Our cabin’s pipes keep freezing. How do plumbers unfreeze pipes? Is this something we can DIY?
It’s not freezing pipes that cause the problem, per se. It’s those that thaw that leak and spew water after that very hard freeze.
You can use a space heater, heat lamp, or even a household hair dryer to thaw the frozen length of pipe. Wrapping freezing pipes with thermostatically controlled heat tape (from $50 to $200, depending on length) is also an effective way to quickly thaw a trouble spot. This is available at your local hardware store.
The problem you will find is that it’s a simple, DIY task if the pipes freeze under a kitchen or bathroom counter. To avoid this on an extremely cold night when you have a problem when those areas are poorly insulated? Simply turn the water on to a very low flow and you should be ok.
A major pipe break under a floor in a crawl space may require a plumber and that’s when the cost can get quite a bit higher. These areas may be very difficult for the average homeowner to reach. In addition, using a torch/fire in those areas has been known to cause a fire when DIY’ers use this method. In that case, call a local professional.
With this problem, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. 