No hot water after freezing night

[theburgerts]

Hey all. Very cold here yesterday. Mid 30's, cold, windy. Furnace is running fine. Last night was down to mid-teens. Today supposed to be up to mid-30's again, not windy, and sunny. WH side is in the shade, unfortunately. Last night, set thermostat to 64, and all else is fine.

This morning, water is running fine from the cold side, but no water is coming from the hot side, and hot water heater (Atwood) is only set on electric. No water is coming out of the hot water side on any faucet.

Any ideas? Something is frozen somewhere? I just don't know where to start looking.

[Country Campers]

The low point drains could be the culprit. These hang down in the cold air and may have been frozen a little at a time over your cold weather camping.

Brian

[theburgerts]

Interesting. How does that affect the hot water not running then? Asking because I really don't know how some of this works.

And follow up question.. what can be done to prevent this in the future.?

[theburgerts]

Update... water finally came out of the hot water side, from all faucets. So, so something froze up. Now, to figure out what, where, etc.

Any ideas as to what we do to prevent again?

[Country Campers]

There have been some that have packed insulation around these drains. A 5 gallon bucket full of insulation stuck right up to the coroplast might do the trick.
The reason this may be your problem is there is a "T" right above the drain and the drain , howson may confirm or deny this , is right handy to being underneath the hot water heater area. If this is the case then when frozen it may be blocking your hot water flow. Any of the PEX tubing that is laying on the coroplast could have a tendency to freeze even thought you are suppose to have heat blowing in this area.

It may take a little looking around to see what is actually going on.

Brian

[theburgerts]

Packing some extra insulation, that we can do. Another cold night coming. We'll see what tomorrow morning brings.

Thanks for your help!

[Second Chance]

I carry one of these and use it over the low point drains if it's going to get really cold:

https://www.lowes.com/pd/CompanyBox-...ver/1000651583

Rob

[theburgerts]

🤔 Interesting idea, Rob. And inexpensive. How does it stay on? I think we used similar on outdoor faucets when we had our house. I'm just trying to figure in my head how to keep it in place.

[howson]

I carry one of these and use it over the low point drains if it's going to get really cold:

https://www.lowes.com/pd/CompanyBox-...ver/1000651583

Rob

Awesome idea! They will work great with the valves I've installed on my low point drains. Heading out next weekend for Christmas with family so I'm going to throw a few of these in the camper.

theburgerts -- anything that will cling to the pipe that the cover strap can then cling to will work. The strap inside the cover is meant to go around a faucet handle (obviously). It's rubber so maybe double the strap on itself and it will then hold to the down tube itself? It won't be hard to figure out.

[theburgerts]

You guys are SOOOOO smart!
Thanks!

[Second Chance]

🤔 Interesting idea, Rob. And inexpensive. How does it stay on? I think we used similar on outdoor faucets when we had our house. I'm just trying to figure in my head how to keep it in place.

What howson said - the little strap goes around the Pex and caps and you pull it tight with the drawstring... kinda like a laundry bag. I wrap a small rag around the Pex before putting the styrofoam cover on just for good measure.

Rob

[theburgerts]

Thanks for all the advice everyone!

Was finally able to get the faucet covers, and place them. What I did though was to add some extra fiberglass insulation I had laying around to inside each cover.

The low drain tubes for the washer extend out quite a bit more (will have to shorten them when it's warmer), but used some of that extra fiberglass insulation I had, and then wrapped it with gorilla duct tape. For now, I'm sure it will work.

Again, thank so much for the guidance.