Any tricks to thaw undergroud water line?

[fastfredracing]

Shop froze up last weekend. Like the rest of the north , we have had sustained below zero temps. I just shut the water off, and let it go till this past weekend when I could crawl under the floor, and find and repair the leaks.
I spent yesterday plumbing everything back up but could not get any water out of the main. I tried to heat the end that comes out of the ground, and even shoved one of those pipe heater cables about 3 feet back in the pipes sleeve for the day with no luck.
I guess I can just wait for a few weeks till it thaws, but boy would it be nice to have my bathroom, and most importantly my coffee maker back.
I am not digging it up .

[DaveE]

Yep, had the dishwasher drain line freeze here along with the washing machine drain. It's been brutal here. My snow plow is taking a beating also. Can you get some salt down the pipe?

[Z-man]

Is it the water drain, or water line that is frozen?

If the water line, try hitting it with heat from a space heater / blow dryer. It may take a long time, but the convective heat transfer will eventually reach the point where the frozen blockage is.

Just don't burn your shop down during this process!!

If your drain is clogged, when using hot salt water works better than just normal water.

-Z

[look 171]

How about a torch or heat gun to the exposed pipes? Just a thought as I have no experience with the extreme cold

[Aragorn]

I know plumbers can be expensive (recent $300 bill for a 1 hour job), but they do have the equipment to handle this job without too much trouble. They can use Jetters or thawing machines to bust out the ice clog. Might be worth looking into.

[1990C4S]

Stick welder on each end (for copper).

Pouring alcohol (rubbing) from one end.

Wrap it with the resistive heater cabless they use on shingle roofs.

[gatotom]

Best way to keep a line from freezing is never stop the water flow, moving water will not freeze. At the faucet leave cold water run just a bit more than a trickle.

In my office, the water pipes from the main are less than 2 ft under the parking lot. Yes, those pipes are galvanized but they are 65 yrs old. Kinda risky to put the welding machine on it to thaw it out. When winter starts to dip in the teens, the water never stops in my darkroom, no more frozen pipes.

[Eric 951]

Fred,

Could the line be frozen at the meter in the pit? We had that happen at our office--opened the pit thawed with propane torch, insulated meter--no issues since.

[Aragorn]

Originally Posted by gatotom

Best way to keep a line from freezing is never stop the water flow, moving water will not freeze. At the faucet leave cold water run just a bit more than a trickle.

I have heard it is better to trickle the hot water on really cold days. It will keep the water flowing because it keeps both the hot and cold water running.

[diverdan]

STEAM. Rig up a pot with an air hose or some kind of a hose that you can shove down the pipe. the steam under pressure will need a way to come back out the pipe whick could be the same outlet or another in the building. When I was a kid in northern Minnesota, that is how my dad solved our frozen pipe issues and the water main coming into the house was 7 feet below ground where it froze. Good luck.

Diverdan

[gatotom]

the cold water works for me, why spend electricity when you don't have too??

[fastfredracing]

There is a 2 ft crawl space under my shop floor. I had a turbo heater running under there for 2 days straight, thawing stuff out. I actually had the pipe , right it goes underground, warm to the touch with the turbo heater, and the water line heater cord. I really think it is frozen under the earth. the alchohol, and salt are great ideas. I have really easy access to it ( glad I made it this way ) \
I have taken drastic measures to insure this never happens again.
I have been here for 15 years, and only last year, and this year did I have any problems.
Thanks guys,

[ckelly78z]

My daughter's 16x80 house trailer had the main line in freeze up even with heat wrap on it. With this weather you are just gonna have to wait a few weeks. My underground line to our new horse barn froze where it comes out of the ground inside the barn, but I can't move the dirt into the hole because the dirt is all frozen in a solid block......so ready for Spring and stop having to haul buckets of water.

The barn has been finished since about Christmas, but there has been snow on the frozen ground ever since.

[masraum]

Makes me glad I've got the crazy hot summers. Today we had a pretty extreme cold front come through. It's 42°.

[GWN7]

Three ways of thawing frozen pipes.

1) Resistance heating: this is where they hook a arc welder up to the pipes and heat till thawed.

2) Hot water pump: A small plastic line is threaded into the water line till resistance is felt and hot water is pumped thru the plastic line melting the frozen water in the supply line.

3) Wait till the ground thaws.

[CHICKS]

Call a local mobile welder.

[911SauCy]

Whizz...Take a whizz on it

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Just disconnect the arc welder before you do.

[fred cook]

If you suspect that it is frozen underground, build a fire along the path of the water pipe and heat the earth. Water lines are usually anywhere from 18" to 36" deep depending on the local permafrost depth!

[Brian 162]

Probably to late but leave a cold tap slightly open, it may start to flow (but I doubt it).