Frozen pipes

Hi, the pipes to my kitchen sink were frozen due to a sudden cold front in nyc and have been trying to thaw out the frozen pipes. After about day since it has been warming up, the cold water has come back but no hot water. I tried to trace where the frozen section of the pipe might be but its behind the wall somewhere. how long does it usually take to thaw out the pipes? Also the sink also clogged up at the same time as when the pipes froze, is that normal? I've already cranked up the heat in my house and tried using the hairdryer on the pipes below the sink. Any solutions are much appreciated.

 

Welcome to the forums!

Basically it just takes heat and time. Are the pipes embedded in the exterior wall? Setting a space heater in or in front of the cabinet should speed up the thawing. Be sure to keep an eye on the plumbing in case there are any leaks once it thaws out.

 

Drain might have frozen also. Have run into this on washer drains when in a outside wall.

 

As suggested a small cube heater placed inside an emptied cabinet would thaw out a line fairly quickly provided the frozen section is in that area.


Make sure you leave the cabinet door open.

 

The heater inside the cabinet is a good one. I often find pipes frozen in the walls behind cabinets. I think the cabinets with their doors closed prevent the heat from the room from reaching the wall. Leaving the cabinet doors open when it's really cold and allowing the room's heat to reach that section of wall seems to help. Putting a heater in there would probably do a lot to thaw the pipes if the frozen area is actually behind the cabinets.