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Frozen water line

T

TGIN

Well-known Member
I have a waterline running to the barn that is frozen . It froze when it was well below zero for several days and all the wind with it . The temps are up to where it would not freeze if I could get it thawed . It is plastic line so cant do the welder trick but had a guy tell me today that plumbers had something they could use on plastic lines . Is there a way or is this guy full of it ??
 
About the only way I know is to cut it or take a fitting apart then use a small pump and about a quarter inch tube to pump warm water inside of it. Keep feeding the tubing in as it thaws farther and farther back.
 
If the above ground air temperature is above freezing that doesn't mean the ground is thawed enough for the water line to flow yet. Heat transfers from hot to cold so it will take some time for the heat to get to the water line to where the water will thaw.
 
how long is the pipe,and what size is it? I have thawed out pipes with hot water, if you can get a smaller pipe(quarter or three eighths or so) into the frozen line at a fitting somewhere, the connect the small hose to a small pump(i use a plastic syphon pump thing),then pump the hot water - the hotter the better - down the small hose while pushing the small hose down the frozen water line, the hot water will thaw the line out... it's easy if the frozen bit is close to a tap or other fitting, less easy if it is a long way...
 
Unless the water in the barn is super critical, I would just wait for it to thaw on its own. Carrying water is a hassle, but digging up water lines in Winter is worse, in my opinion.

Next Summer, you might think about burying the water line deeper. Good luck, hope the freezing didn"t break the plastic pipe!
 
As the air temperature warms up the frost will go deeper into the ground so it may take a long time for it to thaw out on its own.

As others stated, running a small pipe inside the larger pipe to pump water in is the only way I know of to thaw it out.
 
If the snow is gone, and you have some sunshine, lay black plastic over the pipe route. You will surprised how fast it will thaw.
 
Just for future reference,it's best to run it inside larger diameter plastic pipe. It gives and air space to hold heat and if something does happen to it,you can pull it out and push new in without digging it all up. Like conduit for wire.
 
Don't know where your at but here in Ohio i have seen first hand frost down six feet back in 77 when we tried to bury a couple cows when it was down below 20 below in bare ground . To plant the cows we found ground where the snow was and moved the snow and only had a foot and a half frost but five feet away on bare ground it went down six. Once it warms up you might think about installing a new line and digging the ditch a lot deeper and adding a foot or better of straw over top the line before ya back fill or place the line inside a bigger line so if it freezes again you can force warm air into the bigger line . If you think four foot is good then go five . We have not seen the end to cold winters , don;t care what Al Gore says.
 
I will be making changes this summer . I am in S.E. Indiana and we have a good snow cover but I think it is froze under some driveways where the snow was drivin on and has turned to ice . Calling for rain and 50 deg. sat. but need it for 4-5 days to get the job done . Thanks for all the replys
 
My experience is the ground frost usually goes the deepest in the spring when it starts to warm up. The old timers said the warmer weather drives the frost down. I don't know what the logic is behind that theory but you don't argue with old timers!
To thaw it out use the system recommended, shove a smaller hot water line inside it and keep pushing it against the ice, will take some time, but doesn't cost much.
 

When I ran my water line 25 years ago I put two inch foam board over it where it went under a driveway. The building that it went to is partly heated so I put in an expansion tank out there so that every time we use water in the house a little bit pushes back in the line.
 
Don't know if it's possible for you, but try to never run a water line under a driveway. Combination of driving over it and keeping snow plowed off will drive the frost very deep where under an undisturbed sod it would only be down one or two feet. My line to the barn is only down about 3 feet, but it is under undisturbed sod and has never frozen(knock on wood). Been there 39 years.
 
(quoted from post at 17:50:56 01/31/14) Don't know if it's possible for you, but try to never run a water line under a driveway. Combination of driving over it and keeping snow plowed off will drive the frost very deep where under an undisturbed sod it would only be down one or two feet. My line to the barn is only down about 3 feet, but it is under undisturbed sod and has never frozen(knock on wood). Been there 39 years.
Click to expand...

Sometimes it has to go under a drive way so you just insulate that part of it. No big deal.
 
I just had a post a few weeks back about unthawing plastic lines. What I did is get so fairly stiff tubing that would fit in my line and go through the unions, 1/2" ID-5/8" OD in my case for a 1" black plastic line. I also got one of those drill powered pumps and a couple of 1/2" garden hose fittings that fit the pump outlet. Feed the tube into the pipe and start pumping warm water into the pipe. I used a big old stock pot on my Coleman stove and let the water run back into the stock pot as it came back out the pipe. Keep feeding the tube into the pipe. If you have unions in the pipe, it helps to put a smaller fitting on the end of the hose to get centered in the union. I used a 1/2" Shark Bite union that I happened to have, it pressed in fine and allowed the tube to center in the union. I've used this method 3 times and unthawed over 40 feet of frozen line in 1/2 hour-45 minutes. I stated out with 25 feet of tube, but now use 50 feet as the frost sinks deeper. Last time the pump switch broke and the line was frozen for a week. Had to wait for a day when the wind would allow me to work. As long as there are no elbows, this should work for you.

Those little drill pumps need a good shot of WD40 or oil every 5 minutes or so. I tried using a suction hose leading into the pot but ended up just sticking the pump in the water. Tedious, but it works.
 
(quoted from post at 06:17:19 02/01/14) I just had a post a few weeks back about unthawing plastic lines. What I did is get so fairly stiff tubing that would fit in my line and go through the unions, 1/2" ID-5/8" OD in my case for a 1" black plastic line. I also got one of those drill powered pumps and a couple of 1/2" garden hose fittings that fit the pump outlet. Feed the tube into the pipe and start pumping warm water into the pipe. I used a big old stock pot on my Coleman stove and let the water run back into the stock pot as it came back out the pipe. Keep feeding the tube into the pipe. If you have unions in the pipe, it helps to put a smaller fitting on the end of the hose to get centered in the union. I used a 1/2" Shark Bite union that I happened to have, it pressed in fine and allowed the tube to center in the union. I've used this method 3 times and unthawed over 40 feet of frozen line in 1/2 hour-45 minutes. I stated out with 25 feet of tube, but now use 50 feet as the frost sinks deeper. Last time the pump switch broke and the line was frozen for a week. Had to wait for a day when the wind would allow me to work. As long as there are no elbows, this should work for you.

Those little drill pumps need a good shot of WD40 or oil every 5 minutes or so. I tried using a suction hose leading into the pot but ended up just sticking the pump in the water. Tedious, but it works.
Click to expand...

I think that it is worth emphasizing the part about using fairly large pipe, because after twenty or so feet of 1/4 or or thirty or so of 3/8, the friction loss that all plumbers and firefighters are familiar with will start to significantly add to the pressure and reduce what the pump will move.
 
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