TheOldFellow wrote:

My previous thread about my frozen supply pipe elicited no helpful
suggestions, frankly just as I expected. There just isn't any way to
thaw out a pipe in the ground.

So now it's 4 days later, and the air temperature here has been above 4
for all that time, even at night, and most days above 6. Pits dug
around the garden in the likely places have not found the pipe yet, but
do confirm that the ground is NOT frozen now - at any depth.

I've checked that the stopcock in the road is OK, and that there is
nothing impeding flow at the house. The pit was full of ice on Monday,
but has been clear since I cooked that out with boiling water.

Does anyone know how long it will take to thaw a pipe, or does this
sound like a 'hire a digger' job?

Much appreciate some help on this, as watching SWMBO with the bucket of
her head going to the village pump is getting boring.

R.

How cold did it get in the air and roughly how long?

My supply is 2' down and have never frozen though the top layer of the
ground does freeze for some random depth - probably a few inches.

I suspect as you found ice in the stopcock pit that that is where the
freezing took place.

Can you pour some more boiling water down there?


If the ground is now unfrozen at any depth, the pipe should follow suit -
the difference being the ground is not solid water/ice so has a lower amount
of heat per cubed required to thaw it. The pipe if frozen of course may take
longer but it is only a small diameter.



Cheers,
Tim

--
Tim Watts