Frozen Water Hose: How to Thaw It Without Damaging Hose or Fittings

Symptom: no water, a stiff hose

The spigot is open and nothing comes out, or only a trickle. The hose is hard along part of its length and may crackle when moved. A frozen garden hose, a frozen hose pipe and a frozen RV water hose are the same problem: water was left standing in the hose while the air was below 32 °F.

Before you blame the hose alone, feel along the line. The couplings, a pressure regulator and the spigot itself hold water too, and nothing warms them. If the hose is soft and the spigot gives no water, the problem is one step upstream; see frozen spigot.

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Why a frozen hose is more than a nuisance

Ice is about 9 percent less dense than liquid water, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The same water needs more room once frozen. In a hose that is shut at both ends, that room is taken from the hose wall and the fittings. Flexzilla, a maker of cold-flexible hoses, puts it plainly for its own product: “Leaving any hose outside in freezing temperatures with water inside can cause damage.” That is why a thawed hose still has to be checked under pressure.

Thaw it step by step

1. Shut off the water

   Close the spigot. As long as it is open, line pressure stands against the ice plug. On an RV, switch to the fresh-water tank and pump if the tank has water in it.

2. Do not bend, kink or pull the hose

   Leave the hose in the shape it froze in. The PIRIT manual says of its hose: “Do not attempt to uncoil or bend the hose when it is frozen.” The same caution makes sense for any hose with ice in it.

3. Disconnect it without force

   Unscrew the couplings by hand if they turn. If a coupling will not move, it may be frozen to the spigot. Warm the fitting gently with a towel soaked in hot water and try again; do not force it with a wrench.

4. Warm it gently

   Carry an ordinary hose into a heated room, a garage or a basement and let it lie until water runs from both ends. Outdoors on a sunny day above freezing, laying it out in the sun does the same job more slowly.

5. Drain and inspect

   Lift the hose from one end to the other so the meltwater runs out. Look for splits or bulges in the hose wall, cracks at the couplings and missing or flattened washers. Reconnect it, open the spigot and watch every joint for a minute.

6. Fix the cause

   A hose that froze once will freeze again in the same weather; the options are at the end of this page.

What the sources say about heat

We found no public authority that gives thawing instructions for hoses. What exists is advice for frozen water pipes, and it sets useful limits:

• No open flame. University of Illinois Extension: “Never try to thaw a pipe with an open flame or torch.” On a plastic or rubber hose that goes without saying, and it applies to the metal spigot too.
• Gentle heat sources. The National Weather Service office in Boston describes, for pipes, pouring hot water over them or wrapping them with “towels soaked in hot water”, and adds that a “hand-held hair dryer, used with caution, also works well.”

That advice was written for rigid pipes. A hose is plastic or rubber, not copper, so the warm room is the safer default, and warm towels belong on the metal fittings first.

Pipe heat tape is not a thawing tool for a hose. Frost King rules out hoses for its heat cable kits in writing; the page on heat tape for a water hose quotes the rules.

If the frozen hose is a heated hose

A heated hose that has frozen is thawed differently, because it carries its own heat source and its own electrical parts. The PIRIT manual gives the procedure:

• “First plug in the hose and allow it to warm before uncoiling or bending.”
• “If water is frozen inside the hose, allow several minutes for the ice to melt after plugging in the hose and before use.”
• “Do not immerse the plug.” Keep hot water and wet towels away from the plug, the cord and the thermostat.
• “Inspect the cord before using.”

One exception follows from another PIRIT rule: do not plug the hose in while it is coiled, because it can overheat and melt. If a heated hose froze while coiled in storage, let it thaw in a warm room first, like an ordinary hose.

Then ask why it froze. A heated hose that was plugged in and froze anyway points to a tripped GFCI, a thermostat in a warm or insulated spot, or an unheated part at either end. The page heated hose froze anyway goes through the causes one by one. These are PIRIT's rules; the instruction sheet of your own hose comes first.

When to call someone

• Water appears where it should not. If a pipe or the wall behind an outdoor faucet leaks after a freeze, shut off the water supply and call a plumber.
• The campground spigot is frozen or damaged. Tell the park office. Do not take tools or heat to the park's hydrant on your own.
• A GFCI trips when the heated hose is plugged back in, or its cord, plug or jacket is damaged. Take the hose out of service and contact the maker or a qualified electrician. PIRIT forbids cutting or splicing the hose.

When a new hose makes sense

Replace an ordinary hose that leaks along its wall or at a coupling after thawing. If the hose is also iced onto the faucet, the page on a hose frozen to the spigot covers getting it off and checking the faucet. Then decide how to keep the next one from freezing:

• For the whole season: disconnect, drain and store the hose; see garden hose in winter.
• For occasional frost: drain the hose after every use. The step-by-step guides are how to keep a garden hose from freezing and, for campsites, how to keep an RV water hose from freezing.
• For water that has to stay connected through freezing nights: a heated water hose is the product made for that. The page on the heated garden hose compares lengths for house and yard and explains what the outlet has to offer.

A hose labeled freeze-resistant is not a third option for leaving water in the line; the page on the freeze-proof hose explains what that label means. The heated water hose overview covers the product type as a whole.