Any plumbers in the house?

I have a plumbing issue that has left me perplexed. Our master bath has two sinks. Yesterday morning both of them worked as normal. Last night I couldn't get any water out of one of them, not even a drop. I even removed the supply lines ant the shutoff valves and nothing. They are both on a wall that is essentially exterior, the other side of it is the garage attic, but it is 2X6 framed with R19 insulation, and the supply lines come up from the basement through an interior wall and then across under the floor. I haven't actually seen where everything is run, but I doubt this sink is the end of the line since there is another to the left and the shower is to the right. My first thought was the pipes froze, but I am not convinced. What else could cause both the hot and cold to just stop working?

 

That was my first check. I then pulled the supply lines off at the shutoff valves and nothing, not a drop there either.

 

Frozen. How cold is it where you're at? Hear any water running in the walls? Try leaving the faucet handles open for a while. The frozen part should eventually push out.

 

Well, I was thinking it was frozen too, so I put a space heater in there all night set at 80 degrees. Still nothing, and no evidence of a leak or extra condensation in the cieling below. I has been relatively cold here for Cincinnati though. The last two nights have been in the lower teens and yesterday the high was 19. It is really strange that the sink right next to it is fine.

 

I keep leaving the handles open... and my wife keeps closing them!

 

Why hire a plumber when I can get free advice on the beeb?

 

I just had a thought. Maybe I should put the heater in the bathroom below the one with the issue today. Heat transfer through drywall is probably a lot better than heat transfer through ceramic tile, mortar, hardy board, and subfloor.

 

My ol lady does that crap too.:down:


Question: Is the cold water from the running faucet REAL cold? Colder than what would be considered normal?

 

I didn't notice any difference this morning, so I would guess no. I will check when I get home. May do a test with the cooking thermometer and different faucets.

 

Here is and idea: Make do with the one working sink until it warms up in a few days. If the other sink still doesn't work then start a new thread on the beeb.

 

Lower teens for a few nites doesn't seem like that would be anywhere near cold enough to freeze unless the pipe's not run properly and is right up againt the siding or something. How long have you lived there ? Have you seen it this cold before ?

 

Yeah, that is kind of what I was thinking. This is only our second winter there so we don't have much data. I am pretty sure none of the supply lines actually run in an exterior wall. IF there are any, the wall would be shared with the garage, which has not gotten below freezing except probably in the attic. I just can't think of any other reason both the hot and cold lines would get stopped up at the same time. Especially since every other fixture is working fine.

Funny I moved from a 100 year old house that had no insulation and water lines running through exterior walls and never had an issue. I move to a 17 year old house that is fairly well insulated and now have problems...

 

Dang dude, that's a weird one. I'm perplexed. I'd like to be able to see how your plumbing's run.

 

Is it a single-handle faucet or does it have separate hot & cold handles?

If it's a single, it likely has a blend valve that has scald protection, so if only one side of the line is charged (hot or cold) the faucet won't flow. Could be a failure, could be the hot line is iced.

 

Mongo, you may be right. Maybe I should just call a plumber. I am now getting plumbing advice from an electrician...

It is a double handle faucet and I am not getting anything with the supply lines disconnected.

Metalhead, I may get to see how the plumbing is run if a space heater in the bathroom below doesn't fix it. Drywall is easy to take out. I do know that in the basement there are lines running straight up to the kitchen and 1st floor bath, and one hot and one cold going up an interior wall to what I suspect is the two 2nd floor baths that are right next to each other and directly above a closet and the 1st floor bath. These two sinks should be at the end of the line, and based on where things are in the other 2nd floor bathroom, the one I suspect is at the very end of the line is working.

 

Lines are frozen, I can almost guarantee it. I am in the fire protection business and we have lots of frozen pipes here in the Nati right now! Find the freeze before it warms up or you could get a lot of water when it thaws and ruptures. Last winter we got almost no freezeups.