In her condo this is her issue SJCM? In her space, not common?
I’m no plumber but what makes him suspect a leak? It will help to google. And I’d call the condo assn mgt for ideas. Amateur advice, of course.
adding: fwiw, I googled: house hot water frozen slab construction
As I mentioned earlier, I was going to get the oil guy here who services my boiler since my house was at 55 vs the 65 that the thermostats were set to. He came, said everything was working fine. He also said that the room over the garage would never be warm in this kind of weather and that the systems including the water heated baseboards are set up to achieve 62 degrees when the outside temperature is 0. Of course from my perspective, this depends on a lot of factors including insulation.
DocT…we have baseboard hot water as well. Same thing…brrrr this morning despite thermostat on hold at 67. My husband (the engineer) said this isn’t abnormal. I think it is crappy that this is the case.
Fortunately most of our winters don’t have these cold snaps…just last year and this year (so much for global warming around here).
Oddly…our upstairs does maintain the temp…just fine. So our bedrooms are 67 or whatever we set them to be. It’s the living area downstairs that is chilly.
Same furnace!
A map of MBTA service tomorrow: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B-AMm8BCUAAQsSq.jpg:large
“Oddly…our upstairs does maintain the temp…just fine. So our bedrooms are 67 or whatever we set them to be. It’s the living area downstairs that is chilly.”
Heat rises. What you describe is exactly the same as my house. Also the temperature gradient from the basement to the first floor in my house is significantly greater than from the first to the second floor.
Doc…yes, heat rises…but if I change my thermostat upstairs right now to 70, it will be 70 within an hour or less…because of the heat. My downstairs won’t change…at all.
We used to live in a two story house in Texas. Each floor has its own AC. It takes a lot longer to cool down the bedrooms on the second floor. We set the thermostat on the second floor AC to a much higher temperature in order to save energy. (We could not leave the AC off , otherwise it may develop a mold problem.) We stayed downstairs during almost all of the day time. After the kid had moved out, we decided to convert the “office” downstairs to a bedroom and almost used the upstairs as “storage area” only. We really should have “downsized” our 5-bedroom house many years ago or did not buy such a large house to begin with. (Guess what, the rent we collect by renting out that house is lower than the rent we pay for the 1-bedroom apartment here on the west coast.)
We have zero knowledge about “surviving” in a colder area like NE. In the past several days in the bay area, we walked outside with short sleeve; the outside temperature in pm was like 76 degree. We even needed to turn on AC in the car otherwise it would be too hot in the car (due to the sunshine.) Why are the climates on the two coasts so different?
Dealt with frozen and cracked pipe at my 98 yr old aunt’s house all day yesterday and today. It sits on a slab and the electric heat tape stopped working. I called about 8 or 9 different contractors before I could find one that would come out yesterday afternoon. The bill so far is $550 for an “emergency” call for electrical work. No word on the plumbing bill as they are still under the house with blowtorch! It is difficult to deal with this long distance, had to instruct her home health care aid from Jamaica to fill pails with snow and let it melt so the toilets could be flushed. She told me, “no worry, mon, we save rain water in Jamaica and do this all the time when storm comes”, God bless her.
Thumper, your downstairs works as an insulation pad for the upstairs. It could probably mean that your house’s crawl space insulation is not rated for such cold snaps. Fingers crossed it shall pass soon!
Bunsen. My house has a full, heated basement…not a crawl space.
Ecmotherx2 - my mother also on a slab, without any hot water, nothing comes out the hot tap.
Today a plumber called, will come out tomorrow, said he has not encountered frozen pipes under slab in 27 years- most likely her hot water heater pipes in outside patio closet froze,
Ugh, I feel your pain trying to get pipes under a slab fixed. I watched you tube vides last night- it’s a mess.
And, if the contractor is right, the plumbers bill could be in $4,000 range ( of course he showed me pics of repair they did yesterday- tearing up dining room area, breaking through slab, repairing pipes, his cost $2200.
Also, I found this online in forum regarding insurance -
From a forum -
**
http://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/86281/ok-how-much-trouble-am-i-in
If it’s of any help, I do know a great plumber in the Fairfield County area who I can absolutely vouch for. He has done work for my parents for decades. He is skilled, scrupulously honest, works fast, and leaves everything neat as a pin. I also know a great tile guy. Maybe we should start a contractor exchange thread, kind of like the in loco parentis thread! 
Good idea!
I know a great electrician in Fairfield Co.
“Bunsen. My house has a full, heated basement…not a crawl space.”
Regardless of the cause… Hope your cold spell is over soon, thumper!
Kiddo in Baltimore reported that their classes were rescheduled due to cold and snow. Until today, they were ok.
Consolation, that is a great idea!
I like the idea…but advertising is against the terms of service.
No ads needed. Just PMs and requests for PMs - like in #91 and in #92.
Clarification -my quoted post was someone who posted in 2005 mentioning fairfield county. I posted because he brought up an issue with insurance coverage for slab leak repair.
The water is running!!! Pipe check valve and part of the pipe were cracked, (of course). The electrician’s bill was $550 for emergency visit, and installation of new heat tape. He came back when the pipe thawed and checked and saw the leaks. Plumber couldn’t finish the job so late in the eve. and returned yesterday morning. Can’t wait to get that bill. Thanks for the suggestions! These contractors had some nice reviews and no complaints with the BBB. They were quick to come out and had to clear several feet of snow and worked in frigid temps.
And, my mother has hot water, plumber just turned it all on, and voila hot water - sort of mystery where it may have frozen. Now she has to make it through tomorrow’s record lows. Plumber coming to attach heated wires, and wrap the pipes.
I was in Quincy MA today (10 mi south of Boston, where the Red Line is closed down) and the snow piles are huge. I mean, even in front of homes (some easily 8-10 feet tall.) Not necessarily just where businesses cleared a large parking lot. Crazy.
