Help frozen water lines.

[GRIZ]

I have water in the bathroom but not in the kitchen. I know the lines are froze in between there. I've had the knipco going now for half a day and they still aren't thawing. Does anyone know of a good way to thaw them out?

I have an idea but don't know if it'd work or be safe. The lines are copper and I was thinking of taking my battery charger and hooking the cables at each end of where it's froze. The juice going through the pipe I'm thinkin would warm up the lines and thaw them out but don't know. Anyone tried it? Would A person need to be concerned about sparks or possible fire hazzard?

[bambambiggero]

Safe way would be to wait till tomorrow or Wed....
or March

[HOTROD]

Why not just use a torch or blow dryer?

[dakids]

A welder will work faster.  Don't burn the house down. Uncle of mine has done it out in the barn for the cows. Almost killed a few of the cows. They get real jumpy when they see the welder comeing into the barn. I think they have very long memories.

[rchaze60]

best way to do it is slowly unthaw them with a hair dryer or a portable heater a small blow torch also works..... I had this happen last year and i used a small torch took a few hours but it worked

[Outdoors Junkie]

A few years back we had the pipe coming from the street freeze underground before it came in the house.  We were without water.  We called a plumber, he brought out a welder, hooked up the current and hour and a half later we were back in business.

[dew2]

With the welder?Think about your wireing in the house those wires dont get hot,their only passing current,if they get overloaded the fuse,circutbreaker pop to stop fire chances,Dangerous overloading! I take it ya cant get at pipes if ya can the hair dryer is the way to go. Think I'd access the area and either move pipe or insulate for next cold spell.till then leave water dripping through that fixture.
 If ya know where its froze put a heater by wall and hope for the best.Its something that NEEDS repair or it'll return.

[Kmhagan]

if you have access to an arch welder those work best you can attach both clamps to the pipe but make sure you turn to the lowest setting and move it up slowly till you get results if you use an arch welder you wont burn the house down well you could but it is alot safer

[GRIZ]

Well I do have an arc welder which was my other thought. It's one of them old ones with the plug in cables. I thought of it first actually but figured maybe it might be too much juice so thought of the battery charger. Someone mentioned the line from street to the house and useing a welder. I do sewer and water for a living and that is what made me think of doing it in my house. Just wanted to know if it'd be safe to do it in a house. To get at the water lines I'd have to tear up the floor or crawl underneath and remove the insulation underneath the floor. This is a trailer house and would just as soon not mess with the enderneath of it til it's warmer(this summer). Ya know how things don't get done right when ur cold and tryin to hurry. No it don't even drip now and it's the hot and cold pipes froze. Sounds like I'll have to find a buddy to help me lift the welder into the truck. My back can't handle 250 lbs myself. As I' was typing I just remembered we have no 220 here so my welder won't work. Have to try the battery charger. I am more wondering about fire than anything.

[HOTROD]

Well, a fire would help them pipes thaw.   

Just kidding.  good luck.

[dew2]

I found in our trailor under it brass elbows would freeze first.I put a electric heater under and thawed them,I also used a hair dryer and it worked,But the best was after I got tired a goin under it I installed the heat tapes,they havent froze since! I used the better ones 3ft' tapes @ $30.00 each.But if I read right yours are in the floor space.I tried to access mine down there and just gave up! Ya I hate Trailors but I'm livin in one,not long tho!

[Super Star!]

Well, a fire would help them pipes thaw.   

Just kidding.  good luck.

LMAO would solve a lot of problems...
 

Griz Time to double the insurance on it.    

[Randy Kaar]

griz, is this a travel/rv type trailer or mobilehome?
enclosed underbelly or skirted?

randy aka bh

[GRIZ]

Mobile home and skirted. Yes I can get under it but with the insulation put under it don't want to tear it all off and make a bigger mess than I started with.

[Randy Kaar]

that does make it tough.. but you might
have too. if you have floor vents for heat
find a vent close to the area and drill a hole
in the duct work on the side of the sink.
might take a while to thaw out but will
help from it happening again. i have done
this on park models.anyway you can cut
a access panel in the insulation to get
some heat up there?
just a few ideas..  good luck!

randy aka bh

[mopho]

get a torpedo heater  and  put it in the opening  closest to the  frozen pipes ,  make sure that the faucets   that are open are cracked so when water becomes loose  it can flow and thaw the rest

[GRIZ]

The nearest opening to the pipes was the kitchen and didn't want to run a knipco inside. I didn't want to tear the insulation out from underneath. As it turns out as of 5 min ago I now have water, guess my patience was getting thin. I thought half a day should have been enough time for the torpedo but it took a day. Thanks everyone guess I just need more patience and more money. Took $60 bucks worth of fuel in the knipco.