No water from the tap? Thawing frozen pipes safely

Follow the dry fixture's supply line back from the faucet. The freeze is usually where the pipe passes the coldest spot: an exterior wall, the rim joist above the foundation, a crawl space, or an uninsulated garage ceiling. Frost on the pipe or a section that feels much colder than the rest is a good clue.

If one kitchen or bathroom on an outside wall is the only dry spot, the problem is almost certainly local. If no fixture in the house has water, the freeze may be at the meter, where the line enters the house, or underground. That is a job for a plumber or your water utility.

Warm the room first. Open cabinet doors, aim a space heater at the area from a safe distance and raise the thermostat a few degrees. Then work on the pipe itself with a hair dryer, a heating pad or towels soaked in hot water, starting at the faucet end and moving toward the frozen spot.

Keep the faucet open the whole time. As the ice softens, water will start to drip and then flow, which speeds up the thaw. Keep space heaters away from curtains, boxes and anything flammable, and never leave one running unattended. Be careful with hair dryers anywhere near standing water.

Stop if you can't find the frozen section, if it is inside a finished wall or ceiling, or if you see a bulge, crack or water. Also stop if you have been working on it for 30 to 45 minutes without any change; the freeze may be in a different place than you think.

A plumber has tools that make this faster and safer, including infrared cameras to find the cold spot and electric pipe-thawing machines that warm metal pipe from the inside. If you need someone to thaw frozen pipes near you, call any time and a local plumber will call you back.

A frozen water service line, the pipe running underground from the street to your house, is a bigger problem. It can happen in Minnesota during long cold stretches with little snow cover, especially where the line runs under a plowed driveway.

Check with a neighbor first. If they have no water either, the issue may be in the city main, so call your city's public works or water department. If it is just your home, a plumber can tell you whether the freeze is inside or outside, and whether a service line thaw is needed. Leave the main valve open and a faucet open unless you see a leak.

Let the faucet run for a few minutes and check every visible length of that line for drips. A split pipe often shows itself only after it thaws. Keep checking the area for a day or so for wet spots on ceilings and walls.

Then figure out why it froze. A line that froze once will freeze again on the next cold night unless something changes. Keep the cabinet open and the faucet dripping until the cold snap passes, and look at insulation or heat cable before next winter.