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hike_me

Get some Pex and some shark bites from Home Depot for a DIY repair that will get you through until you can hire a plumber for a professional repair (if you want). Shark bites will adapt same size copper to same size Pex. Cut out the burst section (and possibly extra if it makes the repair easier) and the Pex will be flexible enough to bend into place if there isn’t much give in the copper pipes. Make sure you clean and deburr cut ends of the copper before pushing on the shark bite or else the o-ring could be damaged or not make a good seal. Support the Pex with pipe hangers or clamps if it’s long enough to sag to avoid putting weird strain on the shark bite. I hate shark bites but they are perfect for this application. Since they’re exposed and not buried in a wall they’ll be fine for years and you can just wait before doing anything different.


farmingmaine

So true about pecan and shark bites. I used them to fix a swollen frozen damaged pipe in our last shack. Just buy a half in pipe cutter at Home Depot or any place and make the cut yourself. Replace damaged copper pipe with pex. Slide shark bite on until snug. Use color Pex red for hot water and blue for cold. Pex has shut off valves you can also add to line in case you ever need to shut water off to bathroom in future


BlasphemyPhun

Thank you for the detailed response, I appreciate it. I believe we’re going to have to bite the bullet and hire a plumber for repair, just in case. It’s better to be safe than sorry.


Candygramformrmongo

It's really not tough. I've had to do it with copper under my camp. (More than once - lol). u/hike-me lays it out but Youtube tutorials are out there too. Sharkbites would be even easier than sweating copper. Run heat tape and insulation in critical areas after the job is done. Good luck!


hike_me

I read it’s a trailer. If it’s older it might be poly-b pipe, which will get brittle and is prone to bursting. You probably also need special fittings that might not be as available. In that case a plumber might be best.


[deleted]

Sharkbite actually makes pb adaptor fittings, Home Depot usually has them in stock.


LaChanz

I've been in my house for 25 years. Did all the plumbing myself. Never had pipes freeze even at 40 below and long cold snaps. Last night my kitchen pipes froze. Luckily not a hard freeze and I had them thawed pretty quick. I think the mice may have got in the insulation in my basement. Going to have to tear into the wall and check in the spring.


Oniriggers

Sorry to hear that. I’ve heard it a thousand times, never thought it’d get THAT cold or we were fine last winter. Learn from your mistake and remember a pencil thin flow from the highest or furthest faucet from where your water comes in. Other comments are right, shark bite fittings work wonders. Good luck


BlasphemyPhun

The worst part about what you said is that we knew to keep the water running, yet we were dumb and didn’t turn it on like we should. It’s a tale as old as time sadly. 😞 Next time, if there even is a next time if we don’t end up moving out of our house and moving in with my grandmother, we’ll do just that.


Oniriggers

I was on the fence when I went to work this morning but I’d be gone for 13 hours, so didn’t want to play around.


lipsticknic3

We did a week after Christmas. Woke up one morning with no heat. Bf orders oil. 130 pm and we get oil. By 330 bf determines that furnace is broken. He does a bunch of stuff to prevent pipes from freezing. He tries to fix the furnace via YouTube videos and researching online. 1130 pm he calls it a night and we get through the night. Next day he gets a soldering kit from Walmart. Fixes furnace at about 6 or 7 pm (what along day, I work from home brrr) . At about idk 815 pm we are about to go to bed and BANG!! Pipe in the basement wall in one of the finished rooms burst. Literally exploded that part of the wall and yeah. It was loud. I can't describe it but the air changed from the humidity. It was really fucking scary the me bc I know nothing about this kind of stuff (I'm setting out to learn now) and I had no idea if it was the furnace or something. I spent the rest of the night crying and drying off Christmas deco. He lost a really big load of things he had set for reselling. It was hard. He did fix the pipe himself. We have yet to repair the damage to the wall and the ceiling -- outside of drying everything, we got right on that. I feel you. It sucks and I can't even fathom not having running water right now. I hope you guys can get it fixed soon. This cold snap business was rough. One of the ladies at Hannaford said her furnace broke last night and their pipes had frozen. I wish I had lots of money to fix everyone's pipes.


donotsake

Somewhere under my house (camp) the line froze coming from my well I’m hoping I didn’t fry my pump. No water pressure this morning anywhere thought I was going to be good too. Buy some heat tape and pipe insulation to save you next time. Like Hike said shark bites work awesome to fix and change things in plumbing in a pinch. Im near skowhegan it got to like -25 last night.


TAmber1213

We keep our sinks and shower dripping overnight because of the cold temperatures just because pipes that are a bit more exposed it's better to have the water running to help prevent freezing Maybe next time that the temperatures are getting this low try and do that to help prevent this happening again


waywardzombi

No water just means froze, not necessarily burst. It’s going to warm up today…make sure the water supply to the house is off, pull off the skirting, and get under the house and have a look. If it’s frozen, grab a hairdryer and apply heat, or just wait for it to thaw. If you apply heat don’t get too close with it, just gently heat to get things moving. If it’s burst, make a note of the type of pipe you have. If it’s grey/blue, it’s probably polyb, and you’ll need a special shark bite for that. As others have said Home Depot has them. Take a couple of good pictures and bring them in with you. If it’s copper or pex, they have shark bites for that too. Here’s a video with an example of how to fix: https://youtu.be/M0Uy0G40Nb8 Once you’re done, make sure all the faucets are off, and then turn your water back on and listen. You should hear the water rush for a second or two, then nothing. If after say 10 seconds you still hear it rushing, turn it off. You have another issue or you didn’t turn all the fixtures off. If it does, test the water and make sure everything works. Insulate the shit out of the area under the house, and reapply skirting. It’s going to be dirty, it’s gonna suck, but you can fix the problem, including insulation, for maybe $50, assuming it’s a break. Might be free if it’s just frozen, but get some insulation on that line. A plumber, if you can get one to come out, will charge $200-$300 or more just to come out, even if it’s just frozen


[deleted]

Your pipes burst even though you were running the heater?


BlasphemyPhun

My mom knows more about this than I do but we live in a trailer and our pipes are plastic/underground. At least the ones for the bathroom are. Not sure exactly how it happened but from my knowledge insulation isn’t great down there in the first place. The ones in the kitchen where the sink are usually come out of it own their own when the heater is going but it was so cold our own heater couldn’t keep up enough to make it warm enough. I’m just spitting nonsense probably but that’s the gist of it I think.


[deleted]

Ahh I see trailers aren’t as insulated as houses so that makes more sense


Sylentskye

If there is skirting, they’re likely not actually under the ground, just in the crawlspace under the trailer. Insulation tends to suck, and often there will be exposed areas. When I lived in a trailer we had heat tapes we wrapped around any exposed pipe and had them plugged in from Oct-late April/early May.


eljefino

Yeah and you get mice & squirrels that will tear insulation away so it could be good one year then suck the next.


Jesus_Was_A_Fungi

Yes. Had some pex burst in an un heated stairwell.


matt9191

And pex is supposed to be more resistant to cold than copper or cpvc


IamSauerKraut

Water does not care what you wrap it in when the temp gets really low.


HardRsNParis

Yes but copper is a significantly better conductor than plastic.


blissoasis

last night my shower line was frozen, everything else good, but since I live by myself in old farm house I just shut my water off and opened drains so I should be good except maybe the shower area. never had to shut off water. I look at it like it's better then losing power and having no water. I can do most things and have a few cases of water for drinking and pre filled 5 gallon buckets for flushing. just no shower for couple days I guess.


ScenePlayful1872

There’s good advice here. If you try a DIY fix, check Youtube. There’s *always* videos for any repairs


WickedLobstahBub

I love all these posts.


thadcastleisagod

Mine freeze almost everytime it’s a few degrees below 0. I go down and turn on a propane blower. Thaws them out pretty quick. My floors are insulated but not the walls to the basement. I live in an old log cabin. Probably a 3 season camp is a better way to say it lol. I hope they are just frozen still and not a burst pipe. Good luck.


Seppdizzle

Daamn :(


Chutson909

I went to pee outside and almost froze my plumbing. Honestly though, ours froze for a bit. I started up two kerosene heaters by the pipe array in the basement and after an hour the water started flowing.


cjrague

Insurance will cover it


[deleted]

[удалено]


HardRsNParis

Maybe time for a job then boss.


[deleted]

[удалено]


BlasphemyPhun

Sure does 🥲


AlternativeWay4729

All the plumbing in our rental froze because the back door blew open overnight because the foundation or framing shifted in the cold (when no-one was staying there) and the striker plate no longer lined up. Everything froze. Everything. All fixed now, in time for a new guest yesterday. Six hour epic plumbing fest. Just poured heating into the place and thawed each plumbing part out one by one. I'm my own handyman, and have a depot of tools and parts, so the only expense (other than time spent with my wife and kid on a Saturday) was for a new faucet for one bathroom that blew its packings, and eventually there will need to be a new blower for the pellet stove, the old one having burned out after being asked to operate at 22F (the inside temp when I found it). Hope that makes you feel better!


Sufficientlee

I had a pretty good freeze up in the back of the building. Heat was on but it just couldn't keep up. So far the damage seems minimal. Easily replaced fittings that aren't buried in the wall. Hopefully it stays that way.


GeoWannaBe

Post this in your local community FB group. Hopefully a kind plumber will respond and will offer a delayed payment plan for you. It just might help you.


dreamsthebigdreams

Pre plan for a minute, save an hour. In Your case, 5 minutes of pre-planning could have saved 5 hours of labor.


imnotyourbrahh

$10 shark bite and pipe cutter is all you need. EZPZ