# PEX and FREEZING TEMPS....



## Master Mark (Aug 14, 2009)

I need backup again......

I geta call from a good real estate buddy 
of mine and he tells me he has a *hell hole rental property* in
town with pex pipes running all throughout the crawl space....

the door was left open on the crawl and the pipes are all frozen up

I tell him I will go buy him a salamander $300 at lowes and 
take it out to the home and blow it down into the crawl space..
and I will leave it with him and the renters......

he tells me that he hopes that I burn the place down to the ground
for him, and I tell him that i am buying this salamander for him and what 
happens is on his insurance, ....... not mine....

the property is located in about the meanest part of town, so I tell him
I am gonna chain that salamander to a tree or it might get legs and walk off...:laughing:

does anyone know a better way to thaw out pex pipes than just
standing around watching a salamander all day long>>>>>>


god help me , 

I love it so......


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## SlickRick (Sep 3, 2009)

It will be interesting to see if the PEX holds up to this freeze!


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## Master Mark (Aug 14, 2009)

*Wirsbo will hold up*

wirsbo will hold up fine,

been there and done that....


its all the other crap I worry about ......

in ceilings and chases that you cant get to.


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## SlickRick (Sep 3, 2009)

I will get to check it out myself, down to 13 next couple of nights. pvc is already dropping like flies.


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## pauliplumber (Feb 9, 2009)

13 in Texas?


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## SlickRick (Sep 3, 2009)

pauliplumber said:


> 13 in Texas?


We are in NE Texas, it comes down on us every now and then.


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## 422 plumber (Jul 31, 2008)

Last year in 0 degree weather, I had to replace a burst 1.5" copper line to a fogger for the car dumper at a coal plant. They lost a bus panel and the power to the heat trace went out. When that happens, they are supposed to close a valve in the plant, then go down to the basement of the car dumper house, or box and open a bleeder. Nobody did it, blammo, a bunch of splits in the copper line. I froze my ass off, because we had to go up about 25' above the ground in a stick lift. We had to wear harnesses, but mine wouldn't fit over my insulated bibs. It just happened again, but the power never went out. We fixed the burst 90 and turned the water on and discovered another burst elbow. It was about 15 today, but we worked in an roadway that's like a canyon, because there is a about a 40' limestone ridge that the train tracks are on, and the plant is on the other side. It's called the breezeway. It's an apt name. My battery sawzall wouldn't run, it was too cold for it. I had to use a hacksaw and cut thru the burst 90, then I was able to sweat off the two hubs. I sweat on another 90 while crouching in a widow ledge, with a lot of other pipes in my way, trying to not to fall, even though I was harnessed, and avoid burning my face on the 90 as I changed positions. We had to wait for the insulators to pull the rest of the insulation off, and I get to go back up in the bucket tomorrow. But, the industrial stuff is what I like, so I get the good with the bad.


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## user2090 (Sep 26, 2009)

Salamander seems to be the best way to me. Easy money MM. I hate this time of year, because of that stuff. The people that live in trailers drive me nuts. "I thought my heat tape would last forever, that stuff needs changed?"


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## user4 (Jun 12, 2008)

Just hook up the thawing machine to the nearest stubout, and one on the other side of the frozen spot, oh wait, never mind, that wonder pipe will have to stay frozen.


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## Protech (Sep 22, 2008)

It might stay frozen longer but at least it's still water tight once thawed......



Killertoiletspider said:


> Just hook up the thawing machine to the nearest stubout, and one on the other side of the frozen spot, oh wait, never mind, that wonder pipe will have to stay frozen.


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## UnclogNH (Mar 28, 2009)

Salamander is the only thing or an electric space heater but that will take longer. We have double wides here with pex. I just have to sit and wait for the water to flow. My 80,000 BTU heater will get them flowing in 30 minutes or less.


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## breid1903 (Feb 8, 2009)

unclog. kero or prop? my old kero heater is on it's last leg. i'm looking at prop this time. only 80.000 btu. mine is 75.000 btu. 1 guy here has a 200.000+ heater. i would be afraid to melt all the skirting off. he has. breid.............:rockon:


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## DUNBAR PLUMBING (Sep 11, 2008)

I repaired two burst copper lines yesterday. In a storage unit and destroyed avon bottles, their historical value dating back to 1907.

The repairs were relatively easy and I can see why they busted so easily.

More to come, this freeze is staying down and will continue to have more breaks.

A guy called me tonight, had a trailer with a clogged drain. Said they can't get a cable through the drain, told him that most likely since the place was vacant that the drain line is frozen and we can't do anything with that.

Told him to point a torpedo heater into a hole in the skirting and wait a half day, hope for the best.

I don't like working on trailers, nothing about them are worth it to me...even though I cleared a clogged kitchen sink at one a couple weeks ago before christmas. :laughing:


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## Protech (Sep 22, 2008)

What the heck do you mean "we can't do anything with that"? Ever hear of a jetter hooked up to hot water?



DUNBAR PLUMBING said:


> I repaired two burst copper lines yesterday. In a storage unit and destroyed avon bottles, their historical value dating back to 1907.
> 
> The repairs were relatively easy and I can see why they busted so easily.
> 
> ...


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## user4 (Jun 12, 2008)

Protech said:


> It might stay frozen longer but at least it's still water tight once thawed......


Even if it takes a month to thaw it out.


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## SlickRick (Sep 3, 2009)

MY WATER LINES FROZE to my washing machine! Its in a utility room outside. Slickrick went into Rambo mode. I grabbed a 4 iron and wedged the dryer door switch where it would run while the door was open, 15 min. later, water flowing. I amaze myself sometimes...


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## DUNBAR PLUMBING (Sep 11, 2008)

Protech said:


> What the heck do you mean "we can't do anything with that"? Ever hear of a jetter hooked up to hot water?


 
Of course, that's how the entire northwest has to maintain waterways that constantly have to work on to keep flowing...


but, I'm not jetting a damn trailer main sewer. They ain't got no money for that BS. and where is all that waste water going when you access that closet flange in the bathroom?


It's gonna get real f'n nasty, quick till the ice finally thaws. You want to run a jetter at 12 degrees? Under a trailer reversing back through a cleanout? 


*NOT ME*


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## DUNBAR PLUMBING (Sep 11, 2008)

Killertoiletspider said:


> Even if it takes a month to thaw it out.


 
That's a very valid point, given the fact that people want that water back on in a timely manner, have it operable where they can run water through the lines to keep them on at that point.

With PEX, you walk into a house with no intention of opening up walls, because you cannot "see" where the lines are froze at, you just assume. 

Now you're heating up rooms that the drywall instantly serves as a barrier for heat transfer and keeps a fast result from happening.

Now, how do you tell the customer that you have to cut into the walls where there is no pinpointing leaks, trying to get water lines unfroze?

You can't. The customer has no options but wait, and wait...and wait.


A customer last year had a plastic water line freeze from his house to meter, 200+ feet. 

There is no F'n way to decide/figure out where the line is froze at. Heating the inside of the crock was useless, didn't do anything. 

8 days later the water started to drip, then flow and flooded a garage because they was at work, forgot they left the faucet on in the garage, doing damage to some things laying on the ground.


Want to know how much money these people spent on gallon jugs of water, trips to family member homes to take showers? Throwing all that bought water down a toilet to flush it?

They spent a fortune, they were really disadvantaged greatly and the best thing that could of happened was a busted line you could pinpoint, fix and get back in operation quickly...run that water to keep it from doing it again.

Two different points of difficulty.


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## saysflushable (Jun 15, 2009)

I'm nervous pointing a salamander under a mobile home. Always makes me happy in about a 1/2 hour when the water starts flowing. then we hope for no pipe damage cause I sure don't want to crawl under a place in the very cold and very wet and fix a burst pipe.


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## UnclogNH (Mar 28, 2009)

breid1903 said:


> unclog. kero or prop? my old kero heater is on it's last leg. i'm looking at prop this time. only 80.000 btu. mine is 75.000 btu. 1 guy here has a 200.000+ heater. i would be afraid to melt all the skirting off. he has. breid.............:rockon:


Kerosene. plus I use wood stove pipe 8' x 6" 22 gauge plus a 22 gauge 6" x 8" increaser. to funnel the heat under the trailer. leave about a 5 inch airgap between the heater and 8" increaser the tube helps keep sparks from getting underneath. keep a couple of bricks to keep the pipe off the skirt
and something to hold the end up near the heater must be heat proof.

works every time.


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## M5Plumb (Oct 2, 2008)

Mark, keep us posted on the pex stuff. We all know the Wirsbo will hold up. Thanks

Pat



Master Mark said:


> I need backup again......
> 
> I geta call from a good real estate buddy
> of mine and he tells me he has a *hell hole rental property* in
> ...


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