"TheOldFellow" wrote in message
...
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.

Possible solution if we're talking about metal pipes. During the cold winter
of 1963 I was living in digs and either the supply pipe to the house or the
main under the pavement froze. The Electricity Board (as it then was) turned
up with a welding generator, connected it between the stop tap in one house
and the stop tap next door and put enough current through the pipes to
unfreeze them in quick time. But no good, I'm afraid, if you're on plastic.

Stephen