Why Would a Hot Water Pipe Freeze but the Cold Water Pips Didn't?

Question

So I wake up Yesterday & it's sooooooo Cold in the house, the thermostat reads 52' OMG, are there door's or windows open? No... No frost on the ground that I can see, but so cold I can almost see my breath, lol Go to make coffee, turn the hot water tap... Air.... O no, not again, did I for get to pay the water bill? 
Turn the cold water tap, nope there's water coming from that tap, ice water..... Go to the hall bathroom & hit the hot water tap on the tub, it's the first line off the hot water heater surly it will work... Nothing.... Cold water works tho, the sink, the same no hot water tap but the cold taps work... Go to the Master bath, nothing no hot or cold.... Hmmmmm

Thinking the pipes froze..... I hope....

Weirder yet is that if we turn on the hot taps in the other parts of the house, and then just the cold water tap in the Kitchen; water comes out the hot taps in other rooms but it's cold water, lol

Not so much a question as one of the many Humorous, not so funny happenings in my lovely & so comedic life in my 65 year old pier beam home. Thank fully this morning was much much warmer inside my home Tho I still have no hot water or water in the back (shady side) of the house.... 
I hope you all get a giggle I'm still laughing at the weirdness of it all & hoping I don't have to call a plumber...

SLS Construction & Building Solutions LLC · Answer

It is because that is the line that go cold enough to freeze, possibly because it is missing insulation at a corner or... As I am not in a mood to retype all the steps for an easy fix... http://blog.sls-construction.com//2010/preventing-or-fixing-frozen-water-pipes

SLS Construction & Building Solutions LLC · Answer

Sorry it burst & I catch the irony but there is no difference between the two sides, except for what water they deliver - the hot side doesn't stay hot, it just delivers hot water when it is called for.

Lynne · Answer

really cute house..i live in a small house that has a basement you have to put a coat hat and gloves in the winter its so cold...i have copper pipe and i put heat tape on them it works, because the last few days in michigan wind chills have been 20 and 30 below. the tape is worth the investment

Change of Art · Answer

Sorry about your pipes. I have no answers, but just wanted to agree with Lynne that your house is charming.

Lisa McDaniel · Answer

Speaking of pipes... I was taught/told that the closer to the water heater that a faucet is, the faster the water would get hot. Is this true, and if so, what would cause it to take 5 minutes ( or longer in winter ) to heat up when it is only 6-8 feet away? BTW, I love your house Annette !

Annette C · Answer

Thank you all for the complements on my home. My first post ever, not my prettiest yard photo but I didn't realize I would have to add a photo to post & it was the fist one I came to so i went with it. 
 As soon as I can get out there with a power washer & paint brush I will take a nice photo, lol Tho as cold as it is in Shreveport right now I doubt I will make it out there any time soon. 
 I love this old house & it's a lot larger than it looks from the curb too. Has a quricky lay out that keeps people guessing. She has all the original windows, moldings & hard wood floors. 
 While it was nice when I bought her, my thought was to return her to what she would have looked like in 1948, that's how I happened upon this web sigh, looking for Ideas. 
 My thought was I could get some feed back on the choices I will be making, see if I'm going in the right direction. 
 I welcome all feed back, I like knowing others views & experiences in home improvement adventures. I'm not a pro & I don't really blog but I'm going to give it a try what's the worst that can happen, I already have burst pips & I replaced the roof & hot water tank last month, lol 
 thanks every one I look foreword to many conversations to come

WilliamShreve · Answer

Hot water pipes freezing is not uncommon. My theory is you brush your teeth with cold
water. Hot water pipes stay stagnant long enough to freeze.

Norman Ransom · Answer

It is an odd thing but hot water freezes faster than cold. One thing is that hot water lines are not hot except when running or you have a demand system that constantly circulates hot water. The second reason is hot water for most of us is softer than cold. I learned early in my refrigeration career to hook ice makers up to a hot water pipe rather than a cold and have fewer problems with the ice maker and faster cycling.

Elaine Simmons · Answer

I read somewhere that when you freeze a bottle of water in your freezer, you should use lukewarm water because it will freeze faster so I think Norm is right.

Susan Stodola · Answer

Actually, it's BOILED water that freezes faster than 'regular' temp water......but not while the boiled water is still hot. (I know this because we did it as an experiment when we were home schooling.) The reason it freezes faster is boiling water forces the 'air' out and makes it more dense. The air 'bubbles' in 'regular' water work as insulation.....think double pane windows and how the expanse of air between the two pieces of glass work as insulation. I don't know how that computes to your hot water pipe except as some have suggested the water in the pipes was not hot at the time.

Sharyn Diaz · Answer

Known as the Mpemba effect, water behaves unlike most other liquids by freezing into a solid more rapidly from a heated state than from room temperature. Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/a-new-theory-explains-why-warm-water-freezes-faster-than-cold-2013-11#ixzz2pv26y19f

Susan Stodola · Answer

For future reference, Annette............not that you can necessarily predict when this will happen again...... we had a similar problem with plumbing running through a crawl space to the kitchen sink on an outside wall.........and here in Wisconsin it gets very cold and even colder wind chill...... .....we found......1) leaving the doors under our sink open helped.......2) leaving the faucet drip......doesn't have to be much.....1 drip per second worked for us........3) having a small fan hanging from the floor joists in the basement blowing into the crawl space where the plumbing was.......we have to be very pro-active to keep our pipes from freezing.

Val · Answer

Pipes will not freeze at 52 degrees. Recommend checking into other possible reasons for this problem. 
Val

Lisa McDaniel · Answer

SLS Construction & Building- The pipe is ran closest to it. I'm not sure what you mean by 'what kind of water, tank or tankless'. We get our water from our county. No well or anything like that.

Val · Answer

Hi Judy, 
 Oops, missed that rather important detail!
Val

Val · Answer

Hi Judy,

Thank you for your information.
Many factors will affect whether or not pipes will hold up in cold temperatures. Where we live we experience deep freezes as extreme as minus forty. Our pipes run under the house and into the basement. They have frozen only three times in eleven years, but never at minus -8C (17 F). In her post Annette mentioned inside temperature only. It would be interesting to know the following: What the outside temperature was, is there a basement, if not were the pipes properly buried, is there a gap in the insulation at ground level, is there pipe insulation in place, to mention a few. The third time our pipes froze I put insulation up against the wall between the joists in the ceiling. Turned out there was a 1/4' hole between the concrete foundation and the main floor framing boards, and that is where the frigid air was sneaking through to the water lines, so you just never know. Fortunately they have not frozen since. Hopefully Annette will be able to solve her pipe dilemma expediently and inexpensively.
Val

Michell Jarrett · Answer

Annette, my house too, is from 1948 or before and I have to keep my water dripping when it gets as cold as it has been this week. All faucets were dripping from about the time it hit 35 degrees until it got above that so for about 2 and a half days. I only did the hot water faucets since the cold will not freeze if only one of the taps per sink are on. To help your indoor temps I would replace the windows with some that look just like the original but are insulated. I like to keep things original as possible but the electric bill pays for the expense after awhile. Your house is so cute. I love the way old houses are really bigger than they appear. The side of your house that doesn't have skirting underneath will make a difference with the pipes freezing, too. Hope you fare well with this. =)

Val · Answer

Hi Annette,

So glad everything worked out in the end!

Val

Cathy · Answer

our hot water did the same had cold and hot except in the north side of the house bathroom so we poured hot water down the drains and it finally came back on

Annette C · Answer

It's happened before we just had more warning, I would try leaving the cubbard door open but we don;t have an inclosed subfloor, it's pier-beam & open on 3 sides, I thought about skirting the house but was told that would cause problems with moisture because of the humidity where I live now.

Annette C · Answer

The end to my debacle was this, the connective pipe (hot water) between the master tub & sink had split, about 24 inches strait through the joint that connects to the sink. Wow water is a powerful thing or is it Ice? 
 There must have been a pinhole because there was the neatest pyramid of ice in the middle of the lake of water emerging from under the house.

Fix; 1 survivors weir wood saw.
1 48 inch length of PVCP
1 elbow & 1 couple
1 pot of glue & prep

My son was enlisted to go under the house & he thought of using the weir saw when the traditional cutting pipe wrench was awkward to use in the small confines of the crawl space. Took no time at all, actually was faster than his cuts to the new pipe with the proper tool.
 The whole project from start to finish was about 30 min. Not including the dry time.
I have decided that the reason I only had water in the cold taps was that the loss of pressure from the line brake in the hot water pipe was preventing the water to from flowing from the tank it's self. Sound right?

So I had two days to melt the lines & one day to fix the problem & one night to let the pips set. Awwwg Four-ish days with no running water, I'm glad I wasn't in the hard hit arias that lost power for days, as we don't have a generator, lol
And yes we did wrap the pips

Rachel Rivard · Answer

Our hot water pipes to upstairs bathroom froze and split in two places because they are 1/2' copper, but the cold water pipe is 3/4' copper pipe. Both lines run inside bulkhead in garage (former owners did this-really dumb). Once repaired we put electric heating cables on both lines and plan to insulate garage doors. We are not use to -40C weather in Southern Ontario. Lesson learned the hard way!

Val · Answer

Annette, that's hilarious about the pool noodles! Wish I'd thought of that! I'm glad you got the problem solved. Have a great day! Val

Grant Enterprises South · Answer

Hot water freezes faster than cold !!

Shirley Kalinosky · Answer

I own a house in my hometown in NW Penna. Like you, this past January we were there and I hadn't put any heat in the laundry room. The hot water pipe froze and--long story short--the plumber came and replaced a small section of pipe. We turned off the water and put the pink anti-freeze (that is used in mobile home and travel trailers) in the toilet bowl after we drained the tank. We left it that way until mid-April when it finally warmed up. So this year, I may have to put the electric heater lines on the pipes and drain the toilet again, even though I will have the heater on. We have to keep the cabinets open and drip the water too. I don't need to have a flood again. Luck to you all that have to contend with the freezes.

Tammy Hixson · Answer

B I U. I am putting hot water down the pipes to see if it works

Erin · Answer

Hi all,

I am actually searching for answers and came across this post. We live in Ireland, but have our water system set-up like it would be in the US. It’s great when its working, but nobody here knows what to do when it’s not!

It‘s unusually cold here at the moment (below freezing) and we can’t keep the house warm. The tank is in the attic, which is even colder.

Our water is working out of all faucets, but the hot water is extremely cold. Is there a chance once the temperatures warm back up that everything will be ok, or is there definitely an issue?

Any advice?!

(Annette- your house is lovely!)

Thank you in advance!

Rick · Answer

Having experienced this many times prompted a thought process that I believe definitively answers this 'mystery' at least as pertaining to water pipes.

Consider:

- Hot water is less dense because dissolved air starts to release

(listen to your shower before it warms, the tone lowers as warm water starts to flow - there's more free air in warm water, hence lowering tone.)

- In as much as increased pressure in a diesel engine raises temperature to the point of combustion, (PV=nRT) in a closed system (closed pipe,) the reverse happens.

- Fluids are essentially non-compressible but with more air in the hot water, as the temperature lowers, the air compresses and creates a vacuum that accelerates temperature decrease - essentially the reverse of the diesel effect.

- This also explains why if you let the hot water drip slowly (relieving the vacuum,) it prevents the anomaly.

Why Would a Hot Water Pipe Freeze but the Cold Water Pips Didn't?

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