Go Back   Winnipesaukee Forum > Winnipesaukee Forums > Home, Cottage or Land Maintenance
Home Forums Gallery Webcams Blogs YouTube Channel Classifieds Calendar Register FAQDonate Members List Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 04-28-2014, 08:24 AM   #1
chocophile
Senior Member
 
chocophile's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: 19-Mile Bay
Posts: 109
Thanks: 14
Thanked 30 Times in 13 Posts
Default Frozen Water Line

We opened our camp on Saturday and discovered that the underground line to the lake is frozen. That's the first time it's happened in the 14 years we've owned the house.

Any suggestions about how to thaw it (aside from waiting)?

I tried running very hot water down the line (black plastic), waiting, repeating several times. I ran a cable down the line from both the lake side and the house side, and I know where it's blocked. There must be a dip in the line at that point and the water didn't drain in the fall. I thought about trying to dig, but if the ground is still frozen I won't get very far.

I see from the ice-out history that this isn't the latest ice-out in the past 14 years, but maybe it's the coldest winter, so the ground is still frozen.

Thanks for any ideas.
chocophile is offline   Reply With Quote
The Following User Says Thank You to chocophile For This Useful Post:
Old 04-28-2014, 08:27 AM   #2
SAB1
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Tuftonboro
Posts: 1,162
Thanks: 182
Thanked 297 Times in 220 Posts
Default

Hard to see that could still be frozen. Are sure it didnt break?
SAB1 is offline   Reply With Quote
The Following User Says Thank You to SAB1 For This Useful Post:
Old 04-28-2014, 09:55 AM   #3
jmen24
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2009
Posts: 1,139
Thanks: 223
Thanked 319 Times in 181 Posts
Default

^^^^This^^^

Frost has been out for weeks! I would investigate a breakage, especially if you know exactly how far up the pipe you are.

If the area had good snow cover, the frost was likely never really that deep to begin with. I was able to dig a 5 foot deep hole in my yard the second weekend in January (I did not do this for fun, in case anyone is curious) frost was about 3" deep under 2 or so feet of snow.
jmen24 is offline   Reply With Quote
The Following User Says Thank You to jmen24 For This Useful Post:
Old 04-28-2014, 11:04 AM   #4
Slickcraft
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Welch Island and West Alton
Posts: 3,211
Thanks: 1,167
Thanked 1,999 Times in 913 Posts
Default

10 days ago we had the pleasure of replacing the effluent pump on the island septic system. The top of the pump chamber is at grade level and there was more than 10" of ice in the chamber. It took many pots of boiling water to get the ice to where we could break it up and get the old pump out.

This is the 1st time we ever had ice in the pump chamber. Given the amount of ice 10 days ago, I can conceive of an underground water line still being frozen 2 days ago; especially if little snow cover due to being open to the wind and also being shaded.
Slickcraft is offline   Reply With Quote
The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to Slickcraft For This Useful Post:
A summer place (05-05-2014)
Old 04-28-2014, 11:38 AM   #5
Merrymeeting
Senior Member
 
Merrymeeting's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Merrymeeting Lake, New Durham
Posts: 2,216
Thanks: 299
Thanked 795 Times in 365 Posts
Default

I raked some leaves on the north, shady side of our lot on Friday. The layers a few inches down, near the soil were still locked in ice and frozen.

I also have a drainage basin that is about 18" deep. As of Friday there was still a very large block of ice in it.

I can believe there are still areas of frozen soil, depending on sunlight, shade, and location.
Merrymeeting is offline   Reply With Quote
The Following User Says Thank You to Merrymeeting For This Useful Post:
Sponsored Links
Old 04-28-2014, 11:49 AM   #6
RLW
Senior Member
 
RLW's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: Alton Bay on the mountain by a lake
Posts: 2,023
Thanks: 563
Thanked 444 Times in 311 Posts
Smile

Just hope that by the time you get out there to do whatever you decide on doing that it has thawed out. Once it starts to thaw it goes.
__________________
There is nothing better than living on Alton Mountain & our grand kids visits.
RLW is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-28-2014, 04:31 PM   #7
mr1drfl
Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2004
Posts: 27
Thanks: 28
Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post
Default ice

Same thing happened to me a few years back...If it is indeed frozen as my perimeter drain was, I hooked up the garden hose to the hot water tank and snaked it into the drain. No more than 2 minutes later a chunk of ice approx. 2.5' long came flowing out...Cheap and easy fix for me..
mr1drfl is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-29-2014, 09:49 AM   #8
fatlazyless
Senior Member
 
fatlazyless's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2004
Posts: 8,506
Blog Entries: 1
Thanks: 291
Thanked 950 Times in 692 Posts
Default

About ten years ago, a neighbor took two to three days of trouble-shooting in the first week of April, with no water going to the cottage, to determine what was blocking their waterline into the lake, a 1 1/4" diameter black poly flexible tube, and finally dug up the whole 125' of line out of the ground. He was expecting to find an ice damage crack in the line somewhere but there was no crack in the line.

What was the problem? Chipmunks had crawled into the open end that's close to the lake on the embankment and stored acorns inside the line causing a blocked water line. It took him like three days to find that out.


For a temporary hook-up, a garden hose attached to the outside garden hose faucet, with a $68-1/6hp utility pump at the end which gets submerged into the lake can be used to fill up one's 30-gal water storage tank attached to the shallow well pump that's under the cottage.

On the brite side, by fixing it yourself you are probably avoiding something like a $425 plumber service call and that's for on the mainland, not out on an island.
__________________
... down and out, liv'n that Walmart side of the lake!

Last edited by fatlazyless; 04-29-2014 at 10:34 AM.
fatlazyless is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-29-2014, 10:19 AM   #9
ITD
Senior Member
 
ITD's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: Moultonboro, NH
Posts: 2,855
Thanks: 459
Thanked 659 Times in 365 Posts
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by chocophile View Post
We opened our camp on Saturday and discovered that the underground line to the lake is frozen. That's the first time it's happened in the 14 years we've owned the house.

Any suggestions about how to thaw it (aside from waiting)?

I tried running very hot water down the line (black plastic), waiting, repeating several times. I ran a cable down the line from both the lake side and the house side, and I know where it's blocked. There must be a dip in the line at that point and the water didn't drain in the fall. I thought about trying to dig, but if the ground is still frozen I won't get very far.

I see from the ice-out history that this isn't the latest ice-out in the past 14 years, but maybe it's the coldest winter, so the ground is still frozen.

Thanks for any ideas.

I would continue with the hot water. It will take more than a few times. I would also get some tubing of a lesser diameter than the pipe, run it down to the block, then pump the hot water down to the ice, that would probably work much quicker. A bucket of hot water, tubing and a drill pump would probably do the job.
ITD is offline   Reply With Quote
The Following User Says Thank You to ITD For This Useful Post:
chocophile (04-29-2014)
Old 05-01-2014, 12:26 PM   #10
Merrymeeting
Senior Member
 
Merrymeeting's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Merrymeeting Lake, New Durham
Posts: 2,216
Thanks: 299
Thanked 795 Times in 365 Posts
Default

Lest there be any doubts there is still frost in the ground...

I have a 1" poly supply line that comes out of my foundation about 8' underground. It runs downhill to a shed we have near the shore, eventually coming out of the ground a bit before the shed.

In the Fall, I shut off the supply, drain it, and leave it open so it won't freeze. But clearly there are a few low spots that hold a bit of water. When I turned on the line today, 2-3 long hunks of ice came out of the line. The low spots had frozen in small slivers and were still frozen until I flushed them out today.
Merrymeeting is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-01-2014, 01:37 PM   #11
Flyfisha
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Rattlesnake Island
Posts: 139
Thanks: 58
Thanked 45 Times in 23 Posts
Default Winterize

In the fall when I shut my water line down I blow it out with compressed air and put in RV non toxic antifreeze. Then I blow out the antifreeze so that the line is virtually clear. Any low spots usually have some antifreeze left in them for protection.
Flyfisha is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-02-2014, 09:49 AM   #12
fatlazyless
Senior Member
 
fatlazyless's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2004
Posts: 8,506
Blog Entries: 1
Thanks: 291
Thanked 950 Times in 692 Posts
Default

So, what's the latest on Chocophile's water line ....... is it all clogged up with acorns or what ........ ice still in the line on May 2 .....no-way!
__________________
... down and out, liv'n that Walmart side of the lake!
fatlazyless is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-02-2014, 06:19 PM   #13
DickR
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Moultonborough
Posts: 734
Thanks: 4
Thanked 254 Times in 166 Posts
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Flyfisha View Post
In the fall when I shut my water line down I blow it out with compressed air and put in RV non toxic antifreeze. Then I blow out the antifreeze so that the line is virtually clear. Any low spots usually have some antifreeze left in them for protection.
Please tell us that you don't blow out the RV antifreeze into the lake. "Non-toxic" or not, a chemical should not be dumped into the lake.
DickR is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-03-2014, 07:36 PM   #14
chocophile
Senior Member
 
chocophile's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: 19-Mile Bay
Posts: 109
Thanks: 14
Thanked 30 Times in 13 Posts
Default Mystery Solved...

The underground line was indeed frozen.

I dug up a small section and discovered the frozen ground about 2 feet down. That area doesn't get any direct sun.

The advice about thawing the line from ITD was a winner! I did exactly as he advised: bought a drill pump and enough 1/2" tubing to insert down from the basement to the blockage. With very hot water in a bucket, I pumped it down the line. After 1 battery on my cordless drill and about 20 minutes, the line cleared!

Thanks, ITD!

I cap the lake-end of the line in the fall, so I knew it wasn't a critter-induced blockage.

I'm hoping the line doesn't re-freeze tonight! I might leave a faucet dripping enough to get the pump to kick on a few times.
chocophile is offline   Reply With Quote
The Following 3 Users Say Thank You to chocophile For This Useful Post:
fatlazyless (05-04-2014), ITD (05-03-2014), secondcurve (05-04-2014)
Old 05-04-2014, 05:53 AM   #15
secondcurve
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Posts: 2,084
Thanks: 1,267
Thanked 557 Times in 286 Posts
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by chocophile View Post
The underground line was indeed frozen.

I dug up a small section and discovered the frozen ground about 2 feet down. That area doesn't get any direct sun.

The advice about thawing the line from ITD was a winner! I did exactly as he advised: bought a drill pump and enough 1/2" tubing to insert down from the basement to the blockage. With very hot water in a bucket, I pumped it down the line. After 1 battery on my cordless drill and about 20 minutes, the line cleared!

Thanks, ITD!

I cap the lake-end of the line in the fall, so I knew it wasn't a critter-induced blockage.

I'm hoping the line doesn't re-freeze tonight! I might leave a faucet dripping enough to get the pump to kick on a few times.
Thanks for the follow-up. It is always nice to hear how a story ends.
secondcurve is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Bookmarks

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is On

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 03:34 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions Inc.

This page was generated in 0.24943 seconds