The first job is to protect the pump and the pipes from damage, then find exactly where the ice is. In Riga and the Riga region we thaw frozen water pipes in the house, at the entry and underground, and remove the cause so it does not happen again. Send a request, and after you submit the form, we contact you within 5 minutes.
What to do straight away
- Switch off the pump Switch off the pump's circuit breaker. A pump working against an ice plug or without water overheats and is quickly damaged.
- Close the main valve If there is a shut-off valve after the pressure tank or at the entry, close it. When the ice thaws, a burst pipe will not start flooding the room.
- Open a tap Leave a tap open closer to the frozen spot. The thawed water will run out through it, and pressure will not build up in the pipe.
- Warm it up gradually If the frozen pipe is visible in the basement or the utility room, warm it with a hairdryer, a warm towel or a heater, starting from the tap end. Warm the room to above zero.
- Inspect the pump and the pressure tank If the room was frozen, check whether the pump body, the filter housings and the pressure tank have cracked. Do not start a cracked pump.
Do not heat pipes with an open flame or a gas torch. Plastic pipes melt, and even a metal pipe can burst at an overheated spot or set the insulation on fire. Do not try electrical thawing with a welding machine yourself either: it does not work on plastic pipes, and it is dangerous.
Where water pipes freeze most often
- At the entry by the foundation and under an unheated floor, where the pipe rises closer to the surface.
- At the borehole head or in the caisson, if the cover is not insulated or there is water in the caisson.
- Where the pipe leaves the well through a ring.
- Under a cleared driveway or path: where there is no snow, the ground freezes deeper.
- In a pump station or pressure tank in an unheated shed, basement or garage.
If one tap has no water but others do, it is a pipe in the house that has frozen, not the water pipe underground. If no tap has water but the pressure gauge at the pressure tank shows pressure, the ice is after the pressure tank. If the gauge shows zero and the pump is running, the ice is most likely between the source and the pump.
How we thaw a water pipe underground and at the entry
We thaw a PE pipe underground from the inside. From the house end we push a thin hose into the pipe and feed warm water through it until the hose melts its way through the ice. The melted water runs back out along the pipe. Usually there is no need to dig in frozen ground, and the pipe stays intact.
If the pipe has sharp bends or joints, the hose may not get through. On longer runs we push it from both ends, from the house and from the well or caisson end. If that does not work either, we dig out the frozen spot, thaw it from the outside and insulate it straight away. Short sections in the house and at the entry we thaw with warm air or a heating cable.
After thawing: the check
Ice expands, so after thawing we check whether the pipe, the joints, the filter housings and the pump have cracked. We switch the system on with a tap open, watch the pressure gauge and check whether the pump switches off when the taps are closed. If it does not switch off, there is a leak somewhere. If the pump has been damaged: water pump repair.
How to stop the water pipe freezing again
- Relay the shallow section below the frost depth. In practice pipes are laid at about 1.2–1.8 m depending on the soil and the location; this is not a figure set in regulations.
- Insulate the entry and the borehole head or the caisson cover: borehole caisson.
- Fit a heating cable on sections that cannot be laid deeper, for example at the entry or where the pipe runs to the caisson.
- Keep the utility room above zero even when nobody is living in the house.
- If the house is empty in winter, drain the system: winterising the water supply system.
If the house is on mains water
If your water comes from a town or village water main and the entry or the water meter assembly has frozen, first contact your water utility: who is responsible for which section is set by your contract with it. We work with private systems that take water from a spike well (“spice” in Latvian), a well or a borehole.
How much does thawing a frozen water pipe cost
We name the price once we know where the pipe has frozen and what kind of pipe it is. Thawing a short section in the house is a small job, but thawing a long pipe underground or digging out the frozen spot is a bigger one. The price depends on:
- the pipe material and diameter, and whether a hose can be pushed into it;
- how long the frozen section is and how far it is from the house;
- whether digging in frozen ground is needed;
- whether burst sections, the pump or the pressure tank need replacing after thawing, and whether a heating cable or insulation needs fitting.