Frozen Water Mains.

Been getting a lot of calls the last 4 weeks on frozen water mains. Seems to me that the frost has set far enough in the ground that it is freezing the water lines before they even get into the homes. If my little company is geting 1 to 3 calls a day about this cant even imagine how many may be dealing with the issue.

We dont have the equipment for thawing these mains out nor have I ever worked on one. My understanding is it takes a thawing machine or welding machine. Hook one lead up to the curb box and the other to main where it comes into the house or lawn faucet. Think I ve even heard of guys hooking one end to a fire hydrant if the curb box cant be located. Turn the power on and electricity running through the pipe between the leads thaws the pipes.

Anyone know a welder in the metro area that might be working this winter on thawing lines or other company I can recommend my customers to. After many years of slow work I hate turning it away. On the other hand Ive had plenty of other stuff to work on this last month or so.

Anyone on here been dealing with this? Starting to get calls about frozen sewer mains now to. Still got another good solid month of winter to go also and it makes me wonder if these lines get thawed out whats keeping them from freezing right back up again.

I heard of this on the news the other day! They said the frost is down like 6 feet or somewhere near there. You never know if the news exaggerates these things or not, but if you’ve been getting calls, it must be a real issue this winter.

6′ seems like an exaggeration. Here’s some links I found.

Under the Pavement

USACE

NOAA

That’s not to say it IS an exaggeration. I am sure that soil content and layering has a lot to do with frost lines.

http://www.plumbingsupply.com/hot-shot-pipe-thawing-machine.html

For around $800 I can see it being a good investment for you.

They also use hot water fed through a tube that is inserted up to the freeze and melts it fairly quickly. I do this on a horribly designed drain line in one of the restrooms at work on the crazy cold days.

Going on 14 years I have been in business and this is the 1st we are seeing numbers of calls like this. Typical winter might get 2 to 4 frozen water line calls all winter. Cant remember the last winter I got a call for a frozen main line coming into a home. This winter its 1 to 3 a day.

Anyone with experience on those hot shot machines and how well they work on long runs and under ground piping? Still pretty sure Im not going to go buy one especially when Im busy enough working on other stuff. If anyone does have one and wants some jobs to do let me know.

A guy I work with lives in Cottage Grove, his pipes froze last week. It took 4 days to get the guy out to thaw it out. He had a big generator on a trailer and a welding machine. Hooked up to the pipe inside the house through a dryer vent, and to the hydrant across the street. The guy has been living in this house for 14 years and this is the first time he’s ever had this problem. He called all over the place and everyone kept referring him to the same guy so it sounds like there’s basically one person in the East Metro doing this job. Mike if you want I can find out who this was.

Numerous towns in western wisconsin have all customers running a pencil thin line of water from a faucet in there homes and businesses until further notice. (weau.com has info) They are adjusting water bills. Chippewa Falls has not yet done that but have their big welder die thawing mains. They have had main breaks and I heve seen the welder hooked up in diferent locations. They advise to check faucet closest to the supply line and check temp if its close to 32degrees run water 24/7. I guess I would rather pay a little more sewer /water than a service call that lasts who knows how long. Chippman

There is quite of few towns around NE Wisconsin telling the people to leave water run a pencil like flow around the clock so water lines won’t freeze. They will get there bills adjusted.

Seen a similar report from I think Bemidgi MN Chip.

Had one plumber tell me he took a thin tube and put down the main from inside the house. Sucked out what water he could and then hooked up a hair dryer to it. 6 hrs later the line opened up in a rush of water. Up in my area we have a lot of plastic mains and this might be the only option.

Good info Steve. Im not sure if the hot shots deliver enough power for a longer run. A bigger set up like what you mentioned might be what is needed.

looking out my window at work in New Ulm.. the front intersection has water pouring out the manhole.. roads are now blocked off.

coworker called in about his daughters’ school closed in Hutch due to water main break there as well.

Water mains down here are freezing in several towns. The guys on our excavating crew are fixing one as I type. Under the road the frost is 6 1/2 feet deep. Our town isn’t adjusting the water bill but I don’t care, I let mine run costs for freeze up.

Seems to be a problem in brainerd as well, and there is a lot of winter left. Just because the forecast looks better doesn’t mean we are out of the woods. I know it doesn’t make sense but when it starts to warm up it actually drives the frost deeper.

Several communities in our area are requiring residents to run their water in a pencil sized stream. If we don’t and we have a freeze up, its on our dime.

I’ve been checking the temp of my water twice a day for about a week. The coldest I’ve had is 39 degrees. I have been running my water, just in case. I doubt the City will lower our water bills, but water is cheap compared to a plumbers service call and the inconvenience of not having water for several days.

I know Bayport and Oak Park Heights has had a few mains freeze up. We have been running water 24 7 when the high is below 0. Had my pipes freeze in my home 6 or 7 times. We have not had them freeze in the past 2 years.

We just got that notice yesterday. I kind of blew it off, but I guess I better take it seriously. The township did say they were going to suspend our water water bill for the month of February and March.

The St Paul Pioneer Press did a story on this topic in today’s paper. Interesting read.

http://www.twincities.com/weather/ci_25126567/frozen-water-pipes-heres-what-do-about-it

-J.

Albert Lea posted this on their webpage and to their facebook:
http://www.cityofalbertlea.org/city-residents-cautioned-to-watch-for-water-line-freezing/

CITY RESIDENTS CAUTIONED TO WATCH FOR WATER LINE FREEZING
FEBRUARY 13, 2014 BY TERESA
Due to the extremely cold winter, frost levels are reaching the 5 and 6 foot marks. This depth of frost is reaching a level where some water service lines are buried. Because of this, the City of Albert Lea has seen an increase in frozen water service lines. City residents with any history of water lines freezing in the past are encouraged to run a continuous pencil-width stream of water from a faucet in their home. If you are able to test the temperature of your water from your tap – it should read above 40 degrees. If it reads below 40 degrees you are also encouraged to run a continuous pencil-width stream of water. The water should be run 24 hours a day until at least the end of March.
If you have any questions, please call the City Utilities Department, 507-377-4378 or the Engineering Department, 507-377-4325.

My Mom’s service line Froze & Broke last year, but in the street prior to her Shut-Off. City fizzed it at their expense, had it been after the Shut-Off, she would have had to fix/pay for repairs.

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6′ seems like an exaggeration. Here’s some links I found.

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The local TV station did a segment on it last night. They showed a guy with some sort of tool they used to check. It showed about 6 1/2 feet.

Iron River WI has frost to 66″ under their Main St.
That’s 5.5 feet!!

Ft Dodge IA has residents without water due to freezing.

More closely to home, our own Freedom Gas Station was without water for 4 days, then two days on and I haven’t heard if it’s back on now.

my lil bro works for the city and he is on 4 water mains busting in 34hrs.when i was on the fire dept we got a call for a guy that hooked a welder to his line to thaw them out,blew the nieghbor across the streets drier up

Not to mention the moving earth that will break lines as well.

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More closely to home, our own Freedom Gas Station was without water for 4 days, then two days on and I haven’t heard if it’s back on now.

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My God BK, you must be ready to burst! That is a long time to hold it!

Its suppose to get worst towards spring. Why would that be? Most of the cities in SE MN are requiring water cosumption. I’ve never heard of so many pipes freezing.

I am very concerned about my septic outake and water intake lines come spring…could be ugly as it thaws.

I used Aarons 763-571-0135. Dave has someone who got my employer’s sewer drain out to the street open with a water jet hooked up to a heated power washer (can be messy).
On the incoming side like Mike said they use something like a welding power source.

I’ve used Aarons for close to 20 years.

Here is an interesting twist on your question… Story from today out of LaCrosse.

http://www.news8000.com/news/fires-caused-by-welding-equip-used-to-thaw-frozen-pipes/-/326/24461928/-/iohfkw/-/index.html

Got to be careful out there…

I work in the Commercial HVAC trade, I cover around 27 weeks a year of on-call. This year has had some of the strangest calls related to the cold weather.

A few years back we had a 3/4″ copper line freeze solid (pipe actually burst) Hearing about using a welder we gave it a try. We cut the line at both ends so that no stray voltage or amperage would go a place we didn’t want. We had good connections to the pipe, We had extra heavy cables, we had a 250 amp power source.

after 8 hours and 2 burnt up cables the pipe was still frozen. We ended up cutting the insulation off it and using a propane torch to get a “trail” of water down the pipe and get a little flow going. took 15 mins with the torch.

If someone out there has a welder and they use it to thaw pipes, I’d like to see it.. Not saying it cant be done but they obviously use a different method than we did.

It makes you wonder if 8′ is deep enough for water mains.

Years ago at a shop I worked for they went over using thawing machines with us and talked about checking for stray currents. Never did get a pipe thaw call that winter and its been a long time since that training.

Commercial building I was working on today has its sewer main frozen for the 2nd time this winter. We had it steamed out the 1st week of January. Didnt last to long.

Talked to my drain cleaner today and they are back thawing both sewer and water mains. Sounds like they are booked solid at 15 to 20 calls a day. They put me on the schedule for Monday since its a repeat job.

Going to be keeping track of the water temps at my own house now. Just checking it with my hand it is cold. Noticed the water heater isnt kicking out as hot of water the last few weeks to trying to keep up with the cooler water.

Wouldn’t be surprised if there is more than a few people finding other living arrangements or living without water this winter.

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Not to mention the moving earth that will break lines as well.

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Sounds like city crews are very busy on broken mains. Anyone on here run a “muck truck”. That is the truck that sucks all the mud out of the holes so that someone can climb in there to do the repair. Not all cities are lucky enough to have one of this.

Back in the day when I was inspecting new city water main installations, part of the final inspection/testing included a conductivity test where we hooked the welder to the new mains and ran them up to something like 400 amps for so many minutes to prove that conductivity existed in the line – just for freeze events like this. It was a standard requirement per the American Water Works Assoc installation guidelines for city mains in MN. I’m not so sure they do it anymore though. These tests were all done on ductile iron pipe with bonding lugs/straps, not copper house services.
I think with global warming though, they changed the rules because it was never supposed to get this cold here anymore.