Plumbing the Depths of Your Home, Pt. 3

In the first part of this series, we looked at how water gets into your home, and in the second part, how it leaves. This time around, we will look at how to make temporary repairs when your plumbing springs a leak. In the final installment of the series, we will take a generic look at fixing dripping faucets and unplugging a drain.

Frozen Pipes

The best way to handle frozen pipes is to not let then freeze in the first place. If you have pipes that you think might freeze, wrap them with electrical heat tape made for pipes, insulate them, leave a door open to let warm air enter the area or use a lamp and a 100 watt bulb to give the area around the pipes a little heat. Your best bet is to insulate the pipes.

Usually the first sign of a frozen pipe is a flood caused by a break in the pipe. If you are lucky, your first sign will be a lack of running water in a faucet. Your first priority is to turn off the water supply at the main shut-off valve. Then you need to carefully thaw the frozen section. Once it is thawed, you then need to look for and cracks or breaks in the pipe, and make either emergency or permanent repairs. Information for making permanent repairs can be found in my article, Don't Sweat the Little Stuff. Emergency repairs should hold you until you can either fix the problem or have a plumber come in and fix them for you.

Before you start thawing a pipe, make sure you have a faucet near the frozen section open. This will allow the melting water to escape. The first way to thaw a pipe is with a propane torch and a flame-spreader tip. You will need a piece of sheet metal or heatproof pad between the pipes and any flammables to avoid starting a fire. Start at the open faucet first and move along the pipe as the frozen section thaws. Keep the torch moving so that you do not overheat the pipe. The pipe should not get too hot to touch. If it does, you risk boiling the water in the pipe and creating steam, which could cause a dangerous explosion. While a torch is the quickest way to thaw a pipe, I think the risk of fire or explosion is too great. That's why I would leave the torch for a last resort.

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