Thawed out hot pipes , now no hot water


  #1  
Old 01-05-18, 02:17 PM
P
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2018
Posts: 15
Upvotes: 0
Received 0 Upvotes on 0 Posts
Thawed out hot pipes , now no hot water

I just managed to thaw out my hot water pipes . I had no issue with the cold water .. that has been fine the whole time. also heat is ok in house. I still do not have hot water. when I was thawing them out I did notice certain areas of the hot water pipes were warm. others were cold (frozen) now they are all cold yet water is still flowing . what can I do to get the hot water back running in the house. FYI this is effecting the whole house.
 
  #2  
Old 01-05-18, 03:05 PM
Norm201's Avatar
Member
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: United States
Posts: 10,956
Received 721 Upvotes on 640 Posts
need more info. Are you saying you're getting cold flow from the hot water lines? You still have ice in them. Keep a trickle of water running continuously. Is the HW tank operating?
 
  #3  
Old 01-05-18, 04:18 PM
P
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2018
Posts: 15
Upvotes: 0
Received 0 Upvotes on 0 Posts
Heat and hot water are all in one.. I ran the dish washer and washing machine to see if there was a air lock.... slowly it seams to be coming back...I also have space heaters running to keep the pipes from freezing.. also yes I am going to keep a slow drip over night
 
  #4  
Old 01-05-18, 04:49 PM
V
Member
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: North East Kingdom of Vermont
Posts: 2,195
Upvotes: 0
Received 3 Upvotes on 3 Posts
Was the Hot Water Heater drained while you heated the pipes ?

I'm wondering if one or both of the elements was still active and exposed to the air while the thawing was being done . . . . and burned itself out.
 
  #5  
Old 01-05-18, 08:29 PM
P
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2018
Posts: 15
Upvotes: 0
Received 0 Upvotes on 0 Posts
sorry guys I forgot to mention .. I do not have a hot water heater... it is a furnace .. supplies heat for house and hot water... since my last post I have checked the faucet and some warm water does come out the it went warm/cold.. I checked the pipes from the furnace they are getting warmer as you go away from the furnace.. I am wondering if the pipes are so cold that it is going to take a while to wamr up?? does that makes sence... in the mean time I have faucets dripping at night, slowly ( going to 7 degrees here in NJ) ... and space heaters going also.. thanks for the help and suggestions they are greatly apreaciated
 
  #6  
Old 01-05-18, 08:42 PM
PJmax's Avatar
Group Moderator
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Jersey
Posts: 64,929
Received 3,950 Upvotes on 3,543 Posts
That's a boiler. A furnace uses hot air. A boiler makes hot water.

Something is not making sense. If the boiler was up to heat..... the second you got water flow on the hot water side of the fixtures.... the pipes would unthaw in seconds. You should have normal flow of hot water.

Is the boiler hot ? What is the temperature on the gauge ?
A few pictures of your boiler and piping would answer some questions for us.
How-to-insert-pictures
 
  #7  
Old 01-06-18, 06:22 AM
P
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2018
Posts: 15
Upvotes: 0
Received 0 Upvotes on 0 Posts
boiler is hot.. temp is 196 .. hot water lines are flowing just not hot water... Could it be from being frozen for so long ?
 
  #8  
Old 01-06-18, 07:02 AM
PJmax's Avatar
Group Moderator
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Jersey
Posts: 64,929
Received 3,950 Upvotes on 3,543 Posts
Could it be from being frozen for so long ?
NO!

Since we can't see what you have I'm assuming you have a tankless coil in the boiler for hot water. Since you have water flow and the boiler is hot.... I'll also assume you have a defective tempering valve. That's a valve that balances the hot and cold water to maintain an anti-scalding temperature.
 
  #9  
Old 01-06-18, 07:13 AM
P
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2018
Posts: 15
Upvotes: 0
Received 0 Upvotes on 0 Posts
tempering valve was replaced last week
 
  #10  
Old 01-06-18, 07:21 AM
PJmax's Avatar
Group Moderator
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Jersey
Posts: 64,929
Received 3,950 Upvotes on 3,543 Posts
At the tempering valve there should be three pipes. Hot water in, cold water in and mixed water out.
If the hot water pipe is hot and the mixed out is cold or not hot enough... the valve is not working properly.
 
  #11  
Old 01-06-18, 07:48 AM
P
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2018
Posts: 15
Upvotes: 0
Received 0 Upvotes on 0 Posts
here are pictures of the system
 
Attached Images    
  #12  
Old 01-06-18, 07:51 AM
P
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2018
Posts: 15
Upvotes: 0
Received 0 Upvotes on 0 Posts
ok the two pipes in front are my heating .. the pipe in the picture with the foyel wrap and foam on it is my hot water pipe
 
  #13  
Old 01-06-18, 08:32 AM
Z
Member
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Southeastern Pennsylvania
Posts: 3,386
Received 124 Upvotes on 115 Posts
If the pipe above the black box, which comes out of the boiler and makes the 90 degree turn, is the hot water pipe, then when you run hot water from a faucet you should be able feel that hot water pipe right there at the boiler and it should be hot.

That is, if your boiler water is actually 190 degrees and the gauge isn’t broken.

Seems to me if the pipe is hot at the boiler then you should be able to follow the pipe and see where it turns cold. Is the hot water pipe still running through some space that is still extremely cold? I don’t know whether that would cause the problem, but it seems like it might.
 
  #14  
Old 01-06-18, 09:00 AM
P
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2018
Posts: 15
Upvotes: 0
Received 0 Upvotes on 0 Posts
next to the black box.. going horizontal is cold water the vertical is the hot water
 
  #15  
Old 01-06-18, 09:04 AM
P
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2018
Posts: 15
Upvotes: 0
Received 0 Upvotes on 0 Posts
also I did follow the hot pipe abouot 5 minutes ago and it is hot at the boailer then gets warm and cools off.. could there possible still be a blockage??
 
  #16  
Old 01-06-18, 09:31 AM
Z
Member
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Southeastern Pennsylvania
Posts: 3,386
Received 124 Upvotes on 115 Posts
You have to run the hot water when you trace. The pipe should be hot to warm all the way to the end. If it’s the tempering valve as PJ suspected you would notice a big difference at that point. If you see a good flow at the endpoint then there is no blockage.
 
  #17  
Old 01-06-18, 09:33 AM
P
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2018
Posts: 15
Upvotes: 0
Received 0 Upvotes on 0 Posts
found a valve at the far end of the system with a bleader on it... took the cap off nothing came out... used a pin and a mixer of air and water came out then it started to free flow... could I have had a air lock?
 
  #18  
Old 01-06-18, 09:51 AM
Z
Member
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Southeastern Pennsylvania
Posts: 3,386
Received 124 Upvotes on 115 Posts
  #19  
Old 01-06-18, 10:00 AM
P
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2018
Posts: 15
Upvotes: 0
Received 0 Upvotes on 0 Posts
yes exactly I have 3 and the one furthest away was pissing air and water then went full water
 
  #20  
Old 01-06-18, 10:02 AM
PJmax's Avatar
Group Moderator
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Jersey
Posts: 64,929
Received 3,950 Upvotes on 3,543 Posts
If you are getting water out of the faucets..... how can it be a blockage ??
I see your pictures. However, I don't see any tempering valve anywhere near the boiler.
 
  #21  
Old 01-06-18, 10:13 AM
P
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2018
Posts: 15
Upvotes: 0
Received 0 Upvotes on 0 Posts
I apologize it was the backflow valve I replace. the spring was all streached out on it
 
  #22  
Old 01-06-18, 10:29 AM
Z
Member
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Southeastern Pennsylvania
Posts: 3,386
Received 124 Upvotes on 115 Posts
Maybe someone will correct me here, but I would think those valves are on the cold water lines to outside hose bibs or sprinklers and are used to shut off water to the outside in winter and drain the pipe. I wouldn’t think those would be on your hot water line.
I could be wrong, I just never thought about them being on hot water piping. (But I have a boiler coil like you do)
 
  #23  
Old 01-06-18, 10:37 AM
PJmax's Avatar
Group Moderator
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Jersey
Posts: 64,929
Received 3,950 Upvotes on 3,543 Posts
Those shutoffs with drains are most likely for outdoor shut offs and especially if they are on the cold water line but could be used to supply fixtures too.

No tempering valve.
There is water flow out of the hot water faucets but only cold water.
The boiler is over 180F with a tankless coil.

At the tankless coil on the boiler... as you use hot water..... the cold water supply to the coil should get cold and the hot water out side should get hotter.

If this is not happening..... somewhere the hot and cold lines are cross connected. That means what you are expecting as hot water is not coming from the boiler but from the cold water side.
 
  #24  
Old 01-06-18, 11:27 AM
P
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2018
Posts: 15
Upvotes: 0
Received 0 Upvotes on 0 Posts
I did open up a valve that was closed ( I do not remember closing it) yesterday and water started to flow from the hot water side of the fixtures.
 
  #25  
Old 01-06-18, 12:39 PM
PJmax's Avatar
Group Moderator
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Jersey
Posts: 64,929
Received 3,950 Upvotes on 3,543 Posts
When hot water is being used..... it needs to be hot coming out of the boiler coil.
That doesn't seem to be happening.
 
  #26  
Old 01-06-18, 12:59 PM
P
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2018
Posts: 15
Upvotes: 0
Received 0 Upvotes on 0 Posts
well I just went down and touched the hot water pipe and it was HOT !!!.... HOT to the touch .. could feel the temperature moving warmer along the pipe since earlier
 
  #27  
Old 01-06-18, 01:04 PM
PJmax's Avatar
Group Moderator
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Jersey
Posts: 64,929
Received 3,950 Upvotes on 3,543 Posts
That's a good sign. I still can't figure out what caused the delay.
 
  #28  
Old 01-06-18, 01:19 PM
P
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2018
Posts: 15
Upvotes: 0
Received 0 Upvotes on 0 Posts
I want to venture on the air lock not letting the warm water flow... but hey I am not a licensed plumber lol
 
  #29  
Old 01-06-18, 04:48 PM
Z
Member
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Southeastern Pennsylvania
Posts: 3,386
Received 124 Upvotes on 115 Posts
That’s great. Sounds like you are in recovery mode. That’s good. Seems like if your are anywhere near the northeast you have to hope your house can withstand this unusual cold onslaught. I’m 73 years old and I don’t remember it getting this cold (-1) in Philly where I grew up (but I think maybe in the 1950’s it did if I remember correctly).

But they say it actually got this cold in the 1990’s in Philly. Guess that means my memory is failing – like everything else lol!!

Maybe you should leave a little trickle of water running to be safe. Maybe the other guys would know. But it’s good that your boiler is churning away for heat.

Good luck and stay warm!!
 
 

Thread Tools
Search this Thread
 
Ask a Question
Question Title:
Description:
Your question will be posted in: