Hi I an a senior living alone and of course being female dont know much about pluming . My home is on a concrete slab and sometimes my kitchen faucet in the winter freezes. I take precaution and try to leave the cabinet doors open during the freezing period. it is on a outside wall. It has frozen this year nothing comes out of the faucet and I wait and usually the water will thaw and it comes back on. for the last couple of days the water comes out of the faucet but would not go down the sink and I am not sure if it is a frozen pipe or clogged drain? How would I know I have a heater on but nothing is happening and hot water does come out of the faucet. all other pipes and faucets are fine in the home. please help I am afraid to plunge or throw hot water down there because of not being sure if there is anything frozen. could something be frozen and still have faucets flow properly?

Does the water eventually drain out of the sink?

the only way to tell for sure is to remove the trap or open a cleanout and stick a snake wire down the drain. if it is a clog the snake will go thru it. if it is frozen the snake will just bounce around and not advance.

as I was saying before when the pipe would freeze nothing would come out of the faucet at all and then if I would leave my cabinet doors open eventually the water would flow again. this time I came home and went to run the water from the faucet and it was fine came in hot etc but the water did not go down in the sink I removed some of it and it if just above the hole in the sink but no it hasn't gone down I have had a heater in there for the pipes and they seem warm even I cant tell what is in the wall going wherever it goes but since the water would not go down the pipes it has been since last evening around 6. I guess what I am asking is when a pipe freezes at all does it always stop the water coming out of the faucet or can water come out of the faucet both hot and cold and still have a pipe frozen?

just want to know if a pipe can freeze and water still come out of the faucet or if one freezes does it stop the water from flowing out of faucet

To answer your question, yes, it is possible your DRAIN pipe has frozen, yet your hot and cold SUPPLY pipes are not. There may be several factors causing this. 1. You may have a clog or partial blockage. 2. In addition, there my be a belly or "dip" in the drain line under the slab. 3. Record-breaking cold in many areas this winter are causing some pipes which have never frozen before to be problematic this year. 4. If your sink is vented seperately, ice and snow may be "air-blocking" the drain. 5. You could have a combintaion of the above conditions.
Using a plunger and/or filling the sink with hot tap water should not cause any damage.



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sink is air vented separately ? Can you tell me what that is or what it means. I really dont have anyone to help me . So if any of the ideas you have are true what should I do? will it defrost later should I just wait?

Simply put, if the drain is frozen, wait. Figure out a way to work around it until the ground thaws out. If it still doesn't drain after things warm up, you have a clog, and you need a professional to correct it.



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