No Water / Frozen Pipe Questions

[2ADMNLOVER]

My neighbor lady woke up without water from any of her faucets ( front / rear ) this morning .

Her water heater (was cool to touch ) is in her heated garage and its breaker was tripped . I turned it on again , waited a few and felt the pipe getting warm again and told her to give it a few hours .

Shouldn't she have cold water / air / gurgling ? Right now there's nothing .

You guys have any ideas ?

 

[churchmouse]

1st...crawl or slab..??
2nd...There is always a reason the breaker trips on electric water heaters.
3rd...Yes, there should be water at the faucets. There is a line frozen somewhere.

 

[femurphy77]

Yup, sounds like the main line coming into the house if there's "no" water.

 

[2ADMNLOVER]

1st...crawl or slab..??
2nd...There is always a reason the breaker trips on electric water heaters.
3rd...Yes, there should be water at the faucets. There is a line frozen somewhere.

It's a crawl space .
She didn't notice anything unusual to trip breaker / hasn't happened before .
Will the WH thaw the pipes or does she need a plumber ?

 

[2ADMNLOVER]

Yup, sounds like the main line coming into the house if there's "no" water.

That's My first though also .

 

[DRAIN SURGEON]

She should call a plumber before it thaws or starts leaking bad. Even if it's the new stuff that can take a freeze it will need heat tape or more insulation in the problem area.

 

[churchmouse]

She should call a plumber before it thaws or starts leaking bad. Even if it's the new stuff that can take a freeze it will need heat tape or more insulation in the problem area.

This. Totally.

 

[2ADMNLOVER]

She should call a plumber before it thaws or starts leaking bad. Even if it's the new stuff that can take a freeze it will need heat tape or more insulation in the problem area.

These houses were built in the 70's so definitely not new pipes .
Now the question is , is it on her or the water company ?

 

[deo62]

If after the water meter its on her.

 

[churchmouse]

These houses were built in the 70's so definitely not new pipes .
Now the question is , is it on her or the water company ?

Unless it is a locked up meter (no chance) this is on her. Anything past the meter to the house is on the homeowner.
I doubt the main is frozen in front of the meter.

 

[cordex]

I had a pipe freeze in my home before I moved in. Ended up being the manifold in the garage. If the pipes are copper a good local plumber (NOT Benjamin Franklin or the like) can hook up a hot shot and thaw the pipes in the walls.

 

[DRAIN SURGEON]

Go check the meter box if not electronic meter reader could have left the lid off. Not likely but worth checking.

 

[DRAIN SURGEON]

It's possible the hot water line was against the cold at the problem spot and when the heater kicked off for whatever reason it allowed the pipes to freeze. If that's the case they still need insulated.

 

[2ADMNLOVER]

I just checked both of our mains , there's standing water in both but that hasn't changed since the summer / nothing new and the numbers wern't spinning , lids were on .
Her water heater is heating up again like normal .
She's on a fixed income so I'm trying to save her some money but just in case can anyone
recommend a plumber in Moorecville ?

 

[red_zr24x4]

You should have drained the sediment out of the heater while it was off. if the breaker tripped, might be the bottom element shorting out on/in the sediment. I had this happen in a previous house.

 

[Topshot]

2 things would concern/puzzle me:
1. Why didn't this happen a few years ago when it was much colder for much longer? Something had to have changed since then and the water heater shouldn't be it.
2. What caused her breaker to trip? Possibly old breaker but could be an issue with the heater, which could become a danger. I've seen one that caught on fire.
You said the garage is heated so was it well above freezing? Having the garage heat go out would seem most likely to me if this is first time this has happened since the 70s.

 

[GodFearinGunTotin]

You should have drained the sediment out of the heater while it was off. if the breaker tripped, might be the bottom element shorting out on/in the sediment. I had this happen in a previous house.

2 things would concern/puzzle me:
1. Why didn't this happen a few years ago when it was much colder for much longer? Something had to have changed since then and the water heater shouldn't be it.
2. What caused her breaker to trip? Possibly old breaker but could be an issue with the heater, which could become a danger. I've seen one that caught on fire.
You said the garage is heated so was it well above freezing? Having the garage heat go out would seem most likely to me if this is first time this has happened since the 70s.

I had this happen. The scale/sediment built up at the bottom of the tank and I think covered the element. I'm thinking with the element covered, it burned itself up and trpped the breaker. They're not hard to change out. The hardest part is getting the water to drain with all of that scale in the bottom. I rigged up something to hook onto my shop vacuum so I could get all that stuff out of the bottoming the tank. Once I did, I screwed a new element in, wired it up, and put it back into service.

 

[WebSnyper]

Or, if the water line froze before the water heater, she could have ran the water out of the heater (and it could not refill properly at the time due to the frozen feed line) and it ran dry which can cause all kinds of issues for an electric water heater, which could cause it to flip the breaker. Or as others have stated, the water heater has a bad element, from sediment causing similar behavior and then a line froze.

 

[AtTheMurph]

Or, if the water line froze before the water heater, she could have ran the water out of the heater (and it could not refill properly at the time due to the frozen feed line) and it ran dry which can cause all kinds of issues for an electric water heater, which could cause it to flip the breaker. Or as others have stated, the water heater has a bad element, from sediment causing similar behavior and then a line froze.

I was just going to add this. I bet there is frozen pipe before the water heater and no water getting in. That's why no water at faucets. My guess is frozen main at the house somewhere, probably in garage if that's where heater is.

 

[bwframe]

Will letting faucet(s) drip save the main from freezing?