Hi! This question seems so far below the paygrade of this forum, but it's nearly 11 pm and one of my pipes is likely frozen and I can't figure out one should-be-simple thing.
The faucet in question is my second story shower, which is the only faucet on that floor which is on an external wall. That external wall is super chilly, it turns out! Also fed by the same pipe but still running with no apparent difficulty are my toilet and two bathroom sinks, all of which are positioned on internal walls. All other faucets in my house are in working order.
I've turned on every faucet in my home and left it trickling. I've opened the blocked shower faucet fully and set up a space heater next to it and have turned up the heat in my house. I'm getting, at best, an intermittent, grey drip from the faucet, not enough to be confident that it's not just water remaining from a prior use. I've located the shutoff valves for the second floor and have shut off the cold water. But with the rest of the faucets running clear up there and unlikely to freeze as they're not near an external wall, should I shut off the hot water as well or continue to let those faucets run? Will the hot water moving through those pipes be more likely to help thaw the portion of the pipe that's frozen, or cause more heartache for me in the long run?
It's not likely to get past the single digits here until Thursday, and we're scheduled for negative temperatures all day Wednesday. No thaw is in the offing.
This question feels so dumb as I ask it, but I honestly don't know what to do. Any advice would be so welcome.
Thanks,
Jenny
The faucet in question is my second story shower, which is the only faucet on that floor which is on an external wall. That external wall is super chilly, it turns out! Also fed by the same pipe but still running with no apparent difficulty are my toilet and two bathroom sinks, all of which are positioned on internal walls. All other faucets in my house are in working order.
I've turned on every faucet in my home and left it trickling. I've opened the blocked shower faucet fully and set up a space heater next to it and have turned up the heat in my house. I'm getting, at best, an intermittent, grey drip from the faucet, not enough to be confident that it's not just water remaining from a prior use. I've located the shutoff valves for the second floor and have shut off the cold water. But with the rest of the faucets running clear up there and unlikely to freeze as they're not near an external wall, should I shut off the hot water as well or continue to let those faucets run? Will the hot water moving through those pipes be more likely to help thaw the portion of the pipe that's frozen, or cause more heartache for me in the long run?
It's not likely to get past the single digits here until Thursday, and we're scheduled for negative temperatures all day Wednesday. No thaw is in the offing.
This question feels so dumb as I ask it, but I honestly don't know what to do. Any advice would be so welcome.
Thanks,
Jenny