DIYbanter - View Single Post - late (too late) winterizing of water faucets: 24F, can't open outside faucet

aemeijers

On 12/9/2010 7:28 PM, wrote:
On Dec 9, 7:04 pm, wrote:
Home Guy wrote:
Vic Smith wrote:

The fastest way is a propane torch. Keep the torch moving all
over the valve body, but stay away from the handle and stem/stem
nut. Every couple minutes test if it will open.

It wouldn't take more than 1 full minute with a torch. Probably only 30
seconds.

Water moves heat very well.

Usually only if there's some convective mixing going on.

This will work more quickly than a blow dryer

If you can create a closed cavity around the valve (using the bucket
method I described) the hair dryer will work faster (and cleaner) than a
rag or towel soaked with hot water (which will loose much of it's heat
to the surrounding air very quickly). Again, the key is to have some
sort of convection happening.

With the towel, a temperature gradient will quickly form inside the
towel as the inner part of the towel will cool and impede heat transfer
from the outer part of the towel into the water pipe.

You guys are nutz.

One of the hardest things to teach engineers is to give advice
APPROPRIATE to the situation. There are often many ways to skin the cat.
Give help that's APPROPRIATE in terms the helpee can understand.

In this case, we've got someone who thinks that WD40 is gonna fix the
problem.
THINK about it!!!! Do you really want their first trial to be a
2000 degree propane torch?

A teapot or two of boiling water dribbled over the faucet will
get the valve to turn. And you're unlikely to set the house on fire.
It's SAFE, quick, easy, requires no tools that he may not have and if it
fails, no harm is done.
Once it's open, you'll know when it thaws
enough to flow and you can STOP heating. Depending on how far back
in the wall it's froze, water will fix it. Hot air from a hair dryer
inside if you can get at it. Get out the torch AFTER the safer methods
fail.

He wants to drain the pipe. Depending on the location of the valve, drain
and the slopes involved, it may be prudent to try to drain the pipe
before applying heat. Less water to carry away the heat more heat
to unfreeze the ice. And the freezing won't get any worse if the
thawing fails.

And all this is based on an ASSUMPTION that the faucet valve is outside
and not a foot inside the wall like mine are. That DOES make a difference.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

easiest solution.

turn supply valve to spigot off. and wait till spring.

if theres a warm day open valve at that time but leave supply valve
off.

i have a couple outdoor valves none of which have ever frozen t cause
trouble...... lived here since 1972, in pittsburgh we sometimes get
below zero for weeks at a time.......

the only problem, the day my neighbors car caught on fire my hose and
valve were frozen solid, so i couldnt help, fire spread to their
home...

Again, not everybody HAS inside shutoff valves. Everybody should, of
course, but not every builder bothers to spend the extra ten bucks. It
is on my 'plumber punch list' which I really need to get around to
hiring somebody for one of these days.

--
aem sends...