... just need to be more careful not to melt the plastic, if you have plastic pipes... you know.

Anyway, the open faucet is really the trick... once pipe begins to thaw water/steam needs to go somewhere or all just refreezes against the ice.

Also note here that you should at least be prepared for a broken pipe... if this happens just be prepared to shut off the main water supply (at meter or pump) and maybe open floor/wall, etc...

If using a paint stripping heat gun it's not a bad idea to have a fire extinguisher handy!

Let us know how you make out...

MARK