Freeze, Sucka!

So I got home last night and went to wash my hands. No water. Fcuk, I know what this means. Ok, down to the cellar to shut the water off to the house, and then walk around and open all the faucets so whatever water isn't frozen, will drain back out of the bathroom sink in the basement. Ok, now then, let's start the hide-and-seek game. Good thing I've got a number of access panels in my ceiling - let's start opening them up and try to find where the pipe froze.

The one thing working in my favor is that three years ago when I redid my basement, I tore out the copper lines and replaced them with pex tubing. That stuff has a bit of flex to it, so hopefully I won't have any breaks.

Checking the lines, I was able to trace things back almost to where the line comes into the house. But there was one last section above a coat closet that was inaccessible. And yep; that's where the freeze occurred. See, when I redid the lines, I made sure to run them above the (foreced hot water) heating pipes. That would ensure that I wouldn't have any freezing problems. Well unfortunately, the main water line comes into the house in the back corner, up the wall, and travels along the back wall for about a foot before I was able to meet it up with the heating pipes. And yep; that section is what froze. Damn.

McCarthy happened to text to see what I was up to, and when I replied what was going on, he offerred a high intensity heater for me to use. We met up halfway, he handed off the heater, and I was in business. I set things up and aimed the heat at the offending spot and let 'er rip.

Two hours later, I was down and reaching my hand into the cold spot as far as I could. Not bad, not bad, the temps feel pretty warm now. Let me try turning the water on and seeing what happens...

I was rewarded with the sound of water rushing through the lines and out the faucets. I ran around and shut all the faucets and then, with the main line still open, listened for the tell-tale sound of water... After several tense moments, I let out a long sigh. I hadn't heard anything!

I'm not out of the woods yet. It was late and I needed to hit the sack, so I shut the water off again and left the heat in place. I'll open the water up again tonight and check again. I also shot over to Home Depot at lunch and picked up a vent which I'm going to cut into the closet ceiling and that will let heat rise up to the 'bad' spot and hopefully prevent this from happening again. Also, when I cut that hole into the ceiling, I should be able to see the spot that was frozen, so with any luck, I'll be able to check to see if the pex stretched too much and needs replacing. (I hope not, because there ain't much wiggle room up in there!)

Wish me luck...