Found the freeze

[Haynie]

After a week of thinking, searching and process of elimination the freeze in our water line has to be within a 7 foot section of pipe. Half of that is under concrete the other half is....wait for it....under some trees and bushes. What kind of moron builds a property puts the water lines ABOVE the frost line then plants some trees and bushes directly on top of it?

On a side note, the city water office is across the street from the business so i went over to talk to them about the situation. Apparently this year has had the longest stretch of below freezing temps any of the old timers could remember, and a huge part of the town is froze up. They said a lot of their older meter valves froze solid too. I guess that made me feel a little better knowing I was not the only one in this predicament. Guess I get to remove trees and bushes this weekend and hopefully finding if the line is broken. Fun weekend

 

[CabinetMaker]

You need one of these, it makes digging a hole bunch easier. Not to mention a hole lot more fun! (Sorry for the bad pun)

 

[tbroye]

Arizona being what I would cosider a Warm place, I would think Frost would be the least of their worries. I know it get cold there being in the Dessert but I wonder what the building codes were/are there especiall if the building is an older one.

 

[Haynie]

Yep it would but the area I have to dig out without damaging concrete is like ten inches wide. If I don't damage the concrete I can do all the work myself. If I dmamage the concrete I have to hire someone who knows what they are doing to fix it. Plumbing I can do, concrete I can't.

A chainsaw is the only powered tool I get to use. After that is is a shovel, pickaxe, and pruning gear for tools and elbow grease for the power.

 

[Haynie]

Arizona being what I would cosider a Warm place, I would think Frost would be the least of their worries. I know it get cold there being in the Dessert but I wonder what the building codes were/are there especiall if the building is an older one.

Warm is south. We get extremes up here but the cold extremes do not last more than a few hours and having more than a couple days below freezing as highs is very rare. As for building codes there really weren't any when this place was built in the early eighties, and if there were no one really followed them. Small town good ol' boy way of doing things back then.

 

[1080Wayne]

For whatever it`s worth , it is possible to thaw out a couple feet of frozen ground by keeping a slow burning fire on it for a day . Coal works best , but I suppose desert ironwood would be an acceptable substitute .

Still think it would be easier to cut into your plumbing and feed a small flexible hose or pipe connected to a water pump to the blockage , IF you can get a straight run at it , or at least no 90`s .

 

[Haynie]

Got to the shop today. I spend my days as a teacher and deal with the business after that. Winters are slow enough for me to do this. Saw in hand ready to start taking things down. Out of curiosity I turned on a spigot and the water flowed.

So far no noticeable leaks but will be watching to see if something bubbles up. My fingers are crossed. I will have to deal with those trees and bushes because I just don't like them being right over the lines. but not immediately.

The line might be 3 inches from wall so a fire was not an option.

 

[Fibonacci]

Up in Alaska one of our preferred tricks was to hook one end of a welder up to the input pipe on the water heater and the other end to the pipe just on the house side of the water meter.

Turn it on for a couple minutes, check to see if water flows.

Repeat as necessary.

 

[ctubbs]

Up in Alaska one of our preferred tricks was to hook one end of a welder up to the input pipe on the water heater and the other end to the pipe just on the house side of the water meter.

Turn it on for a couple minutes, check to see if water flows.

Repeat as necessary.

The welder thing is a routine way of thawing pipes in the plants around here. Just watch and not overheat the pipes. Oh, yes, works best on metal pipes.:wink:
Charles

 

[Haynie]

That crossed my mind but someone said it was tough on the welder. If it is SOP I am now wondering if it is true.