I have dealt with frozen lines for over 40 years. Originally most water lines were either copper or galvanized steel and these could be thawed by running electrical current through them with a pipe thawer or welder. When I was young there were a lot of problems with freezing. We had three thawing machines and it was common to have several machines running in different places at the same time. Several years ago I gave away one of these machines to Rick at Rick’s Pumps, he had been using steam to thaw pipes which is still an option for plastic pipes. A plastic pipe presents different problems when thawing as pipe thawers don’t work on plastic. A simple steamer can be made from a pressure cooker and tubing, people have built coal fires on the ground and there are now ground thawers that can be rented. TO FREEZE PROTECT PIPES: After the spring thaw remove about one foot of dirt above the problem area and place high density foam board over the area. Cover with soil making sure waters are drained away. — David Nequette
