Frozen Pipes Under the Kitchen Sink? Try These Easy Ways to Thaw Them!

Pipes under a kitchen sink on an outer wall that isn’t well insulated are subject to freezing. I live in a townhouse apartment, and I recently had to deal with a frozen cold water pipe under my kitchen sink. Management provides instructions for preventing frozen pipes, and those who don’t follow instructions and must call out maintenance are charged a fee. I went to bed thinking all was well, but someone had closed the cabinet doors and turned off the cold water, and I awoke to find frozen pipes. I didn’t want to pay someone to solve the problem, and with a little patience and ingenuity I fixed the problem myself.

If you live in a home with kitchen water pipes on an outer wall beneath the sink, consider these easy ways to thaw the pipes if they’ve become frozen. These easy ways to thaw frozen water pipes under a kitchen sink will also help you prevent frozen pipes in the future. Whether your rent or own your home, you don’t have to pay someone to thaw frozen pipes. You can safely do this yourself!

Open Cabinets

Cabinets on an exterior wall can get extremely cold inside, and when pipes are located in those cabinets they can free in a matter of minutes when temperatures hover around zero. When the cold water tap in the kitchen is frozen, open the cabinets to raise the internal temperature. This isn’t a quick fix for frozen water pipes under a kitchen sink, and cabinets hanging open don’t make a kitchen look neat and tidy, but it’s necessary if you want to unthaw the pipes and prevent them from bursting.

Turn up the Heat

Once the cabinets are open, turn up the heat a few degrees. This will speed up thawing by bringing up the temperature within the cold kitchen cabinets under the sink. Once the cold water is running again, the temperature can be turned back down to a comfortable level – as long as the cabinets are left open. Close the cabinets and the pipes are likely to freeze once again.

Turn on the Oven

Baking something in the oven can speed up the thawing process. A hot oven can raise the temperature in the kitchen by several degrees, and as long as the cabinets are left open, the heat will reach frozen lines that are exposed beneath the kitchen sink. Make a dessert or a few baked potatoes while wait for the kitchen pipes to thaw. This is a good way to kill two cold birds with a single stone!

Get Out the Hairdryer

When the pipes under my kitchen sink were frozen, I did all of the above, and I put my hairdryer to good use. I located the cold water pipes, and I propped my hairdryer on the drain pipe beneath the sink and pointed it directly at the source of the problem. I also left the cold water on, and before long it began dripping. The drips finally gave way to a steady stream, and it eventually broke free and began running as usual.

Preventing Frozen Kitchen Water Lines

To prevent frozen pipes under the kitchen sink, when you know temperatures will drop around the freezing mark, keep kitchen cabinets open. In addition, run the cold water enough to form a continuous thin ribbon. Most of all, don’t turn the heat way down just because you won’t be home. Saving a few cents on the heating bill won’t make up for frozen pipes beneath the kitchen sink, especially if they burst.