Tried to thaw hydrant with blow dryer--no luck. Heat gun?

[MistyBlue]

I’ve thawed them with everything from a small hand torch to sticking a crap-ton of therma-care heat pads and covering with insulation over the pads, LOL!

My husband screwed by frost-free up this winter. He thought it looked “dirty” so he dumped a bucket of water on it at night and the water trickled into it, froze and caused some damage. So now it freezes regularly. sigh (poor man certainly got yelled at for that)
Heat tape wrapped all the way up from ground to pump and then insulation tape over that. It’s kept it thawed and working all this winter, despite it being colder-than-hell all winter this year. It’s single digits or below zero more than above it, it seems.
In spring when we can dig without using dynamite, I’ll replace the hydrant. Before now though, never had a single problem with that hydrant. Apparently you can’t slowly pour 5 gallons of cold water over the top of it, “rinsing it”, when the temp is -5. Go figure…

Try the heat tape, it’s easy to find in hardware or plumbing stores. The heat gun should work, too. Heat tape will keep it working, but a heat gun will thaw it for now. Often after they freeze hard, they have issues with dripping and freezing over again though, so keep an eye on it. The heat gun will blast heat onto it despite the ambient air temp…a blow dryer can only warm the air it sucks in so many degrees. Which feels hot in a house, but if the air temp is 10 degrees then the blow dryer won’t warm it enough to thaw the hydrant.

[shakeytails]

Bernzomatic torch. About $20 at your local hardware store.

[Beam_Me_Up]

I’ve had good luck with the heat tape if it’s a frost-free hydrant with some height to wrap around.

We used a heat gun on our house plumbing (the same lines tend to freeze and we can only get to the 6" or so of them at the end) and it worked but took some time to set up (flashing over all the wood) and some time to unfreeze (>1 hr).

[gumtree]

No chance with an electric heat gun, no chance with heat tape and anything of the like. We are right around the block from you as you know. I used a big propane torch, not the little deals and was able to get the handle to move. Got the water “streaming” out of it. No luck. We might be pretty much SOL until temps moderate/spring. First time this hydrant has frozen up. But our average temps for the last 30+ days have been 12, 25 last year. My auto waters are good and so are 3 other hydrants. This one doesn’t get as much solar gain as others. Will have to dig up come spring and put heat tape on it for the future.

I am going to try what Robin suggested, people from Wisconsin know all about real cold weather. Dairy people even more.

[gumtree]

[QUOTE=MistyBlue;8024729]
I’ve thawed them with everything from a small hand torch to sticking a crap-ton of therma-care heat pads and covering with insulation over the pads, LOL!

My husband screwed by frost-free up this winter. He thought it looked “dirty” so he dumped a bucket of water on it at night and the water trickled into it, froze and caused some damage. So now it freezes regularly. sigh (poor man certainly got yelled at for that)
Heat tape wrapped all the way up from ground to pump and then insulation tape over that. It’s kept it thawed and working all this winter, despite it being colder-than-hell all winter this year. It’s single digits or below zero more than above it, it seems.
In spring when we can dig without using dynamite, I’ll replace the hydrant. Before now though, never had a single problem with that hydrant. Apparently you can’t slowly pour 5 gallons of cold water over the top of it, “rinsing it”, when the temp is -5. Go figure…

Try the heat tape, it’s easy to find in hardware or plumbing stores. The heat gun should work, too. Heat tape will keep it working, but a heat gun will thaw it for now. Often after they freeze hard, they have issues with dripping and freezing over again though, so keep an eye on it. The heat gun will blast heat onto it despite the ambient air temp…a blow dryer can only warm the air it sucks in so many degrees. Which feels hot in a house, but if the air temp is 10 degrees then the blow dryer won’t warm it enough to thaw the hydrant.[/QUOTE]

Heat tape will not work I promise you, unless it can be dug out.

[gumtree]

[QUOTE=shakeytails;8024745]
Bernzomatic torch. About $20 at your local hardware store.[/QUOTE]

Will not put out nearly enough heat. I have several.

[gumtree]

[QUOTE=Robin@DHH;8023740]
If you can get the top off the frost hydrant, you can try thawing with liquid. We keep Keto-Aid (sold for dairy cattle) in gallon containers for thawing the frost hydrants here. Take the top off the hydrant, pour a gallon down the pipe and wait for about an hour. Just be sure to turn the water off before you try this or you may have a big mess when it works.[/QUOTE]

Thanks for reminding me of this stuff. Some friends have told me that drain cleaner works sometimes. Works on the same principle I think. But if the supply line has frozen past the bottom of the hydrant which is what I think has happened to mine. Nothing short of digging it up will work. Unless it is a metal supply line back to the pump “house”. In that case a “controlled short” can be used. Works on the same principle as an electric “toaster”. Tried and true for years.

[kcmel]

Ah, Larry, you are bringing me down ;). Let me know if you get yours working. Meanwhile my neighbor is a plumber and I will ask him what implements he has that could help. He can at least probably help me get it disassembled.

[gumtree]

[QUOTE=kcmel;8024829]
Ah, Larry, you are bringing me down ;). Let me know if you get yours working. Meanwhile my neighbor is a plumber and I will ask him what implements he has that could help. He can at least probably help me get it disassembled.[/QUOTE]

LOL, me too. I don’t give up easily. I spent a fair bit of time working on it today. I think you know I have a bit more understanding of how these things work than the average person. I installed all of the lines on this farm. I am going to give the “chemical thawing” a try as suggested. But I am pretty sure the supply line branch is frozen just past the inlet. Yours might not be. Welcome to borrow my “flame thrower” and give it try. If your plumber sorts it out let me know how he/she went about it.

I use one of my 50 gal plastic “jump barrels” that I installed a gate valve on and fill. Strapped it on the bucket of my tractor and drive up to the tank. Gravity fed through a 1" hose and. Fills quickly.

[Calamber]

Oh my God, this winter in the NE! You are sturdy people. Come on Spring!

[flyracing]

In a pinch (meaning the horses need water now!), I take a radiator style heater, placing it next to the faucet. place a heavy weight horse blanket over the contraption. Place yourself under the blanket for warmth while supervising. The faucet will thaw in about 15 minutes. Then use a heat tape with insulation to maintain. I wouldn’t personally try it with any other type of heater. I don’t want any melting blanket liners!

[gumtree]

This is an archived link on the same subject

http://www.chronofhorse.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-297918.html

[Tristen38]

I also use a sedu hair dryer to dry my hairs, but I don’t use much heat. My friend also recommended me to use a heat protecting spray before using a dryer in my hairs. Do you think I have to use that spray?

[sascha]

^ that right there may be the best newbie post ever. Hey, mods!

When I saw a new reply, I was hoping for an update.

[gumtree]

Checking back to see if the OP’s hydrant has thawed out. Mine hasn’t and it has been above freezing by and large for weeks now. The ground froze deep this year. I was told more then 15 inches which is deep for our area.

[sascha]

15" Gumtree? Word on the street ours went down to nearly 5’. I live in town and my water froze under the sidewalk. It’s been dug up, thawed, and re-buried but the city told me I would have to keep my laundry sink running full tilt until further notice, optimistic estimate being April 1st. I’m so tired of the sound of running water, but it sure is better than the alternative :yes:

Our ridiculously cold snap was so cold and lasted so long that there are farmers in the area with cracked wells. Those poor folks are screwed. They’ll be buying in tankers of water until crews can get in to fix their wells. The horse barn I board at started hanging a heater down the well during the first bad cold snap. So grateful that BO did that or we’d be screwed too.

It was a bad winter for liquid water.

[sid]

Wrap it with a couple of heating pads. Works like a charm.

[chicamux]

A couple of buckets of hot water slowly poured over the top of the hydrant usually does the trick. The hot water runs down the pipe and soaks in the ground and thaws stuff out below ground. Just try more buckets if it needs it. It a simple, easy, method to try first.

KISS method.