Frozen water lines....my fix

[sd0321]

The water lines are not frozen.

The hot and the cold pex lines running to the kitchen sink are not in the insulation up in the underbelly, but they are wrapped together with a working heat tape, with fiberglass insulation around that, and it is warm to the touch. I had thought this heat tape went to the water line where the water comes from the ground to the mobile, but I was wrong.

The other pex lines to the tub and bath sink are up in the insulation and don't seem to be frozen.

So we looked at the hot water heater again.

There is no water in the hot water heater.

Neither of us knows much about hot water heaters and didn't want to start touching knobs, just made sure that the water shut offs were not off.

Chance is going to ask his brother if he knows what it could be.

I have cold water, no frozen lines, no water in my hot water heater and no idea what has happened. Anyone know what might have happened? And there was no mud or freezing that would look like hot water heater water somehow leaked out..... Sherry

[Dean2]

Huh?

If the valves are open and the feed line is not frozen then it should be full.I think an empty WH that is turned on,either gas or electric might be dangerous.

WHs use line pressure to fill and it pushes through to the exit lines. I'm curious as to how You know it is empty,I've never seen a WH with a viewing window. No I'm not trying to be snyde,I am truly curious. Please inform.

Is it possible the power to the WH has been interrupted and the whole thing froze? My bet is on a frozen feed line to the WH.

The plot just keeps gettin thicker on this one!

Dean

[sd0321]

Dean -

There is no viewing window

This sounds kind of lame, but have you ever been at a fast food place or somewhere and the table wobbled because one of the legs was missing the piece that goes on the bottom of the leg? So you want to either move to another table or stick a piece of paper folded up under the leg that isn't resting on the floor?

Well, when Chance touched the hot water heater, that's what it did. And we both kind of thought that if it was full of water, why would he have been able to make it move some like that? But we could be wrong. I can't speak for him, but for myself...I sure have been known to be wrong....Now that I think about it, if you took that problem table and loaded it with a few sacks of concrete mix, it would still wobble, wouldn't it?

And since I don't understand the workings of hot water heaters, I'm going to call a plumber. Probably won't get one to come out on Christmas Day, and that would probably cost way more than on a Sunday anyway....but will try to get one to come out asap after Christmas. I'm just lucky my daughter lives so close I can practically throw a snowball and hit the mobile she is in.....and she has hot water.

[Dean2]

Good deal,get er fixed and please report the exact fix and problem.

Now Ya know,if You throw that snowball and break Yer Daughter's window You'll just have to start a new thread here about window replacement! JK.

;Dean

[sd0321]

Well, Christmas Day I turned the kitchen faucet on to fill the coffeepot, and then pushed it over to the hot side....just to see if anything came out, I guess, and water did.

Cold water, anyway.

So I called a friend who said it must have been what Dean said - that the water line (feed?) going to the HWH must have frozen, and now it thawed. (It was warmer outside, if you can call anything below 32 warmer...) He said maybe it's just that the pilot light is out.

Well, I never lit a pilot light on a gas hot water heater before, maybe a little thing to some people, but I asked my daughter to come over in case I started the place on fire or something. There are even instructions on the hot water heater telling you how to light it. I'll leave out how long it took us, and how many matches it took....but we got it lit. And now I have hot water again.

And I'm happy about that and appreciate all the good advice from people on this site too. But I'm thinking this mobile needs too much work for me. I was sitting here in the livingroom having coffee this morning and one of my cats just wouldn't leave this livingroom outlet alone, so I got up to take a look to see what was so fascinating about the outlet. Wish I would have not looked. Water drip. Out of the outlet. And at this point, nothing strikes me as odd in this place....and I don't even want to know what is going on with that outlet. I'm not going to plug anything in to it, and I think in the spring I will be moving. And I'll tell any people what I know needs to be repaired, replaced, etc. Sherry

[sd0321]

And maybe one reason why that feed line to the hot water heater froze in the first place? My friend said put more insulation in around the hot water heater, and so he put insulation all around the hot water heater....maybe this prevented any heat from inside the mobile from getting to this area? I don't know, but maybe? I took that extra insulation (two big pieces of pink insulation) out and just left the original piece that just goes in behind the exterior panel to the hot water heater.

And then the pilot light going out? Remember the picture I had of "my fix"? I had the bright idea of putting a fan in the bedroom blowing into the hot water heater area.... in fact, the fan was in that closet right on the floor directly blowing at the bottom of the hot water heater.....I probably blew the pilot light out by doing that. I won't do that again.

And today the bathroom sink started dripping, well more than dripping, a tiny steady stream of warm water. Thinking of Yanita and the candle wax build up/blockage theory.....what to do? I turned the shut off valve off to the hot water to that sink. I can deal with that until I can replace that faucet.

I have problems, but atleast avoiding the frozen sewer line problem.

But very discouraged and wondering if anyone on this site has ever bought an "as is" older mobile home in this sad of shape and actually made it livable. The only good spot in this place is the solid piece of plywood (real plywood, not OSB or whatever it's called) under the toilet...and the toilet does not sweat, no matter how warm it gets....no water on the floor there....is it even worth going through all this? Sherry

[Greg]

Well sherry, I can tell you that many people here have indeed bought "as is" specials. Yes it can be very discouraging even madding at times, but keep one thing in mind - It's yours. Every improvement you make to it is one more thing you can be proud of, and one more lesson in home repair. Greg

[Yanita]

Hi Sherry,

Don't be so quick to throw in the towel. The problems you have posted so far can and will happen in a stick built home as well.

It is as Greg says, for everything you do it is one more job completed.

Have you bought the repair manual yet? If not you should, if nothing else it will educate you on some of the things that go wrong in a mobile. Just have the knowledge and some idea of what it takes to fix can lessen the stress.

Once you get these minor repairs fixed and start using preventative maintenance your life will become much easier with your home. Don't despair, everyone on this site has been where you are now!

PS, from an owner of a 1974 double wide, purchased as is!

Yanita

[Brenda (OH)]

I would think the water out of the electrical outlet is serious problem, need to get the power to that outlet turned off asap.

then check for where the water is getting in the wall. If there is a window above the outlet check the outside to see if the caulk around the window has failed, if water is traveling down the wall and getting it, maybe a diverter ( a bent piece of metal) put up at the roof edge will redirect the water away until spring.

I have rehabbed 3 1/2 homes so far, it can be hugely irritating how repairs just spring up like weeds, but the end results have been 3 good housing units for folks to live in, and this can happen for you too like Yanita outlined. water coming in from outside and plumbing issues leading to floor problems have been my most common surprise repair items, so you may already have experienced your worse surprises, and be ready to see less repairs in the future.

Brenda (OH)

[Greg]

Ok everyone, I'm going to lock this up since the water is now flowing. Please start a new thread for any other issues. Greg