Frozen Water pipes

Owen

BTW, while the EMF of a car battery is high, it's not going to be remotely anything like what you're discussing - giving someone a shock through the water system. Remember, pipes are already in the ground, electricity takes the shortest route to ground, why would it go into the water system, and then to ground afterwards? That sort of nonsense is that type of 'advice' and pseudo science which shouldn't be posted when trying to dismiss something on the grounds of good old health and safety (The two most dangerous words in the english language (tm)).

If you don't want to do it, don't. But it does work. Sure there's risks, but no worse than some of the mental advice in here last winter.

Oafley Jones

Given how strict Boards.ie is on issues relating to even the most innocuous Medical advice - I'm assuming for reasons of liability more than anything else - a post such as yours, which looks like a qualifying test for the darwin awards, shouldn't be posted.

themonboys

PaintDoctor wrote: »

Jesus lads, you'd swear it was a move by Al Quaida. You're not talking about clamping it on and letting the current into the water, it's an instantaneous thing, did it with plenty of houses in my estate last year, and no hassles at all.

Where's the hydrogen supposed to come from btw? Genuinely curious.

PaintDoctor wrote: »

BTW, while the EMF of a car battery is high, it's not going to be remotely anything like what you're discussing - giving someone a shock through the water system. Remember, pipes are already in the ground, electricity takes the shortest route to ground, why would it go into the water system, and then to ground afterwards? That sort of nonsense is that type of 'advice' and pseudo science which shouldn't be posted when trying to dismiss something on the grounds of good old health and safety (The two most dangerous words in the english language (tm)).

If you don't want to do it, don't. But it does work. Sure there's risks, but no worse than some of the mental advice in here last winter.

Hydrogen from the battery, it's a by-product of the chemical reaction inside the cell and is given off through little vents ( granted, it happens more so when the battery is being charged but I still wouldn't trust it).With possible sparks from when you clamp on and off and hydrogen, it can lead to quite a bang resulting in acid flying everywhere.

About the pipes already touching the ground, if that's the case why do the pipes need to be bonded in the first place? It's because the ground's conductivity changes under different conditions. Do you know the conductivity of frozen ground? I don't but I bet it's lower due to the lack of liquid water.


Edit: I should add that this also applies to when you are jump starting your car, before you stick on the last clamp, look away. That way you won't be blinded if the worst happens, as many a one eyed mechanic will tell you

Owen

themonboys wrote: »

Hydrogen from the battery, it's a by-product of the chemical reaction inside the cell and is given off through little vents ( granted, it happens more so when the battery is being charged but I still wouldn't trust it).With possible sparks from when you clamp on and off and hydrogen, it can lead to quite a bang resulting in acid flying everywhere.

Ah now you're really taking the piss. The battery is about 2 metres away,hence the jump leads, its hardly down the hole with the stop cock.

About the pipes already touching the ground, if that's the case why do the pipes need to be bonded in the first place? It's because the ground's conductivity changes under different conditions. Do you know the conductivity of frozen ground? I don't but I bet it's lower due to the lack of liquid water.

Really? Signs say no TBH, conductivity improves with cold. Which is why when superconductor research was being done, liquid nitrogen was used to cool the conducting material to absolute zero in an attempt to gain the highest transfer of current with the minimum losses.

Edit: I should add that this also applies to when you are jump starting your car, before you stick on the last clamp, look away. That way you won't be blinded if the worst happens, as many a one eyed mechanic will tell you

I'm in the Motor Trade a long time. I've never seen a mechanic blinded by jump starting a car, and I've jump started hundreds myself. The sparks on connecting a crocodile clip to the terminal are minute. You can hear them, but you can barely see them. Tiny!

Owen

Oafley Jones wrote: »

Given how strict Boards.ie is on issues relating to even the most innocuous Medical advice - I'm assuming for reasons of liability more than anything else - a post such as yours, which looks like a qualifying test for the darwin awards, shouldn't be posted.

Really? I've yet to see why given everyone's hysterical posts. You shouldn't do that! Why? Well, I don't know, but you shouldn't do it.

So apart from themonboys lack of any credible scientific fact, has anyone a real reason? And considering I did this well over a dozen times in my housing estate last year with no ill effects?

MunsterCycling

Someone put Eoin on decaf!!! LOL

themonboys

PaintDoctor wrote: »

Ah now you're really taking the piss. The battery is about 2 metres away,hence the jump leads, its hardly down the hole with the stop cock.

You're spot on there, I never heard of a gas to travel in the breeze.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvLnoeQIsvk&feature=player_embedded

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvLnoeQIsvk

PaintDoctor wrote: »

Really? Signs say no TBH, conductivity improves with cold. Which is why when superconductor research was being done, liquid nitrogen was used to cool the conducting material to absolute zero in an attempt to gain the highest transfer of current with the minimum losses.

Conducting material being the water in this case, the same water you are running the current down. What if the house has Quadplex. ie plastic pipes, how is the current going to get to earth? Hopefully not through your showering neighbor.

PaintDoctor wrote: »

I'm in the Motor Trade a long time. I've never seen a mechanic blinded by jump starting a car, and I've jump started hundreds myself. The sparks on connecting a crocodile clip to the terminal are minute. You can hear them, but you can barely see them. Tiny!

Spark size is irreverent, any spark no matter how small can set the hydrogen off. I'm not in the motor trade and I know 2 mechanics that have had batteries explode on them, one was lucky not to be blinded as he looked away when clamping on the last clip.

Watch from 7 mins onwards.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVH8ooV4QjA&feature=related

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVH8ooV4QjA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6CxVyCzntU&feature=related

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6CxVyCzntU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwWwCZF6FW0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwWwCZF6FW0

babo9

MunsterCycling wrote: »

Someone put Eoin on decaf!!! LOL

Haha thinking that myself.

Leave it go PD, don't like criticism eh

MunsterCycling

babo9 wrote: »

Haha thinking that myself.

Leave it go PD, don't like criticism eh

Not at all my intention. Those who have commented here without ever having done this trick should really just move along.

Whoo Hoooo 4500 posts!

Owen

themonboys wrote:

Conducting material being the water in this case, the same water you are running the current down. What if the house has Quadplex. ie plastic pipes, how is the current going to get to earth? Hopefully not through your showering neighbor.

You're not really grasping basic plumbing, are you. Qualplex (That's the name by the way, not quadplex) outdoors. - well, there's no such thing as a stopcock made from qualplex, it's still going to be good old fashioned metal, stuck into earth. Shortest route still being from the metal stopcock, to the earth surrounding it.

Spark size is irreverent, any spark no matter how small can set the hydrogen off. I'm not in the motor trade and I know 2 mechanics that have had batteries explode on them, one was lucky not to be blinded as he looked away when clamping on the last clip.

Who are the two mechanics? Cork being the small place, I may know them by name especially given the trade I'm in.

This being the special hydrogen released in such masssive quantities that it's going to make it 1.5/2 metres from the battery, in the specific direction of the shore - nowhere else, then take an abrupt 90 degree turn down into the shore, and gather in sufficient quantities around the stopcock?

I asked a few mechanic friends in an industrial estate I was working in today if they'd ever heard of anyone being blinded by jump starting a battery, or hydrogen had exploded. Turns out, that in my 10 years in the trade, these fella's combined 150 or so years, they haven't heard of a single case either.

And then there's the slight fact (Despite repeating it ad nauseum), that I've done this particular routine dozens of times, and I'm still able to stare at a womans breasts for an abnormally long amount of time.*

*Totally unrelated of course, but if you have fully functioning, non hydrogen cumbusted occulus, sure you might as well make good use of them.

themonboys

PaintDoctor wrote: »

You're not really grasping basic plumbing, are you. Qualplex (That's the name by the way, not quadplex) outdoors. - well, there's no such thing as a stopcock made from qualplex, it's still going to be good old fashioned metal, stuck into earth. Shortest route still being from the metal stopcock, to the earth surrounding it.



Who are the two mechanics? Cork being the small place, I may know them by name especially given the trade I'm in.

This being the special hydrogen released in such masssive quantities that it's going to make it 1.5/2 metres from the battery, in the specific direction of the shore - nowhere else, then take an abrupt 90 degree turn down into the shore, and gather in sufficient quantities around the stopcock?

I asked a few mechanic friends in an industrial estate I was working in today if they'd ever heard of anyone being blinded by jump starting a battery, or hydrogen had exploded. Turns out, that in my 10 years in the trade, these fella's combined 150 or so years, they haven't heard of a single case either.

And then there's the slight fact (Despite repeating it ad nauseum), that I've done this particular routine dozens of times, and I'm still able to stare at a womans breasts for an abnormally long amount of time.*

*Totally unrelated of course, but if you have fully functioning, non hydrogen cumbusted occulus, sure you might as well make good use of them.

You've it all figured out PD so I'm not going to waste anymore time on this subject.

MunsterCycling

Called your bluff.. Well done PD

themonboys

MunsterCycling wrote: »

Called your bluff.. Well done PD

What bluff????

parsi

All this talk about hydrogen gas and losing eyes is worrying.

Would it be safer if we just ran a long lead from a socket inside the house and use that ?

Owen

parsi wrote: »

All this talk about hydrogen gas and losing eyes is worrying.

Would it be safer if we just ran a long lead from a socket inside the house and use that ?

ROFL, no no no. What you need to do is get a welder, replace the argon/co2 gas with some pure oxygen, and weld some rusty nails onto the stopcock. The resulting kaboom will turn the rust into thermite, and burn right through the metal, and down into the ground, and the heat will make your water flow again

themonboys

parsi wrote: »

All this talk about hydrogen gas and losing eyes is worrying.

Would it be safer if we just ran a long lead from a socket inside the house and use that ?

Hehehe, that's on a par I'd say!!!

jkob

Outkast_IRE wrote: »

as a plumber i can tell you that the idea is flawed , i could see it make a small difference where the stop cock is particularily exposed , but with a lot of the houses with frozen mains its a case where all the pipework and stopcock is far shallower than they should be . so the freeze isnt necessarily at the stopcock at all .
Best of luck anyway, hope it helps for €25 its worth a shot.

FLAWED?????????/, left and right of me are without water this morning, I gambled against your advice as you said "hope it helps for €25 its worth a shot", well the stopcock cosy did what it says on the package, I'll be given them as gifts this xmas.

Outkast_IRE

jkob wrote: »

FLAWED?????????/, left and right of me are without water this morning, I gambled against your advice as you said "hope it helps for €25 its worth a shot", well the stopcock cosy did what it says on the package, I'll be given them as gifts this xmas.

Well what that means is in your particular estate its very likely that the stopcocks arent deep enough.
Well in fairness your not gambling against my advice if i said "its worth a shot" i tell anybody who froze last year to give it a shot. and the idea is still stopgap at best if yourstop cock is freezing then odds are the rest of the pipe coming into the house isnt too far behind it .

Stark

jkob wrote: »

FLAWED?????????/, left and right of me are without water this morning, I gambled against your advice as you said "hope it helps for €25 its worth a shot", well the stopcock cosy did what it says on the package, I'll be given them as gifts this xmas.

1st post. Is anyone else thinking shill?

jkob

Thats not very kind of you to place a negative against my post. I'm confident paintdoctor would vouch for me. Its maybe a first post, yet I have used this board in other ways. If you care to visit to see the terrace I'm living at my name and address can be pm'd, and hopefully you will edit and correct your post.

Owen

Sorry, I haven't a notion who you are. JKOB doesn't ring any bells.

jkob

the gazebo forensic tent

Owen

Ah! Penny drops now. He's grand lads, in a completely different business altogether.

PoolDude

Mine are frozen now.

I have my own well and the pipe comes up out of the well and then back down into the ground and into the garage where the pump is and then on to the house. I guess its frozen where the pipe comes from the well to where it goes underground.

Any suggestions?

morgana

Is there an exposed fitting where it comes out of the well? We got that and the few times it froze last year judicious use of a hair dryer sorted the problem pronto.