Frozen Water Line, Will this do any good?

[PILOON]

I have more than once thawed frozen lines.
Get a 20 gal or so tank, fill with 18 gals of water, heat it with a torch and attach your 3/8 to the outlet
Jurry rig a fitting to attach an air compressor.
Heat the tank 'til it starts to steam and when it does insert the 3/8" into your frozen line pushing as until it hits the frozen section.
Blow the hot water into the line all while feeding the small tubing.
You will find that you will be feeding that hot line hand over hand as the ice will melt that fast.
You want the pressure as when the hot is flowing inside the small tube it will be constantly cooled by the surrounding cold water so pressure will move it faster than it can cool.

LOL, I once pressurized a client's hot water tank in order to back feed his supply line from the source.
That operation took all of about 10 mins. Customer was totally awed.**

My prevention tactic is to slit 4 x 8 sheets of blue urathane foam boards into 16" strips and lay then centered over the buried lines and cover with sand. Even buried a mere 16" prevents freeze with some snow cover. (frost line here is considered to be at 4 ft) Theory is ground is generally 40 deg and frost works from surface down and won't wrap its way around the foam therefor pipe line stays at 40. Anyway, it works.

Old farmers simply laid wide planks over their well lines and forbade walking over the line.

** If your hot water tank is full, up the thermostat, rig a compressor and go for it. You only want low (like 10PSI) so tight fitting not important.

 

[Billrog]

Piloon reminded me my son up north often unfreezes water lines in the same manner as he explained only he uses his hot water pressure washer. So that may be an option.

 

[Industrial Toys]

I have an old kerosene powered steam jenny. I thought about it, but considered it a bit overkill. Besides, I did not want to take it out of hibernation and have to assemble disconnected parts and then drain it again. Also, I am a little afraid of it! I once placed the lance down to do something. It moved and I got blasted wearing only a T shirt. It instantly melted the skin on my shoulder! Besides, you can't see a thing working with steam in the cold.

I also have one of those old air driven, electrically heated pressure washers that garages used to have. Maybe that is the answer. It all just seems so involved, especially when temperatures are so cold. The good thing about that is that the unit will heat my water and provide pressure. Getting the return water back in the tank may be a problem, but maybe the twenty or thirty gallons of water are enough. I may dig it out tomorrow and play with it. I wonder if the air pump will work alright in the extreme cold. It would be unfortunate if it started to give trouble when I havn't completed my mission.

 

[Al 2]

Check with your rental shop. Years ago I had a frozen 3/4 '' dia copper water line freeze. I rented a small unit that works much the same way as Piloon suggested only it was a small compact unit about the size of a lunch box I think. Small dia. flex hose to feed hot water up the line and melt the ice as you push it in. Probably propane powered but not sure. I could get more details later if needed. As others have suggested, cover with foam but that is a fairly long distance and that could get expensive if that matters.
Al

 

[Looking4new]

Running water can and will melt ice. It doesn't absolutely have to be hot water, but in your case, I would go with the hot water.

A few years ago I had a culvert freeze up solid. (culvert too small 8" for the amount of water running through it) I rigged a column type pump on one side in water with a semi rigid water line on the discharge side and into the culvert. 24 hours later the plug was gone.

After you get thawed out, you might be wise to dig up the line, (sometime in the summer when temperatures are better and ground is thawed) and put 2-4" of Styrofoam on top of the pipe. One inch of Styrofoam is the equivalent of one foot of dirt cover. Our frost line is 5' down and my well pump line is 4' down with 6" of Styrofoam on top. Making the well line the equivalent of 10' deep. I encased the well line with Styrofoam all the way around it. 1" on bottom, 2" on sides and 6" on top. We drive and walk across the line all winter long and so far (touch wood) have not had a problem. The blue stuff works best for me.

 

[PILOON]

Another device we used successfully was a wallpaper steamer adapted to take a 3/8" delivery line.

Fantastic on shorter jobs but pushing steam a long distance cools it to the point of becoming warm water and then very slow.

I have a home made pressure steam Genny. I used the element from a kettle, copper 1 gal or so container and fitted a radiator cap mainly for the pressure relief abilities.

Tell you with 12 PSI steam blowing out the business end it is short work . Since the delivery tube is very hot, gloves become essential.

 

[Industrial Toys]

I like that idea of using foam instead of replacing the line. A friend of mine sells discarded door panels. The cut outs for windows for insulated doors. Guys use these panels for underneith heated concrete floors as they are cheap. They can be a pain to assemble like a jigsaw puzzle though. I mention them, for although I like the insulation idea, I am worried that the insulation will be too spongy if some day I ever have the opportunty to pave my parking lot.

I was going to get my hose out today, just for some temporary water, which entails a trip to a shipping/storage container some distance away in unplowed territory, but although it is milder at minus 13c, the wind is gusting to 70 kmh! Can't win as far as the weather goes it seems. That kind of wind aside from taking ones breath away, will strip any little heat from that hose in a hurry.

 

[kevinwak]

I like that idea of using foam instead of replacing the line. A friend of mine sells discarded door panels. The cut outs for windows for insulated doors. Guys use these panels for underneith heated concrete floors as they are cheap. They can be a pain to assemble like a jigsaw puzzle though. I mention them, for although I like the insulation idea, I am worried that the insulation will be too spongy if some day I ever have the opportunty to pave my parking lot. I was going to get my hose out today, just for some temporary water, which entails a trip to a shipping/storage container some distance away in unplowed territory, but although it is milder at minus 13c, the wind is gusting to 70 kmh! Can't win as far as the weather goes it seems. That kind of wind aside from taking ones breath away, will strip any little heat from that hose in a hurry.

if you need a quick and easy winter solution, before a more permanent summertime repair, you can buy water hoses with electric heat tracing built in. I think I saw them in an RV supply store. I just did a quick google search and home hardware also can order them in in 25', 50', and 100' lengths. Even with that it would be good to wrap the hose in insulation. At work when we drain stuff outside with hoses in the winter we have 18" wide rolls of 2" fibreglass insulation with foil backing. We just wrap that around the hose and it makes a world of difference. Just a different option if you want to put off the repair until spring.
With this you should probably wrap your frost free hydrants in heat tape and insulation, doing that and you should be set for winter.

 

[radioman]

what kind of pipe is your 3/4? If it metal- I would be getting couple irons that you iron clothes with and attach it carefully to the pipe, one on each end. Just sit back and let the heat travel along the pipe. Keep the pipe pressurized and eventually it will start to trickle. Once the water is trickling - you will have running water. I had to do this to a cottage I had. I put the iron on copper pipe under the sink and the other iron just past the water meter and covered everything up and waited for a day and I had running water.

 

[Industrial Toys]

Unfortunately, the line is plastic, otherwise I would have put current through it by now. But, it is also 300 feet long!

As it is, the weather has turned into some kind of blizzard and so any plans are on hold. I have compressed air in the house, so just for fun, I may try and gently force some compressed air down the line to amuse myself.