Hi all, we have been hit pretty hard by the cold and I have no hot water since yesterday morning. In fact, there is no water coming out of the hot tap at all, but the cold tap works fine. There is a tiny amount of water coming out of the hot tap in the shower, but the water is cold and the control panel doesn’t indicate the use of hot water. I spoke to the estate agent who tried to arrange someone to come, but due to the weather and everyone having similar problems, no one can come for now. They think the pipes froze and told me to wait for them to defrost naturally (apparently the temperature is supposed to rise this afternoon but I doubt it). I’ve already tried the hot water/towel on the pipes trick a few times but nothing. I’ll wait until this afternoon to see if it defrosts naturally like they said, but if not, I’ll email the agent back and demand someone to come. But in case I receive the same reply, is there anything else I can do? Thanks in advance!
6 comments
It’s normal in this kind of situation. Easier just to wait if there is no plan to be like same cold for a week or two
In winter you should always set some faucets to drip. It can be a bit of a pain to stand there adjusting some taps to a slow drip, though some are easy to work with. But even if you have heat tape the power can go out, among other things. Better to be safe than sorry.
Also, always close all doors where there are pipes in order to slow heat loss in those rooms. I woke up to a frozen toilet resevoir hose because I failed to do this.
If there are any unprotected hoses or pipes (such as that on the shower head) if possible keep it drained when not in use or also set to drip.
Also is all the heat tape for the pipes plugged in? Has one malfunctioned perhaps or been improperly installed?
Also do you have a hot water tank or hot water boiler? Is it gas or kerosene? Is it in the shade or where the sun can hit it? Are you renting or is this your own place?
You many need to take an electric kerosene stove with a fan outside and have it blow warm air over some pipe or appliance. Don’t over do it, and it may take more than an hour. You may need an extention cord. And you must stay there and supervise it to ensure nothing is melting, etc. The heater may even turn off and need turned back on.
Also its good to get a friend to come over and assist on the inside as they can turn things on and off easily.
If the pipes are really frozen, then it might be an idea to find where your hot cock is, and turn it off.
Then, when things seem like they’re not frozen solid, turn your cock back on and check that it doesn’t spray everywhere.
Especially if you’re out for the day.
If you get a trickle of water from the hot tap, perhaps let it run for a while… perhaps the non-frozen water moving through will open up the frozen part enough to eventually get enough flow to allow the heater to fire….
In weather like this, I leave the kitchen cold tap dripping at night onto a sponge to dampen the sound, and I leave the tub hot tap dripping at night onto a towel that is over the edge of the tub. You don’t need to have the water heater turned on, you just want to be moving some amount of water through the pipes so they don’t freeze solid.
I didn’t do the hot tap the other night and it froze, but I could see where. There are bendable metal pipes that go into the tank on the balcony that do not have insulating foam on them (which doesn’t fully protect them anyway tbh). I placed hot water bottles around each pipe, insulated those with towels. Once I noticed melt coming through to the tub (~an hour later when it was still -6 out), I plugged in an electric heat pad on the intake pipe for the water heater, and within about twenty minutes, things were fine.
On Japanese twitter, many people talk about the same problem today, and they say we need to put 40℃ hot water on the drain pipe of water heaters to defrost.