How To Thaw Pipes In Attic

Likely places for frozen pipes include against exterior walls or where your water service enters your home through the foundation.

How to thaw pipes in attic.

Frozen pipes can crack or burst because as water freezes it expands. Before anything else turn off the water supply to the frozen pipe. With enough expansion pipes will develop cracks. Once you have located the frozen pipe you are ready to start thawing the pipe.

Fixing frozen pipes in the attic or crawl space is more complicated. If you need to unfreeze water pipes leave your faucets open slightly to help thaw out the pipes. If you turn on a faucet and only a trickle comes out suspect a frozen pipe. Adding additional attic insulation can improve your home s energy efficiency and help prevent other winter problems like condensation.

D uring cold weather pipes in your walls attic or under your floor can freeze. As you treat the frozen pipe and the frozen area begins to melt water will begin to flow. An easy and safe way to thaw a pipe yourself is to use a high power hairdryer. If the frozen pipe is located in an area you can easily access you have several options for attempting to thaw the pipe.

You can supplement this with blown in insulation or rolled insulation throughout your attic. How to thaw frozen pipes. The key is to know how your plumbing system works. Where does the wate.

You can thaw frozen pipes using the various methods and plumbing tools described below. Frozen pipes in crawl space or attic. Here are four options for thawing an exposed pipe. The tool i like to use for thawing pipe is a simple hair dryer.

Ways to thaw a frozen pipe. How to thaw frozen pipes. Otherwise you can thaw out the pipe by wrapping the pipe in a single layer of thermal tape or blowing air from a hair dryer back and forth across the pipe. Keep the faucet open.

It s the thawing pipes that leak and spew water after a hard freeze use a space heater heat lamp or hair dryer to thaw the frozen length of pipe. If you find a leak close the main shut off valve to your house and call a plumber immediately. If the frozen pipe did crack once the ice plug thaws out you could be faced with a torrent of water gushing from the pipe. Thawing frozen pipes with a hair dryer.

Here s why it won t get hot enough to create steam in the pipe. In this video house flipping brothers dave and rich show you how to thaw frozen pipes. Wrapping freezing pipes with thermostatically controlled heat tape from 50 to 200 depending on length is also an effective way to quickly thaw a trouble spot. You should continue to apply the heat until the water escaping from the faucet returns to full strength.

How to thaw frozen water pipes. For exposed pipes like those in attics or crawl spaces inexpensive foam pipe insulation is usually sufficient.