Fun with frozen pipes

[Stinky The Clown]

We have one pipe in our house that is susceptible, under just the right circumstances, to freezing. On those rare occasions when we get single digit temps and a strong wind, the pipe feeding hot water to our main bathroom bathtub has frozen two or three times in the last 25+ years. Prevention is simple .... crack the tap and allow the hot water to juuuuuust barely trickle for the duration of the cold snap.

And so we did this time. but, in my zeal to also save water, I closed the tap yesterday morning, thinking it wouldn't freeze during the day.

I was wrong.

It froze.

I have been nervous ever since.

Tonight I got a brainstorm. The pipe runs up the back kitchen wall. On that wall is one of our counters and some wall shelves on which we keep some pots and pans. I took a small 1500W electric heater and set it to 800W. I aimed it at the wall, about a foot away, and let it blow hot air against the wall. My theory was that if I heat up the gyp board juuuuust enough, the pipe might thaw. There is a termometer mounted right where I had the heater and I used that to monitor the temperature (I didn't want to scorch the paint). It stayed at a constant 103F.

After less than two hours, success! Water could be heard running in the bathroom.

The water is not set to trickle. We're supposed to get down to 6F tonight, but with very little wind. Things should be okay.

[TygrBright]

1. Dang! Can you get in there with pipe heating tape?

We had that problem in a MN apartment I lived in once and although it was a real PITA to get everything moved, etc., to get at the pipe, the heat wrap worked like a dream and lasted more than 5 years (I don't know how long altogether, as I moved before it needed replacing.

When it got to 20 below or thereabouts I'd just go down and plug it in, leave it until it got back up above zero. Sweatless.

helpfully,
Bright

[NMDemDist2]

2. i'm thinking it might be easier to add more insulation to the outside wall

which would give multiple benefits too

but what a pain either way....

[politicat]

3. 2 possible alternatives....

I grew up in houses with The Pipe. (It is the only thing I miss about Arizona.) I live in a house with The Pipe, and this has been a MISERABLE winter. (I can see my street for the first time since December 20 as of today!!) So I will let you in on the supersecret pipe saver secret...

Go to the automotive store, preferably a really good one. Find a product called a dipstick heater. This is an electric dipstick that is intended to go into a vehicle's (usually diesel) dipstick port to keep the oil warm... but not hot and no where near fire temps. The heater gets to about 80-90 degrees -- touchable, easily, but not hot enough to ignite anything. Ours was a $20 jobbie from the local shop, and uses about 60 watts an hour. (Make sure you get one that won't get hot enough to burn you, because you're a lot easier to burn than your insulation, and if it won't burn you, it won't start a fire.)

You also need to drill a small hole near the baseboard on the offending wall. Poke the dipstick heater into the wall when it's expected to get into The Pipe range, plug it in, and go on about your business. The dipstick heater will keep the pipe about 15-20 degrees warmer than not having it, and that's usually enough to keep a pipe from freezing. All you need to do is keep the air in that space a little warmer -- it doesn't need to be person comfort warm -- to keep the pipe happy.

Alternately, get an eheater and mount it on the wall with the offending pipe. (go over to Frugal and energy efficient. There are serious raves about them over there, or ask AZD6.) They're efficient space heaters that run on very little power. The several that we have work great, and there are two troublesome pipes on the same walls as the eheaters that have given us no trouble this year. Considering that the first year I had this house, I had to replace each of those two pipes twice thanks to unforeseen cold snaps, this is saying quite a lot.