Well Houston, I have a problem

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It is an unusually cold night in the south eastern mountains and my pipes froze. I had the water nunning a very slight trickle but somehow they froze anyway.
We are in a rental house...is there anything I can do to minimize damage?? Or is it best to call the property managment folks and let them handle it?

Sorry to just barge in here. I have the tech savyness of a pea pod so I usually dont have much to contribute to this forum's discussions, but if you ever need help with problems that involve non-mathmatical creativity...feel free to pm me as I have been an artist for over 2 decades...however I kinda suck at real life stuff like what to do when your pipes freeze

Thanks for any and all help,

Jojo

A more serious matter than your current lack of water is what may happen to the pipes when they thaw. They may split the pipes and you could become inundated with water. So first thing to do is find out where your main stop tap is to cut off the supply to your house - so that in the even of a leak you can cut off the supply.

I suggest you contact your property management folks. If you attempt to warm the pipes yourself and split them they may hold you responsible, so best to let them handle it.

For the future it sounds like the pipes need better insulation. This is dirt cheap.

Find where the pipes froze, or as close as possible. Apply heat to that. Hair dryer, space heater, etc. That should melt the ice in the line and hopefully get the water flowing. Be sure a faucet is open to let the water flow as soon as the blockage is gone. Be sure the landlord installs heat tape to the freeze-prone lines to prevent this problem in the future. Small investment compared to having to fix broken pipes. Insulation helps, but won't keep things above freezing if it gets cold enough for long enough.

Since heat tape need electricity, in a power outage you better leave the water tap open so it prevents the pipe freezing.