Has anyone on here ever built a steam jenny for thawing out culverts?
I am planning to build one out of a twenty gallon hot water tank using a tiger torch for heat.
It will have a safety valve ,pressure gauge, temp gauge and water glass. Anything I am missing?
Why not use the torch to thaw the culvert directly.
I have built a small unit for thawing pump lines and household drains, also worked with old time plumber that concocted a few.
Basically any tank and any heat source will do.
My thaw rig is about 2 gal tank with a 112vac element from a tea kettle. For safety I used an automobile radiator cap (ford I think ) which releases at 12 PSI.
The steam creates all the pressure needed to get it out there to the problem area.
My steam line is 3/8 polyB tubing but other tubing will work.
PolyB is rigid enough to hand feed. Pressure washer hose would also work well as would most hydraulic hoses. Stiff helps in order to hand feed the line.
I did find that 30 ft was the practical distance to work in most cases.
If you use a radiator cap as I did I don't think you need any other safety controls. Just heat away and she'll blow steam as soon as that water boils and any excess pressure will blow by the rad cap vent that usually goes to the auto expansion tank.
With rad cap pressure is safely limited at 12 PSI and frankly no more is needed as it is steam and not pressure that melts a passage.
Biggest problem is draining away the melt otherwise it cools the steam line and lowers the efficiency and production. Best to melt your way uphill as much as possible.
My rig melts at better than 1 ft per min in small water lines just to give you an idea as to efficiency. Wear good gloves as that line gets hot!
I watched a small boiler (20 HP) melt ice on a pond last weekend. With a tarp on the ice and the wand under the tarp he could melt about 2 cubic feet of ice a minute. I was impressed but didn't realize that you could make a homemade one. I like the idea.
I think the specific heat of water vapor is a lot higher than air, so it'll carry more BTU/cubic foot to the thing you want to thaw.
I see. But it would need to be greater than the losses at the burner. That is the heat that goes up the stack/chimney.
Condensing steam sure does give up a lot of heat.
Portable steam units are a common sight in the winter oilfields of the north. They do work well.:thumbsup:
Kinda messy and cold on the wand at -20f with a good fresh breeze blowing in your face.
Many culverts are fitted with a through pipe capped at both ends that will be used to thaw a frozen culvert.
I'll be watching this one closely, I seen a homemade jenny the local county uses, used a tiger torch for heat but for the life of me I can't recall its design...AND I WANT TO BUILD ONE!!!!
I will contact the guy to see if I can get specs and a few pics as we have a ton of snow here and with this item I will be everyones best friend!
One design I was thinking of was to use a CO2 fire extinguisher as the boiler as I believe they are pressure rated fairly well...and I have access to many...:dance1:
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It will be safer for you to invest in a twin head rubber roof heating torch
with long hoses and 40 pound propane bottles and use the propane to
melt the ice buildup in the culverts.
We spent 4 hours melting and breaking up ice dams that the local
NYSDOT was so kind in deposting on our drive way which made it
impossible to have access in and out of our home.
The twin flames created by the burners melts the ice quickly
and once the water starts flowing it also washes the ice buildup away.
if you really want to get into the serious business of ice melting:
Purchase a small coal stoker boiler rated for steam and lengths of steam rated rubber hose and high quality tarps to hold the heat.
You would need a 110 volt generator, a very small keystoker coal stoker with a hopper that will an burn rice coal rated for steam mounted on a trailer with a water tank and pump to pump water into the boiler to replace the water lost to steam .
You will gain a lot of business by word of mouth as the system will be entirely safe and legal.
BUT its up to you as a pressure vessel explosion is a very very nasty thing to see and water eaters can and will act like missles.
The twin head roofing torch is a faster way as long as you have at least one forty pound propane bottle, a striker, and a gas bottle wrench to install and remove the left hand thread hose connection.
