http://wetheadmedia.com/top-five-way...lumbing-pipes/

Some of the material in that web-article is horse ****:

You can use something called a "piping hot" machine to unfreeze
your pipes.

There is no way that a "piping hot" machine qualifies in the top-5
ways
to thaw an outside faucet. Never even heard of such a crazy-ass
gadget
before. Who sells it - Ron Popeel via TV infomercial?

CY: I've not heard of this, either. When my parents were living in a
trailer, the pipe in the ground would freeze. Someone came by with an
electric welder. And, for a feee, would hook onto the pipe. aparently,
the high amp low voltage would thaw the pipe.

This machine can be rented from a local plumbing supply house
or off course you could also buy it new .

I'm sure every home-owner is going to remember that, next time it's 6
pm
and below freezing outside and they realize they need to winterize
their
outdoor faucets.

CY: Yeah, I hear that. Never heard of such a device.

If you have a heat gun you can use that to heat the
frozen pipes as well.

For those home-owners that do industrial-strength heat-shrinking at
home, naturally they're going to pull out their heat gun and point it
at
their frozen faucet. Makes sense to me.

CY: I used a hair dryer, once.

If you have a hand held plumbers torch or even a b tank you
can use the torch

Here we go. This one is #3 on this so-call "top-5" list.

CY: Very risky. Most plumbing is fastened to wood joists.

Electric Plumbing heat tape

Yes, because when it's freezing outside, there's nothing better I want
to do than the shlep to the nearest home depot and spend $50 for a
heat-tape kit and then work my freezing fingers off installing it,
turn
it on, and then hope that by next week my faucet will be thawed.

Heat tape is for pipes that must carry flowing water in freezing
conditions, not for thawing a pipe full of frozen water that was not
winterized.

CY: One friend of mine had a pipe freeze under his trailer. The brass
ball valve inlet. a friend used a heat gun in that case. And then more
heat tape.

You can use a portable space heater

Number 5 on the list.

This list does not seem to be specifically geared to address the
problem
of the frozen outside spiggot - which I would think would be the most
common frozen-pipe issue that people would have.

CY: Has some value if you can heat the area with the pipes. I've also
heard of using a liquid fuel "salamander" heater.