Thaw machine operation

ScottMP

It depends ( thanks Dan ) .

If the freeze is in the middle of a run and you are five feet on either side of it ... BAM your done.

It the frozen section is up in the ceiling and your clamps are twenty feet from the freeze then it will take longer. I know a company that disconnects the feed and return from the boiler and then clamps on in the basement. He told me it takes along time ...... Really ?

You have to know how pipes freeeze and feel with your hands to locate the freeze. Get the cables as close as you can to either side of it.

Those cables can get hot and can melt a cheap carpet, be carfull. We try and lay them on the baseboard covers or prope them up with our tool boxs.

Scott

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Eric_13

Thaw machine operation

This is my 2nd winter using a thaw machine. First was an Icebreaker and now it is the Ridgid.

If you think you have found the frozen heat line how far do you put the cables?

I leave the machine on for about 10 minutes and the cables get real hot. You know that melting smell of the coating on the cables. Are they supposed to get that hot?

Some are quick and some take hours.

Thank you in advance for your reply.

Weezbo

Depends on how the zones are piped.

if they are touching in the wall or floor or ceiling it sorta bites.

an ohm meter with a ringer helps....

and generally the wait is fairly short... using Air "With"?

Larry Savino

Been using an ice breaker for ever. we attempt to set wire at least 6 feet apart and a maximum of of 12.

We clean the area we are going to clamp on to with emery and a wire brush.We use a wrench to to tighten the terminals onto the machine. I go to a welding supply house and replace the terminals on my wires every other season. They take a beaten from the heat and as they get torn up they just increase the resistance of the Machine and cause problems.

We also have a crate of 2x4's we bring along to protect the carpets,linolium floors and such we just lay them on the floor and drape the wires across it.


If we are working on a heater we will run the pressure up just below the pop valve to help in pushing the water thru.

Good Luck and definitely dont let the wires sit on carpets when in use they will melt the fibers in the carpets and leave a ghost of where they were.
We have a rule if it doesn't let loose in 7 minutes we need to reset the machine to a differant location.I would rather re-set my machine 10 times then to over heat it and not thaw the freeze.

The more you do it the better you get at figuring where the freeze's normally take place

Bill Jirik,

thaw machine

Eric I own both an Ice Breaker and a Uniprise (they make the unit for Ridid) if your ridgid unit has the amperage
selector switches and amp meter then usaully 6 ft is about the minnimum distance with the unit on its lowest setting, the Ice Breaker requires a larger distance to keep the input amperage draw below the trip point for the breaker,
remeber longer pipe length means more resistance which equals less amperage draw and hence longer thaw time as far as the cables getting hot that is normal, to locate a frozen pipe an infrared thermometer works good.