That is a worry.

Everytime the temperature drops in Calgary to below -20 my upstairs toilet freeze's, the toilet wont refill once it has been flushed. Then as soon as it goes up to -16 again the toilet is absolutely fine.
Very strange.

I hope your problem get solved.

Sounds like you might be missing some insulation in the bathroom wall.

Your house is not that old there is no way that should be happening.

According to Environment Canada tonights forecast low is a frozen toilet.

Is it safe to assume that frozen pipes are not common?

Yes

Yeah I know its strange the place is only 8 years old. The wierd thing is the taps in the sink and the shower all still work, but the toilet wont fill up when it gets cold.

Is the toilet on an outside wall?

It sounds like the supply line is freezing, perhaps it's behind the insulation instead of in front of it, somewhere on the way upstairs?

dunno its a house with a personality along with the popcorn-itis ....... luckily the few times it has happened it has rectified itself a few days later.

We blamed it on a guest the first time, it happened.

I wonder if its covered by insurance if the place flooded?

We are in the first winter in our new house and discovered a freezing pipe problem. Went to use the cold water upstairs in the morning a few weeks ago when it had dropped below -17 for the first time and nothing came out. The cold water was working at most of the other outlet and so managed to locate the problem. Looks like where the previous owners had instaleld an extractor vent for the basement washroom when they were finishing it must have allowed in some cold air and the water pipe near there was freezing. We maaged to thaw it out ok by running hot water through the pipe next to it into the shower but the pip its self is in accessable as it's behind a finished and tiled washroom wall. Luckily they put in a valve right before that part when they added the extra pipes so I have just been turning off the cold water valve to that part of the system at night and turning it on again in the morning and have had no problems. Can't freeze if there is no water in it. I wasn't too worried as the house is nearly 100 years old now and all the rest of the piping has been there through worse winters than this. The main water comes up from under the ground and is full of insulationa round where it comes out. I would have thought all incoming water pipes and sewage etc. would be coming from below the frost line or whatever. I thought that was the whole point of having basements in the first place becaus eyou had to dig down so far to lay proper foundations and so forth below the frost line.

I know a few people though who have rented in Toronto in houses and had simialr problems where pipes run near outside walls. One thing my wife's uncle always did was pour boiling water over the nearest faucet so that the heat conducted back down the pipe and slowly thwaed it, if the pipe was inaccessable. Even my parents say that where they lived in Sheffield when they first got married had no central heating and they had to go out in winter and thaw the pipes with a hairdryer and that was a UK winter not Canadian.

Ah! but things 'ave changed tha knaws!


Here they do advise turning off the tap to the garden and draining it for winter.....


Actaully I was blaimg the boys for the basement loo not filling properly ...... p'raps that's due to the cold weather too?

I'd be rather concerned if I were you. That really should not happen. You should seriously think about getting it checked out. You do not want a burst pipe.

Yup, Mike Holmes would be tearing walls down left right and center...

I was putting out a fire last night (volunteer firefighter) and my glove froze to the nozzle - didn't notice until it was time to let go.

Unfortunatly pipes freeze in cold weather regardless of what you do to prevent it. Our water freezes every year at our farm house, we keep cupboard doors open with electric heaters running at night if we think there is a chance of freezing, my dad has been known to put antifreeze down the drain as well.......its bad enough they freeze, be grateful your pipes haven't burst.

The thing is though that Canadian houses are understandably designed to deal with this, otherwise we would be without running water for three months, and very very wet once spring came. In the UK its not a design factor as the three days of severe weather a year wont be a major inconvenience.

Today its -15C, -26C with the windchill. Its warmed up from -20C earlier, and 10 inches of snow is expected to fall and then drift today. This is not a remarkable event, most school busses are running, work carries on, traffic is moving And Im in one of the more milder areas of Ontario.

Pipes freezing is not something that is at all normal in a modern canadian home, and when it does happen, is cos someone cut a corner, or something went wrong.