Incoming Water Main Frozen - Advice Please

[wel7on]

Hello All, Hope you had a nice xmas!

It was -10 down in Dorset last night and I'm pretty sure my incoming water pipe (blue poly ((25mm?)) is frozen. Certainly the outside tap that comes up from it is frozen solid!
I have a fan heater out there at the moment warming things up but -

Inside I have a worcester 24i system boiler and a pressurised ariston tank.
Should I be able to use my tank full of hot water as I all I get is a dribble?
The tank gurgles very loud when I open any hot tap

The cold doesnt flow from any tap but I guess that is down to the frozen incoming water, I thought the benefit of a system boiler was you could still use the hot water from the tank in this sort of situation or does it need incoming water for the hot to flow?

Thanks in advance for your help & advice

[Festive Ferg]

Unvented hot water cylinders rely on incoming main, yes.

Your main should be frost proofed by being below the frost line when it enters the building (through the footing) Are you sure the one coming up to the outside tap is also feeding the inside??

Edited by Festive Ferg on Sunday 26th December 10:48

[wel7on]

Hi Ferg,

Thanks for confirming that. I was concerned about the lack of hot!!!

And yes, the main incoming water pipe goes from the water meter about 10m to my house (it is buried at least 2'6) But the outside tap is T'd off the main pipe about 1m from the water main. It is lagged but I guess it could have frozen back / down!?

So if I do get the water flowing just open the taps, let the air out and carry on as normal?

ps - what is the benefit of system boiler with unvented cylinder VS combi boiler? I was told if the boiler doesnt work you still have your tank for hot water but if it relies on incoming water then maybe not?

Thanks again Ferg - really apprieciate it

[Festive Ferg]

Any cylinder gives you hot water in the case of boiler failure (with an electric immersion heater in it).

The benefits in flow rate are far greater, though. Combination boilers are realistcally good for a bathroom and a kitchen sink. Once you get multiple outlets the physics simply doesn't add up. With a 22mm (internal) pipe coming in to the building just opening two 22mm taps on the bath (hot and cold) will do the flow rate in.

Edited by Festive Ferg on Sunday 26th December 11:08

[Wings]

Had the same with a rented property last week, turned out it was frozen pipe from outside path stop tap to the flat. I telephone the local Water Authority/Company who advised that they were rushed of their feet with similar calls, so just wait a couple of hours and phone them back if pipe did not unfreeze. Within the hour, without any help, water started to flow through the pipe.

[herewego]

I wonder if it would be a good idea to leave a tap open a little, assuming you're staying home, so that if the pipe starts to clear a little the water can run through and unfreeze the rest.

[jeff m]

herewego said:

I wonder if it would be a good idea to leave a tap open a little, assuming you're staying home, so that if the pipe starts to clear a little the water can run through and unfreeze the rest.

yes

[Globs]

herewego said:

I wonder if it would be a good idea to leave a tap open a little, assuming you're staying home, so that if the pipe starts to clear a little the water can run through and unfreeze the rest.

You have to watch the drain pipe then - it's a good way of blocking them up in the freezing weather.

[Flintstone]

Globs said:

herewego said:

I wonder if it would be a good idea to leave a tap open a little, assuming you're staying home, so that if the pipe starts to clear a little the water can run through and unfreeze the rest.

You have to watch the drain pipe then - it's a good way of blocking them up in the freezing weather.

Jeez. If it's not one thing it's another with you lot

[CobolMan]

Our inlet pipe also froze, we woke up on Christmas morning to no cold water entering the house. Luckily we could scrounge some water from our neighbours.

It defrosted last night but, in doing so, resulted in the stopcock in the meter cupboard shearing off; cue gallons of freezing water pouring into the kitchen, flooding it out and seeping into the hall and downstairs loo. Opening rhe meter cupboard stopped it entering the house but there was no way of stopping it flooding the outside. Eventually got through to United Utilities and they sent an engineer out to us; he was a star, stopped the water flowing and fitted a new internal meter and stopcock - he wasn't very complimentary as to how the builders had installed the pipes. When we told him that we'd followed the advice given on the UU website he said that it was actually the worst thing to do! He also said that you should never leave the house unattended if you've got frozen pipes.

It's at times like this that you really appreciate good neighbours; one of ours came over to borrow a radiator bleed key and ended up staying for over an hour, helping us bail out the kitchen - needless to say he's been thanked with a couple of bottles of wine.