Anyone here a plumber or know about plumbing?

[Eko]

My water stopped working last night. Worked fine when I left for work in the morning. When I got home I turned on the sink and it started to come out for a couple of seconds then stopped. Doesn't work anywhere. figured it was a frozen pipe so I put a heater on the pipe coming into the house all night. Tried it a few times and the same thing happens, runs a little them stops. Same thing this morning. I have heat tape on the pipes and insulation and the heat tape has been on since December. Any advice?

[PCIntern]

1. Do you have a crawl space?

Neighbors all have water?

Do your pipes go on outside wall?

Enquiring minds want to know!

[Eko]

2. no crawl space

Neighbors have water.
Water from well same as neighbor.
I get water after him.
No pipes outside wall, all in garage on floor and in house, feed comes in garage from underground.

[Turbineguy]

3. The meter could be frozen.

you can defrost it with a hair dryer. Slowly.

[Eko]

4. Were can I find the meter?

Would I have one with well water?

[Turbineguy]

9. Sorry, maybe I was wrong.

[Eko]

10. all good. Thanks for replying!

[sl8]

5. I've had the water freeze in the underground feed line before.

The plumber cleared the ice plug by pumping very hot (nearly boiling) water into the feed line from where it passed through the basement wall.

[Eko]

7. That is what I am leaning towards. I just find it odd that if I leave it off for a few hours and try again

It runs for like a second then stops. I would think if it was frozen it would just stop.

[sl8]

11. That is odd.

Have you tried opening the fitting closest to where the pipe enters from underground?

[Eko]

12. Isnt it?

No, I didnt see any fitting. There is a spigot about 12 ft further and I turned that and nothing came out.

[Hutchewon]

14. Leave the valve/tap open but stay close to it.

If the water runs briefly then stops it could be that the line is not totally blocked. Try turning the tap on and leave it on for 30 minutes. If that doesn't work, be sure to turn the tap off before you leave it unsupervised.

[biophile]

6. The underground line could be frozen or broken/burst.

We have a well that feeds water out to the barn. One year after extended cold the line out to the barn froze. It’s three feet down but still froze. Part of it is in shade constantly so sunlight doesn’t warm the ground.

[Eko]

8. Thanks see post 7

[UpInArms]

13. does your well have a submersible pump? Do you have a well house?

is there a heater in the well house?

[Eko]

15. On that I have no idea as I rent, but

My neighbor is on the same line and he gets it before I do and his is working.

[UpInArms]

16. So, it is a community well, not a private one?

Some possibilities …

You may have a pressure problem, do you have a pressure regulator?

As you get a small amount of water before it quits, that seems somewhat likely.

Do you have a water outlet outside that is not frozen and is on the same line? That would prove that you are getting water from the source and the trouble could be closer in … do you have a basement and are your water lines accessible in that space, or is it a crawl space or slab foundation?

If you can heat the basement, it may thaw your pipe that is frozen.

[ProfessorGAC]

17. Similar Situation Here

We have an odd arrangement where our garage is in the basement. The rest ov the basement is finished like a 3rd floor.
But, because of that the "basement wall" is exposed to the elements and it's just concrete. When we had the walls put in, the guy ran the water from the washing machine behind the wall, so when it gets really cold, no house heat gets to the pipes.
What I've done that works is to find some area of the pipe that's easy to get to and put a blow dryer blowing on the pipe.
Copper & water are both really good conductors of heat, so the heat gets to the frozen spor
T and starts to melt it.
You only need a pin hole of flow because then just running the water brings in new mass that isn't close to the freezing point. The heat of the 45° or so water melts the rest of the ice.
If you're getting a little flow, the line has to have a tiny space for water to leak through, also meaning the whole line isn't frozen solid. If it was, the pressure downstream of the plug would be zero.
Try the hairdryer thing. Worked for me.