It happens to all of us—in the hustle-bustle of the holidays, you simply forget to take the necessary precautions to protect your pipes from cold weather. Then, you wake up one morning, turn on the shower and only a trickle comes out—the diagnosis: there’s water frozen in the pipe. Now what do you do?

The first thing you want to do is confirm that you haven’t split a pipe. If you have, you need to turn the water off or you’ll have a real mess. Assuming, though, that your pipes are just blocked by a buildup of ice, here are some steps you can take to get the water flowing again.

• Open the faucets — This won’t likely produce any immediate results, but as you use other methods to break up the ice, running water through the pipes will help melt the ice faster. Once the ice starts to melt, keep the lines open until you have full water pressure.
• Identify where the pipe is likely frozen — Look for supply lines in a crawl space, in an unheated garage or along outside walls. A warning—you may have more than one blockage. If you can’t find the location, you’ll need to call a plumber.
• Break up the ice — Obviously, you’ll want to apply some heat to the frozen pipe. Don’t use anything that has an open flame!! If you have electricity and a blow dryer, that’s one of the best tools for thawing pipes. An electric heating pad will work, too. If it’s a small confined space where the pipes have frozen, a portable space heater can also do the job. In fact, if you have any incandescent light bulbs (hard to find these days), the heat they produce can be all you need to open a pipe.

Contact Public Service Plumbers

To learn how we can help you, call (214) 753-4633 or contact us by e-mail and we’ll schedule an appointment.

At Public Service Plumbers, we answer our phones 24 hours a day, seven days a week. We can send our service personnel to your home or business anytime, day or night. All of our plumbers are factory-trained and factory-certified.

Public Service Plumbers

5610 Dyer Street
Dallas, Texas 75206
(214) 753-4633

We offer plumbing installation and repair services to individuals and businesses throughout the Dallas-Fort Worth area, including Highland Park, University Park, Preston Hollow, Lakewood, Lake Highlands, Richardson, Plano, Frisco, McKinney, Allen, Coppell, Garland, Mesquite, Addison, Kessler Park, Farmers Branch, Grapevine, Southlake, Flower Mound and Lewisville.