AHNC
Gold Member
I managed to get a bit of water into the house for the first time in the 18 yrs we've owned the house due to ice dams. With our "one storm after another" and no melt off the ice dams are severe. I shoveled off the roof yesterday. More shoveling than I've done in a long, long time. We had a foot on the front and 3-4 ft on the back. I had a clear hard ice dam about 18" up the roof and it stood at least 6" above the roof/gutter line. Looking for a solution I hooked a hose up to my gas tankless water heater and went at it. 4 continuous hrs of hot water and the roof and gutters are clear. I was running 3.3gpm at 125F with a spray head (almost like a shower head) to give not a lot of velocity/bounce to the water. You have to cut channels into the ice to relieve the built up water behind the dam while you are melting the ice, otherwise, you will force water up under the shingles, creating the problem you were attempting to solve. One of the downspouts runs out onto the driveway. The warm water melted a broad channel in the pack ice there. I am stiff, sore and happy that it worked out.