Frozen water pipes
Thawing Equipment
Electrical thawing equipment:
Hot water injection thawing equipment:
- Pressure washer thawing machines - truck mounted and portable units
- Hot water pulse jetting thawing machines
Electrical thawing equipment
DBH Machine
The DBH thawing machine:
- is CSA approved,
- is no longer manufactured,
- is a self-contained unit which is towed to the site where pipe thawing is required,
- passes an electric current through the pipe to thaw the ice,
- requires connection points on either side of the frozen pipe for electrical conductivity,
- houses a generator, a transformer and connections for electric cables - one set of cables connect to one end of a pipe to be thawed and the other set of cables connect to the other end of the pipe to be thawed,
- has a patented design that uses a computer system to monitor the current and automatically shuts off if there is any dangerous current loss into the house,
- is capable of thawing large diameter and long lengths of water pipes.
KT200
The KT200 machines:
- are CSA approved,
- are much smaller units than the DBH,
- are typically effective at thawing shorter lengths of pipe.
Hot water injection thawing equipment
These hot water thawing units insert a hose into one end of a frozen pipe (usually near the water meter inside the property) to inject heated water.
Pressure washer thawing machines - truck mounted and portable units
These machines:
- were custom built by Water and Waste Department staff,
- feature a high-pressure washer, hot water heater, enhanced plumbing fittings, closed loop water return system, and NSF certified hose
- are the most powerful of the inventory of hot water injection thawing machines.
Hot water pulse jetting thawing machines
These machines:
- were manufactured by Magikist,
- have typically only been effective at thawing shorter lengths of water pipe, and
- have been custom enhanced by Water and Waste Department staff to boost their effectiveness at thawing longer portions of City water pipe.
Last updated: March 7, 2019