If the pipes are exposed, that makes it easier to locate the damage and try to fix. What do you do in case the pipes are inside the drywall, and you don't know for sure if it's frozen?
Thanks for your videos. I have been doing handyman work mostly for a house flipper after my 40 hour job. Allowed me to get away from the daily computer grind and make some money for fun stuff. It seems like I just mec to show up on time tp make people happy. I have people telling me that I am part of their family because I do the work I say I will do. I give you a big thumbs up. I would love to see your hunting channel.
@@alanrodriguez-lx3qv Not much doctors can do but encourage you to eat healthier and get exercise. When you stupidly refuse to do that, they are there to install the stent and remove your colon cancer.
So glad I live in MN where our houses (if up to code) can handle super cold weather and we rarely even need to think about this stuff. :) (Providing insulation and pipes below the frost line were done correctly.)
My god, the flashbacks... I have the backyard pipe going from the WH, over a closet ceiling, then down the back exterior wall. We always close the valve to it in the winter, but one year I forgot to drain the pipe. When I opened it in the spring, I heard the water running but nothing was coming out of the bibb... Cue my panic when I run to the closet and see the high hat gushing water. Ended up being in a horrible spot for my torch, thank god shark bite makes a slip fitting. I can appreciate the luck you had in this video.
Happened a few times at my buddies mobile home here in Vermont, kitchen only also. I put a heat tape on the pipe under the sink, good to go. Fixed quite a few here every winter, good money maker. Thanks for the videos
Oh wow, my whole line is frozen! I have a mobile home, and have never had to deal with sub-zero temps! No heat tape...entire house pipes are frozen. We turned off main water in house, but supposedly there's one underneath too that we don't know about. What do you think we should do to keep them from bursting? Your help would be so much appreciated!
Ha....a few years ago after several weeks of extremely cold weather, our water supply pipe froze somewhere in our front yard and remained frozen for a month. Eventually ended up rigging up a 60gal tank and pump in the garage and hauling jugs of water from the town filling station to fill the tank....for a month. A good way to loose your sanity.... Then, miraculously, on the first day of spring, it thawed out again with no damage.
Install a Watts hot water recirculating system to prevent freezing pipes there. I have done that at a number of properties already, no more frozen pipes. And as a bonus, hot water flows from the hot faucet sooner, don’t have to run the water a lot to wait for it to come out hot. For the Watts system, you do need both hot and cold water pipes, so a single pipe like you would have for a toilet can’t be helped like this.
Love your channels Handyman, especially the business channel. Ive been learning alot about the business side from that channel and greatly appreciate it. Keep up the good work!
*Frozen pipes are NEVER good* !! *No frozen pipes at my house* !! *Glad you are fixing the problem Handyman* !! *Looking forward to the MASSIVE NEW project coming...* !! #TheHandyman
It was -50 in Alberta here a couple of days ago, ended up having to use our thawing machine to tackle a slug of ice in our customer’s main line - a space heater just wouldn’t cut it:)
@@Tja22 just a heavy piece of equipment we lug around in the winter time with a burner and a very small diameter hose that fits through service lines and shoots hot water like a jet to break down the ice. Probably a bunch of names for it we just call it a thawing machine….
Did you use a 5$ can of foam to seal that vent intake? Could charge them for fixing the potential bigger issue "broken pipes" or did you atleast offer that as an option ?
Hey Handyman, been following along for awhile. Appreciate the vids and you've helped me in renovating my first property. You mentioned a massive project, are we ever gonna see an end to the massive kitchen reno from last year??
Have a massive remodel starting in few weeks, and has to be done by June 1. Gonna be an interesting one down here in FL; cuz you “know” how the homes are built😉 Can’t wait to see your huge project though. Gonna be good✌🏻
Could you give a general area where you work? I'm just trying to estimate what the cost difference for work in you area is to where I am. Thanks. Brilliant channel.
Thank you for uploading, Handyman! I'm dealing with this exact same problem. Set up a space heater to thaw out the pipes and everything. Good confirmation that I'm doing it right.
Handyman, I have heard that ABS pipe is less likely to freeze than pvc. Do you know if this is true? Asking because I have a bathtub drain pipe (pvc) that freezes on me sometimes. Thanks.
If it's a drain line u shouldn't worry about is if it does freeze u have a bigger problem lol mean u have a stopage. Unless ur talking about the trap that hold water to prevent sewer gasses from entering your house.
Had frozen pipes? Have frozen pipes. The pipes go out the kitchen and into an inaccessible section (and, I wager, uninsulated) section of side paneling that sticks out from the rest of the wall by a foot or so. Called two plumbers and one told me to open up the cabinets and add heat, and another said just wait for it to thaw.
Back in the good old days of incandescent bulbs, we would slap a 100 watter in that closet and throughout the basement, then just leave the lights on when we expected cold weather. But yeah, that vent is in the wrong place. And why on earth people don't heat their basements/crawlspaces seasonally, is beyond me. I had a basement return and basement registers installed when I got a new heatpump. Dry basement now, btw.
Can you tell me the diffferences to this for mobile homes? Mine froze and we have main water to house off, but supposedly there's something to turn off under the home...how do i do this without bursting a pipe?
had (2) water pipes in an overhead joist freeze. already insulated pipes freezing :O one had closed cell foam. is there a better system or way to insulate pipes in non heated joist areas?
Next time take your cell phone and put it on the video mode and put it on the long stick then you could check the pipe to see if there's any bulges because the pipe may not a broke but if it's bulging from Frozen ice then it could break later that's why I automobile engines have what they call Core plugs which hold the cores in place when they pour the metal but because car blocks would freeze up the core plugs with pop out that's where they got the nickname freeze plugs but once the engine block starts to freeze up and pops out the plugs if it keeps freezing your block will crack hints for the name freeze plugs when they should be called core plugs as they were at one time
I never knew they installed these sorts of "intakes" for 80% furnaces and water heaters. I've never seen anything like this before in my area. Only if you have a 90%+ furnace do they SOMETIMES install the intake pipe to the exterior. I made sure they did in my home when I upgraded my furnace, but many homes with 90%+ furnaces still use the inside air for combustion. Creates drafts this way as it pulls a vacuum on the home. And of course the furnace is a much higher BTU than the water heater and also the water heater doesn't run as often.
Air makeup is sometimes necessary to prevent back drafting through the exhaust / chimney. When there is insufficient fresh air for combustion, air can be drawn through the exhaust; the air makeup brings outside air in to prevent pulling combustion air through the exhaust. A direct vented system, such as the 90% and higher efficiency units, will have intake air coming in directly from the outside by design. The lower efficiency units get intake air from the space surrounding the system.
I thought in those cold states they have a drippy faucet to avoid pipe freezing. Or at least insulation on the pipe I know when I do freezes on pipe is there's a little flow it won't freeze. (Personal experience) and yeah I've had a line Crack be for scare shit lol
That's frozen gold, especially after hours. If it's copper and only the ends are accessible, you basically hook up an arc welder to the two ends and turn it on for less than a few minutes.
You can't leave us hanging... After you defrosted the pipe, did you just tell the homeowner that they need an HVAC guy to block off the air inlet or did you take care of it?
That air intake was probably actually installed by an HVAC tech, to prevent back drafting where combustion intake air gets pulled in through the exhaust. Backdrafting brings the exhaust back in to, a bad thing for living beings. The fix to prevent freezing pipes is to install a hot water recirculating system such as the Watts unit.
My parents are getting 0 degrees F in Northern Texas tonight. I'm in Upstate NY and I think I might be out of the negatives for the season. Not done with snow, though. 4-8 inches tomorrow, more Tuesday, more Thursday, more Friday. Hey at least it's not going to snow on Wednesday.
Check my Instagram stories for how I fixed it. instagram.com/the_hand_e_man/
This happened to me today n NC
did you fill that unused vent with insulation to prevent air infiltration in the future or will you come back the next time it freezes?
If the pipes are exposed, that makes it easier to locate the damage and try to fix. What do you do in case the pipes are inside the drywall, and you don't know for sure if it's frozen?
Thanks for your videos. I have been doing handyman work mostly for a house flipper after my 40 hour job. Allowed me to get away from the daily computer grind and make some money for fun stuff. It seems like I just mec to show up on time tp make people happy. I have people telling me that I am part of their family because I do the work I say I will do. I give you a big thumbs up. I would love to see your hunting channel.
Big massive project, mama. On a separate note, did you do anything about that open cold air supply?
🤔 💭 🤑I think he wants to go back next year . He treated the problem not solve it just like a doctor 👩⚕️.
I was wondering this as well lol 🤔
@@alanrodriguez-lx3qv Not much doctors can do but encourage you to eat healthier and get exercise. When you stupidly refuse to do that, they are there to install the stent and remove your colon cancer.
What? Come on man he used spray foam and filled er' up 😅😂😭🤣
So glad I live in MN where our houses (if up to code) can handle super cold weather and we rarely even need to think about this stuff. :) (Providing insulation and pipes below the frost line were done correctly.)
Then what are you doing on this video????? go enjoy your wonderful and insulated life.
@@TheRealHoward life balance and moderation. 😆
My god, the flashbacks... I have the backyard pipe going from the WH, over a closet ceiling, then down the back exterior wall. We always close the valve to it in the winter, but one year I forgot to drain the pipe. When I opened it in the spring, I heard the water running but nothing was coming out of the bibb... Cue my panic when I run to the closet and see the high hat gushing water. Ended up being in a horrible spot for my torch, thank god shark bite makes a slip fitting. I can appreciate the luck you had in this video.
Happened a few times at my buddies mobile home here in Vermont, kitchen only also. I put a heat tape on the pipe under the sink, good to go. Fixed quite a few here every winter, good money maker. Thanks for the videos
Oh wow, my whole line is frozen! I have a mobile home, and have never had to deal with sub-zero temps! No heat tape...entire house pipes are frozen. We turned off main water in house, but supposedly there's one underneath too that we don't know about. What do you think we should do to keep them from bursting? Your help would be so much appreciated!
Lucky homeowner . You took care of that problem in a very professional way.
Good job buddy 👍
Ha....a few years ago after several weeks of extremely cold weather, our water supply pipe froze somewhere in our front yard and remained frozen for a month. Eventually ended up rigging up a 60gal tank and pump in the garage and hauling jugs of water from the town filling station to fill the tank....for a month. A good way to loose your sanity....
Then, miraculously, on the first day of spring, it thawed out again with no damage.
Great job!
You have a good problem-solving skills for a lot of these jobs.
Install a Watts hot water recirculating system to prevent freezing pipes there. I have done that at a number of properties already, no more frozen pipes. And as a bonus, hot water flows from the hot faucet sooner, don’t have to run the water a lot to wait for it to come out hot.
For the Watts system, you do need both hot and cold water pipes, so a single pipe like you would have for a toilet can’t be helped like this.
Pop p
The Handyman is awesome, I have learned alot from this expertise
Six inches of snow in San Angelo, Texas!
That’s global warming for ya ;)
Congratulations
Love your channels Handyman, especially the business channel. Ive been learning alot about the business side from that channel and greatly appreciate it. Keep up the good work!
Are they going to have you fix that upper vent location or send in an HVAC person for that job?
Heck yeah Handy Dandy Andy on the Massive Remodels! 😘🥰🇺🇸😊
been a while handyman. what have you been working on? Thanks for the content, and dont be a stranger.
Thanks for putting this out there. Very informative.
Handyman to the rescue!👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Did you plug up that unused vent pipe with insulation to prevent cold air from entering that space?
Frozen pipes , that wood handled knife sitting in water is a crime
*Frozen pipes are NEVER good* !! *No frozen pipes at my house* !! *Glad you are fixing the problem Handyman* !! *Looking forward to the MASSIVE NEW project coming...* !! #TheHandyman
You folks up north can keep your cold weather.. just 4 days ago here in West Texas it was high 70s and sunny.. today 9° f with 9 inches of snow 😒
Cool job - so to speak.
Thanks for sharing 👍
HM, why didn't you close off the upper vent (insulation or cap)?
It was -50 in Alberta here a couple of days ago, ended up having to use our thawing machine to tackle a slug of ice in our customer’s main line - a space heater just wouldn’t cut it:)
What is your “thawing machine?”
@@Tja22 just a heavy piece of equipment we lug around in the winter time with a burner and a very small diameter hose that fits through service lines and shoots hot water like a jet to break down the ice. Probably a bunch of names for it we just call it a thawing machine….
This funny cause this literally happend to me today.. here in Texas
Sorry man. I'm in Texas as well. Hope it doesn't happen at our house.
Texas? It should be 80+ degrees right
@@ThrillLifeTV not in the winter time lol. It'll be about 1° tommorow.
@@atrain132 wow glade to know i always thought it was high all year around lol
@@atrain132 I'm in Minnesota it's -13
Excellent work and thanks for the awesome content stay safe and have a great week
Did you use a 5$ can of foam to seal that vent intake?
Could charge them for fixing the potential bigger issue "broken pipes"
or did you atleast offer that as an option ?
Boy…
Do I need this today. Don’t even know where to begin with these frozen pipes.?!🤷🏾♂️ Living the dream in Texas!!😫
Hey Handyman, been following along for awhile. Appreciate the vids and you've helped me in renovating my first property. You mentioned a massive project, are we ever gonna see an end to the massive kitchen reno from last year??
Stay tuned
@@TheHandyman1 Sweet 👍🏻
Have a massive remodel starting in few weeks, and has to be done by June 1. Gonna be an interesting one down here in FL; cuz you “know” how the homes are built😉
Can’t wait to see your huge project though. Gonna be good✌🏻
Hey Handyman, what are those pants that you are always wearing in your handyman videos?
Could you give a general area where you work? I'm just trying to estimate what the cost difference for work in you area is to where I am. Thanks. Brilliant channel.
Handyman! love the tips!! stay safe fella!!!
Thank you for uploading, Handyman! I'm dealing with this exact same problem. Set up a space heater to thaw out the pipes and everything.
Good confirmation that I'm doing it right.
See my other comment on this video for a solution to freezing pipes.
Handyman, I have heard that ABS pipe is less likely to freeze than pvc. Do you know if this is true? Asking because I have a bathtub drain pipe (pvc) that freezes on me sometimes. Thanks.
If it's a drain line u shouldn't worry about is if it does freeze u have a bigger problem lol mean u have a stopage. Unless ur talking about the trap that hold water to prevent sewer gasses from entering your house.
Had frozen pipes? Have frozen pipes. The pipes go out the kitchen and into an inaccessible section (and, I wager, uninsulated) section of side paneling that sticks out from the rest of the wall by a foot or so. Called two plumbers and one told me to open up the cabinets and add heat, and another said just wait for it to thaw.
You da man, Handyman. Remodel that thing, let's see it. Go big bro!
Yep.
Any thoughts on those granite sinks? Avoid, or go for it?
Great video, handyman thanks
another kick ass informative video by the Handy Man. thanks much
I wish they could build a house that it's easy to access to all repairs needed.
If it gets that cold and your worried. Turn the water on a trickle at the closet facet.
Greeting from Texas
Arrrgg! You thawed the pipe, but where was your opinion as to how to fix the existing problem with the intakes?
Check instagram tomorrow for the repair.
Best of luck to you sir! Gonna miss your videos
Back in the good old days of incandescent bulbs, we would slap a 100 watter in that closet and throughout the basement, then just leave the lights on when we expected cold weather.
But yeah, that vent is in the wrong place.
And why on earth people don't heat their basements/crawlspaces seasonally, is beyond me. I had a basement return and basement registers installed when I got a new heatpump. Dry basement now, btw.
Good simple idea. My parents did the same thing in our old stone basement in winter. 💡
Good for you sir
You're a busy 👨
7:03 look at the coper pip on the right. Right before the 90. See the stress cracks? You may be back soon.....
Or it may be a cob web
Not stress cracks. It looks like residual flux or solder.
Well, I can't believe it..But, you can..Just chkd....Its 12 degrees in Central Texas....Wind Chill....a balmy -7 degrees....
-10 with wind-chill of -35 in KC
look forward to seeing your remodels, keep them coming always nice to see how you Yanks do these little jobs [ sometimes big ones too ]
Karl
thank you
Its crazy ive been following you for a long time now and my business name is actually named HomeHandiman. That's funny.. Keep up the good work..
Which massive? Texas?
Hope you capped that vent.
Sinks you mean faucets opening up??
Good job.
Great advice! 😃👌
(Pipe-sicles. In a basement crawlspace like that, some heat tape might be a good idea.)
Can you tell me the diffferences to this for mobile homes? Mine froze and we have main water to house off, but supposedly there's something to turn off under the home...how do i do this without bursting a pipe?
Your definitely in the top 1% of handymen in the world. Great content man keep it up
Whats with the blue tape on the front of the former kitchen cabinets in your shop
Labels so I know what is in them.
Great video
had (2) water pipes in an overhead joist freeze. already insulated pipes freezing :O one had closed cell foam. is there a better system or way to insulate pipes in non heated joist areas?
Great video good info
Fact 1: Day 22 of asking Handyman to say Howdy in the intro. Fact 2: Handyman always delivers the best videos.
Good bull
I love jobs where I don't have to do any work!
The best handyman in world
What's going to keep that from happening again???
How do you know how much to charge for your services?
Does anyone know the model of the leatherman he uses
I have learned a lot from this fella
Saved some 💰 too :)
Next time take your cell phone and put it on the video mode and put it on the long stick then you could check the pipe to see if there's any bulges because the pipe may not a broke but if it's bulging from Frozen ice then it could break later that's why I automobile engines have what they call Core plugs which hold the cores in place when they pour the metal but because car blocks would freeze up the core plugs with pop out that's where they got the nickname freeze plugs but once the engine block starts to freeze up and pops out the plugs if it keeps freezing your block will crack hints for the name freeze plugs when they should be called core plugs as they were at one time
When I blow up balloons, my hair plugs pop out. Any tips?
(That's a great idea, video recording w/phone. 👍)
Best damn channel around.
I never knew they installed these sorts of "intakes" for 80% furnaces and water heaters. I've never seen anything like this before in my area. Only if you have a 90%+ furnace do they SOMETIMES install the intake pipe to the exterior. I made sure they did in my home when I upgraded my furnace, but many homes with 90%+ furnaces still use the inside air for combustion. Creates drafts this way as it pulls a vacuum on the home. And of course the furnace is a much higher BTU than the water heater and also the water heater doesn't run as often.
Air makeup is sometimes necessary to prevent back drafting through the exhaust / chimney. When there is insufficient fresh air for combustion, air can be drawn through the exhaust; the air makeup brings outside air in to prevent pulling combustion air through the exhaust.
A direct vented system, such as the 90% and higher efficiency units, will have intake air coming in directly from the outside by design. The lower efficiency units get intake air from the space surrounding the system.
Great video, thanks for sharing 👍👍🎖
Worked perfectly 😊
Digging the beard dude
Thank you!!! Very informative. I watched about 10 videos similarly to this but you got me to understand everything. 😂 thank you
Sheetrock ceilings in basements are a bad idea.
Can anyone help me out. I have a 2 story home and all the faucets/showers are working except the kitchen sink.
What space heater did you use ? Brand place of purchase, price?? Just curious ...
Off the shelf walmart special
full send bro never lift!
Will putting hot water in a sink or tub help thaw pipes or is that a non-no? Yes, I am a total novice!
How much does one pay for valve cut-off and space heater work? My guess...$150.
I thought in those cold states they have a drippy faucet to avoid pipe freezing. Or at least insulation on the pipe I know when I do freezes on pipe is there's a little flow it won't freeze. (Personal experience) and yeah I've had a line Crack be for scare shit lol
Dripping faucets freeze shallow sewer lines underground.
Just a thought, maybe get a 15' inspection camera.
No bees this time of year.
That's frozen gold, especially after hours. If it's copper and only the ends are accessible, you basically hook up an arc welder to the two ends and turn it on for less than a few minutes.
High and Low combustion air? Not familiar with that concept. Additional explanation?
Your gas water heater and furnace need air to burn they cant bun the air in the house. you need fresh air ducts to supply the air or them to burn.
That was very lucky 👍👍👍
Thanks for the video =)
You can't leave us hanging... After you defrosted the pipe, did you just tell the homeowner that they need an HVAC guy to block off the air inlet or did you take care of it?
That air intake was probably actually installed by an HVAC tech, to prevent back drafting where combustion intake air gets pulled in through the exhaust. Backdrafting brings the exhaust back in to, a bad thing for living beings.
The fix to prevent freezing pipes is to install a hot water recirculating system such as the Watts unit.
My parents are getting 0 degrees F in Northern Texas tonight. I'm in Upstate NY and I think I might be out of the negatives for the season.
Not done with snow, though. 4-8 inches tomorrow, more Tuesday, more Thursday, more Friday. Hey at least it's not going to snow on Wednesday.
Its crazy because my kitchen sink is frozen i think 🤔 but everything else work fine in the house
That is how this house was. Only the kitchen sink pipes froze.
I have pex pipes i had a heater under the sink for almost 2 days now in still nothing..
2 days? Pex is more flexible. It must be froze further down.
Once your pipes are thawed, get a Watts hot water recirculating system installed. I made another comment on this video about that.
@@TheHandyman1 today make the 3rd day. I'm gone take my lil heater in put in my basement where the water line goes to the kitchen
FORZE!!
Put the shock treatment to them pipes..