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ALMOST BEEKEEPING - RELATED TOPICS => FARMING & COUNTRY LIFE => Topic started by: 1frozenhillbilly on December 09, 2012, 09:10:41 pm

Title: got a water problem
Post by: 1frozenhillbilly on December 09, 2012, 09:10:41 pm
part of the dam in  my neighbor's spring washed out last week,  i got the dam reinforced but the water line froze somewhere between the house and the spring,  is there anything i can pour down it to help it thaw(without poisoning the water) fits almost 1/4 mile to the spring and i wont be able to dig it up with the temp hanging between 20 an minus 5
Title: Re: got a water problem
Post by: AllenF on December 09, 2012, 09:34:45 pm
Waterline underground and froze for 1/4 mile.   Beside hot water, ain't nothing but a thaw That I know that will melt the line. 
Title: Re: got a water problem
Post by: AllenF on December 09, 2012, 09:40:00 pm
Wife just said to pour sodium hydroxide down the drain.  But the water would be ruined for a long time.   
Title: Re: got a water problem
Post by: divemaster1963 on December 09, 2012, 11:27:16 pm
I can't think of the freezing point of alcohol (Rubbing and drinking ) but if it is very low you may beable to pour heated alcohol down the line and it may breakup the frozen water?
Title: Re: got a water problem
Post by: BlueBee on December 10, 2012, 01:12:22 am
You got a real problem!  Do they sell such as thing as a plumbing snake with a heating element built into it?  Kind of like a snake with heat tape wrapped about it.  I assume the pipe is PVC?  That just makes it harder since PVC is a poor conductor of heat.  You might be stuck renting a ditch witch and putting in a new line. :(
Title: Re: got a water problem
Post by: Jim134 on December 10, 2012, 09:53:46 am
  :roll: If the pipe is medal you can use a welder to melt water in the line.  


             BEE HAPPY Jim 134 :)
Title: Re: got a water problem
Post by: Jim134 on December 10, 2012, 10:00:41 am
Wife just said to pour sodium hydroxide down the drain.  But the water would be ruined for a long time.  

I did not know pour "sodium hydroxide down the drain" will thaw the inlet water pipe. :shock:
 
I learn something new everyday.  



               BEE HAPPY Jim 134 :)
Title: Re: got a water problem
Post by: Keith13 on December 10, 2012, 11:04:40 am
caution caustic is a strong base not to mention has a high freeze point itself i believe it freezes in the high 40F
 It also will eat the glue if it is PVC and anything aluminum it come in contact with

this would be my last choice.

Keith
Title: Re: got a water problem
Post by: BeeMaster2 on December 10, 2012, 12:44:31 pm
My Aunt used to live in upper Wisconsin. Her waterline was 6' down to get below the frost line. It froze under the driveway (grass is a much better insulator). A plumber came out and connected 110 to the pipe in the house and the neutral side to the pipe at the meter out front and melted it. You might be able to have a plumber do the same for you. If you do it yourself bee careful. One side is connected from your neighbors house and the other side is connected from your house. Ask your local plumbers how they do it.
Jim
Title: Re: got a water problem
Post by: BlueBee on December 10, 2012, 01:18:09 pm
A plumber came out and connected 110 to the pipe in the house and the neutral side to the pipe at the meter out front and melted it.
I wonder if you need a permit to do that  :-D
Title: Re: got a water problem
Post by: S.Rummings on December 10, 2012, 01:35:11 pm
A plumber came out and connected 110 to the pipe in the house and the neutral side to the pipe at the meter out front and melted it.

I am curious to know how that works out. I would probably just snake the pipe. When you talk about pipe from a spring I am thinking it is plastic for some reason.

I just don't think there is anything safe you could pour in that would do the job. Could you feed a hose in from either end until is hits the frozen point and then run pressurized hot water through it?
Title: Re: got a water problem
Post by: edward on December 10, 2012, 01:41:38 pm
You could use a low pressure boiler to produce steam.

In sweden there is an insulated low heat wire that you can put inside pipes and drains to keep them over freezing point.

good luck

mvh edward  :-P
Title: Re: got a water problem
Post by: edward on December 10, 2012, 01:46:19 pm
When they need to dig into frozen ground they make a coal fire, like the kind they walk on when people walk on hot coals, and then cover it with metal sheeting and insulation so the heat goes down into the ground so they can dig it.

mvh edward  :-P
Title: Re: got a water problem
Post by: BlueBee on December 10, 2012, 03:22:20 pm
In my little city, a lot of the water feed lines into the homes are still lead!  If you apply a bunch of current to a lead pipe, it isn’t going to be a pipe for long.  My bet would be PVC in Alaska. 

S Rummings, it works because of Ohms law: V = IR.  All metal has some resistance, even copper.  When you flow electrical current through it, the resistance causes the metal to heat up.  This is also why you have circuit breakers inside your house wiring too.  If you didn’t and you had a short circuit, the wire itself could melt and catch your house on fire.
 
Power = I*I*R.  In a resistive circuit that power shows up as heat.  Apply 120volts and a lot of current, and you get a lot of heat.  It would be wise to make sure your life insurance policy is up to date before running current through water pipes.
Title: Re: got a water problem
Post by: S.Rummings on December 10, 2012, 04:27:22 pm
S Rummings, it works because of Ohms law: V = IR.  All metal has some resistance, even copper.  When you flow electrical current through it, the resistance causes the metal to heat up.  This is also why you have circuit breakers inside your house wiring too.  If you didn’t and you had a short circuit, the wire itself could melt and catch your house on fire.
 
Power = I*I*R.  In a resistive circuit that power shows up as heat.  Apply 120volts and a lot of current, and you get a lot of heat.  It would be wise to make sure your life insurance policy is up to date before running current through water pipes.
LOL, I am quite familliar with Ohm's law.


It would be wise to make sure your life insurance policy is up to date before running current through water pipes.
This is the area of the project where I was curious in hearing how it worked out. Really not the technical aspect of "how" it works, moreso the part about how that "works out".  :-D

I would would be eskeered to put enough V&I into a pipe connected to my house to melt ice. But that's just because I am disadvantaged by the knowledge of all the bad things that could possibly happen.

Title: Re: got a water problem
Post by: 1frozenhillbilly on December 10, 2012, 04:28:52 pm
oops forgot to say it was pvc,  iron or copper i'd have had the welder on already.  that does work very well.  tommorow we're going to try hooking an air compressor to the house end and see if we can blow it out(hope we dont blow it up)  it hasn't been frozen long and it's relatively warm at the moment so it might do something  and thank you all for responding
Title: Re: got a water problem
Post by: carlfaba10t on December 10, 2012, 11:18:02 pm
Once you get the ice out of water line,if you can snake a 10 gauge bare copper wire through pipe up to the point where it is insulated well enough to never freeze, in other words do not run it all the way into cabin or house. Then if you connect from the spring end a 6 ft to 10 ft piece of insulated wire for connecting a 120 volt generator this will not harm your PVC pipe, but will melt hole through ice enough for water to start flowing and as long as water flows the line should not freeze. The copper wire will not contaminate your drinking water, although the water will have a funny taste just after using electricity to conduct through the ice. This should go away after flowing entire water line length. If you do this by all means take care what you touch while electricity is flowing in wire! :-D
Title: Re: got a water problem
Post by: 1frozenhillbilly on December 13, 2012, 05:35:56 pm
thanks for all the sugestions folks poured about half a box of table salt down it today wi guess ill see if that does any thing,  i guess if it dont will have eliminatedanother idea :roll: