How To Thaw Pipes In Attic

Pour your warm water onto the frozen hose valve until you can remove the hose.

How to thaw pipes in attic.

Use an indoor valve to shut off and drain water from pipes leading to outside faucets. Do not overheat the pipe in the same spot but keep it moving over the surface like if you were spray painting. Any exposed pipes should be insulated using pipe sleeves heat cable or heat tape. To determine whether a section of pipe is frozen simply feel it.

Heat the area until full water pressure is restored. Again keep it moving. Put on rubber gloves and soak towels in hot water. This reduces the chance of freezing in the short span of pipe just inside the house.

Continue to pour warm water onto it until you can open and close the valve. Open the door to the attic to allow warm air to move up if you have pipes in the attic. Wrapping towels soaked in hot water around the pipe or using a space heater to warm the surrounding area can help it thaw. Drain water from swimming pools and irrigation supply lines close valves supplying outdoor hose bibs then open exterior bibs to allow lines to drain check for any supply lines in unheated areas including the attic garage and in crawl spaces.

A trickle of hot and cold. Keep pouring hot water over the open valve until water begins to flow. Never use a blowtorch kerosene or propane heater charcoal stove or other open flame device and keep space heaters at least a few feet from the pipe. Let water trickle from faucets.

The key is to know how your plumbing system works. What to do if a pipe bursts. Throw salt sand or soil into the water you spill in the path. A heat gun is preferable to a hairdryer if you have one close at hand like a hairdryer on steroids.

In this video house flipping brothers dave and rich show you how to thaw frozen pipes. Replace with freshly soaked hot towels every 5 10 minutes until the pipe thaws. Do not leave cold wet towels around the pipes. Use a space heater heat lamp or hair dryer to thaw the frozen length of pipe.

Frozen pipe will feel very cold while pipe with free flowing water will feel notably warmer. Locate the frozen pipe the first step to thaw frozen pipes is to locate the section of pipe and turn off the local water supply to it. Don t thaw pipes using a propane torch which presents a fire risk. The small amount of water you waste is much less than the cost of a plumbing repair or the amount of water that will escape if a pipe bursts.

Ring them out then wrap them securely around the frozen section of pipe. A hairdryer is a great device to thaw pipes.