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#21636 02/07/03 06:18 PM
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,457
E
Member
My neighbors water main froze last week somewhere between the house and street. (200 feet) To thaw the pipe a contractor connected the leads from his welder to the shutoff at the street and the main coming into the house. New one to me. Any thoughts?

#21637 02/07/03 07:25 PM
Joined: Dec 2001
Posts: 300
M
Member
Years ago, worked for an apartment complex. Had pipes freeze all over the place one unusually cold couple of weeks. We used the welder too.

Hooked up with long cables and turned it on for maybe 2 seconds at a time. A little trickle would start and we'd pack everything away and let the flowing water do the rest.

#21638 02/07/03 07:33 PM
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 2,749
Member
Be careful since the house next door could catch fire. This was the subject of lengthy discussions some time ago where that was a reason for a code change.

I don't have the dates, but the proposal from Artie Barker former Idaho Cheif Electrical Inspector had his proposal accepted. I think it had to do with the bonding jumper around the water meter.

Glen -- can you researrch the 81 through the 87 TCR's or TCD's please.


Joe Tedesco, NEC Consultant
#21639 02/07/03 07:41 PM
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,392
S
Member
E-Scott,
that's all the plumbers are doing in this deep freeze , they make a device that does essentially what the welders are doing.

, i have not investigated the 'bona-fide' device as yet,but believe high freq & skin effect is key & would venture sensitive electronics to be vunderable

#21640 02/07/03 08:19 PM
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 7,520
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Member
The London Underground (two-thirds of which is actually open and at grade level) uses a similar principle of passing high-current low-voltage juice through the tracks to clear ice before trains start in the morning.

#21641 02/07/03 11:06 PM
Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 680
W
Member
Have done that many times, isolate a conduit, hook welder leads at each end. Hook a air compressor on one end and stand back. When she blows you know you can pull out the bad and in with the new.
I have also used tubing and steam. Force the tubing up the conduit with steam coming out and you can break up a small iced in area.Blow it out and pull in new wires [Linked Image]

#21642 02/07/03 11:15 PM
Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 2,233
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Member
Joe,

I have heard that before that electric fires have been started with welders and frozen pipes. There was an article in one of the magazines about it. Not sure if it was IAEI,EC&M, CEE, or EC. It is very common here in northern NJ to thaw pipes that way, the plumbers do it all the time. Can someone get a shock with this method?

#21643 02/07/03 11:48 PM
Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 558
G
Member
How deep are the water services there?

#21644 02/08/03 12:36 AM
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 134
L
Member
had that done at my house about 5 years ago.i just called a welded to the house he hookup one end to the fireplug on the corner about 35 ft and the other end to my copper water pipe in my basement.now he did remove my water meter an put it back after.cost me 125.00 bucks,in fact he did 4 houses on my block that day.

that's the first time that i herd it can start a fire.anymore info on that.

ga.sparky56...about 3-4 ft down.some deeper

#21645 02/08/03 12:49 AM
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 2,148
R
Member
Our city passed an ordinance prohibiting the use of welding equipment to thaw frozen underground pipes after a fire was caused by this method. To make matters worse the fire was not in the house with the frozen water line. The plumber hooked up the welding leads to a fire hydrant and to the water line in the house. There was a nonmetallic under ground fitting in this water line. The current went from the water line to the service neutral (via the grounding electrode conductor) into the second house via the grounded conductor and to the water line in the second house and then to the fire hydrant. The water pipe grounding electrode conductor in the second house was run directly on a floor joist and the excessive current produced enough heat to ignite this joist. Fortunately this fire was discovered early and there was only a small amount of damage.
Don


Don(resqcapt19)
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