OT: Frozen waterline

[LtPiper]

Okay woke up this morning to a frozen waterline. Thought the heat tape would keep it from freezing but thought wrong.

I know where the line froze and it's not easy to get to but if I could pump heat into the space with one of those big blower heaters I could get it thawed. I just don't have the heater.

Anybody got one and wanna come visit for a while? That or any other ideas to get the line thawed would be nice.:fun4:

 

[skiformance]

hair drier

 

[LtPiper]

hair drier

Impossible to get close enough.

 

[carb850]

Sorry, I don't have anything like that either.

 

[coralreefer]

Any progress?

 

[ebruce01]

How much room do you have around the pipe? What kind of access to you have? Is there enough room to get a high wattage light bulb near it??

 

[ebruce01]

"THIS MAY SOUNDS STUPID" but if you are really in a pinch and can make sure that no animals fish or humans are going to be breathing the air you can connect a long pipe or tube to the exhaust of a vehicle. This should be done with a late model vehicle and with the certainty that no harm could be done to anyone or anybody!!

 

[Altpers0na]

im not really suggesting this, but..


you could hit the shut off valve as far back as your comfortable..

take a sink knob / faucet off, something vertical. once you have access to the inside of the pipe, add rubbing alcohol or salt. or both. it might take weeks to thaw, idk.. but it should work..

i would do this before i flooded my house w/ auto exhaust....

my 2c..

 

[ebruce01]

I dont think my suggestion was to put auto exhaust in a house??? If that is what you got from my post then your not much on comprehension. If you have a pipe that is outside then it could work. If its under a house like a crawls space then a simple flood lamp light bulb or shop light will work. Just push it toward the pipe with a broom or something long then pull it out with the cord when done. Even with that you would need to ensure there are no flammable materials around the light. There are always safety issues when applying heat to something. I ask that no matter what you use please be very very carefull.

 

[coralreefer]

"THIS MAY SOUNDS STUPID" but if you are really in a pinch and can make sure that no animals fish or humans are going to be breathing the air you can connect a long pipe or tube to the exhaust of a vehicle. This should be done with a late model vehicle and with the certainty that no harm could be done to anyone or anybody!!

YES YES IT DOES SOUND STUPID...in fact on all my years on RC this makes the top five of bad suggestions. Besides being a dumb idea it would take too long to work. FWIW I'm sure Chuck know this too :strooper:

How much room do you have around the pipe? What kind of access to you have? Is there enough room to get a high wattage light bulb near it??

A high wattage bulb will/might keep pipes from freezing but could take as long to thaw as Alta's suggestion.

Chuck,
Per Dave...are you sure you heat strips are actually working? If they are you shouldn't have this problem so double check that. If you're not thawed out yet I'm going to PM you our phone #....don't hesitate to call Dave's good at this stuff.

 

[Altpers0na]

@ work we have tons of exposed 1/4 inch lines. we use 6watts per foot heat tape. its hot to touch, nothing freezes.

 

[LtPiper]

We finally thawed out last last night after a 60k BTU heater and 3 gallons of Kero, two pipe tape heaters and a blow torch ran forever.

Appears that I missed plugging in one of the two heat strips. Thought they were both on one plug.