[dancer419]

Hello all
I came home after being away all weekend to find I had no water coming out on the hot side downstairs but cold was fine. Upstairs I had both hot and cold water. I have the old stem type faucets downstairs and I am wondering if the washer is jammed down in there preventing water from flowing out the hot side. There are no water turn off's undersink so before I turn off the main to check I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts
Thanks

[massplumber2008]

Hi Dancer...

How cold is it in your area... lots of hot water freeze ups lately?

If you suspect a frozen pipe as well, then you need to open the hot water side of the faucet(s) and then use a hair dryer to thaw out the pipe under the sink. With any luck, the hot water will be restored quickly.

Be aware, however, that a frozen pipe can lead to a burst pipe but you won't know about it until the pipe thaws so be sure you know where the main water shutoff is... just in case, OK?

If you don't suspect a frozen pipe then yeah, it's possible that the faucet washer is an issue. Here, as you suspected, you would shut off the main water supply and open the faucet to check for issues.

Let us know what happens...

Mark

[dancer419]

Thanks mark
Cold here so did try the hair dryer thing first but without the hot water faucet being open-duh
Will try it again
Thanks
Phyllis

[Appzalien]

I had a kitchen sink that was too close to the outside wall (no insulation in the wall either) that would freeze when the temps got near zero. Rather than tear apart the wall under the sink to insulate the pipes, I would watch the temps for overnight, and if they were going to be low I would run both the hot and cold water very slowly overnight to prevent a freeze. This worked until the outside temp reached -5 or lower and then I had to use hot water down the wall to break it free. A hair dryer will only work if you can get it to blow air behind the wall. Just blowing it on the pipes inside can take forever to transfer heat through the wall down the pipe. I used a tea kettle and a small funnel to slowly drizzle water down both pipes. Time is of the essence, the longer you wait to break it free, the more likely the pipe will develop a split from the expanding ice, and you will be tearing out the wall to repair it unless there is an access door. Before you start to thaw make sure you know where the main water shut off is cause if it has split it will be spraying behind the wall once it thaws until you repair the break.

[dancer419]

I am wondering why the water is fine upstairs-is there a different branch of pipe that will supply the upstairs? This pipe has never frozen up before

[massplumber2008]

Hi Appzalien...

You said, "A hair dryer will only work if you can get it to blow air behind the wall. "...

That isn't right, at all! Here, most water pipes are made of copper pipe and copper pipe is an excellent CONDUCTOR of heat so using a hair dryer works great as it heats the pipe and the heat is directly transferred to the piping and frozen water and that heat can travel quite a distance. Of course, a paint stripper heat gun or a torch work even better/faster.

Also, pouring hot water down pipes on a first floor with a basement is fine, but in this case, if the pipes are exposed in the basement, I would just recommend using the hair dryer just under the sink in the basement near the outside wall where the freeze up most likely started.

Anyway, thanks for posting your information.

Finally, Dancer, yeah, different pipe probably feeds upstairs. How are you making out here?

Mark