lincoln pipe thaw box

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lincoln use to make an attachment for thawing frozen pipes. i believe it was a small box that the cables from a sa200 connected to then on the downside of the box the ground was hooked up to a fire hydrant and the lead somewhere near the ice plug stopping the water line. anyone remember/done this?i.u.o.e. # 15queens, ny and sunny fla
Reply:This might be what you are looking for, Minnesota Dave just posted it on another thread.http://ine.uaf.edu/autc/files/2011/02/INE_TRC_94_20.pdfIt's at the bottom of the thread on sticking electrodes. Is this the info you were looking for?
Reply:Basically a box with a fuse and meter in it.My uncle used to thaw the pipes at my grandparents house with his Hobart gas drive when the horse manure/straw banking proved to be insufficient to hold enough heat in the crawl space.  I was only 6 or 7 at the time and don't remember the details but I know he just clamped the work clamp and stinger at opposite ends and fired up the machine.If only we could turn back the clock so we could pay more attention. MM200 w/Spoolmatic 1Syncrowave 180SDBobcat 225G Plus - LP/NGMUTT Suitcase WirefeederWC-1S/Spoolmatic 1HF-251D-1PakMaster 100XL '68 Red Face Code #6633 projectStar Jet 21-110Save Second Base!
Reply:A neighbor had one when i was a kid on the ranch .  Never seemed to work real well in our situation  because long after we had gotten our wellhouse thawed with a propane weed burner  he would still be futzing with his pipes with that thing .  I never used it myself , I just remember him convinced it was the best thing since sliced bread for frozen pipes in spite of all the available evidence .
Reply:Originally Posted by duaneb55If only we could turn back the clock so we could pay more attention.
Reply:The last page of the manual above gives the common settings for lincoln welders.Never done it myself however.Last edited by MinnesotaDave; 01-08-2014 at 03:22 PM.Dave J.Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance. ~George Bernard Shaw~ Syncro 350Invertec v250-sThermal Arc 161 and 300MM210DialarcTried being normal once, didn't take....I think it was a Tuesday.
Reply:Quite a few years ago my sister's water line would freeze up and I would get the call.  At that time I owned an old then Miller A/C welder, it had a crank on the top and three spots to put the leads in, work, high and low.  Top current I think was 250.  Heavy bugger.  Well I would load it up in the pick-up and make it to her house, run the leads out, one to the pump house where the pipe was exposed and the other to an exposed pipe inside the basement.  Total about 80 - 90 feet, would use jumper cables to make up the difference in wire length.  Use the dryer breaker to jury rig the feed and turn the welder up to about 150 -200 amps.  Depending on how cold it was out determined how long it would take to make it thaw, but it never failed and no damage to the welder or operator.  Think I got my information on how to do this from the Lincoln Bible if my memory serves me.   Just my thoughts and experience with this subject.   Thanks for reading it.   Bob
Reply:You're probably aware of this but pipe thawing is not what it used to be when most pipe was metallic in nature. If you decide to thaw pipes with electricity be sure that the pipe is continuously metallic or strange things may occur in your neighbourhood. A short piece of plastic spliced in as a repair and buried can give you a headache.---Meltedmetal
Reply:We did it once when I was growing up.  Got down to -40 and the line from the pump house to the house froze 4' underground.  It was about 100'.  Hooked up a whole bunch of heavy cables to reach the pump house.  Used an old Lincoln tombstone.  Put it on the lowest setting and waited.  Know of a few houses burned down this way, too!Sent from my C811 4G using Tapatalk
Reply:Thawed pipe for 20 years, used a Linc-thaw  most of the time.  The Linc-Thaw has a fuse in it to protect your welder from overheating the generator side and an ammeter to check your current flow.I also used  a ac-dc clamp on ammeter to  check current flow and prevent grounding problems.  Be very careful if try to thaw pipes,  even for an experienced person there is a high risk for problems like starting a fire, shorting out water heaters and boilers, sending stray current somewhere it shouldn't go, and loosening solder joints in copper pipe.Both Lincoln and Miller do not recommend using a welder to thaw pipes with anymore.Be Careful
Reply:cant they just hook up a negative to one side of the pipe and postion to the other side and set the machine at a low current wouldn't that work to send current through the pipe?
Reply:I think the old Tombstone Lincoln welders had a circle around the 75. That was the setting to use the machine for pipe thawing.
Reply:Originally Posted by docwelderlincoln use to make an attachment for thawing frozen pipes. i believe it was a small box that the cables from a sa200 connected to then on the downside of the box the ground was hooked up to a fire hydrant and the lead somewhere near the ice plug stopping the water line. anyone remember/done this?
Reply:after hanging in fla for a couple weeks i thought i'd ease into the work week BUT coming home to frozen and leaking pipes made me think of that lincoln pipe thawing procedure/attachment. it doesn't sound very safe. next year i think i'll use the manure and straw method before i leave.i.u.o.e. # 15queens, ny and sunny fla
Reply:Originally Posted by docwelder. . . coming home to frozen and leaking pipes made me think of that lincoln pipe thawing procedure/attachment. it doesn't sound very safe. next year i think i'll use the manure and straw method before i leave.
Reply:Originally Posted by duaneb55Sorry to hear about your homecoming surprise. The horse manure banking works great.  The problem of frozen pipes might crop up when the temp would drop well below 0F for a few days and there is no snow cover on the 20-24" of banking.  Snow is a good insulator and in the middle of winter you can shovel the snow off, dig down into the center and it's toasty warm.
Reply:Originally Posted by BD1I think the old Tombstone Lincoln welders had a circle around the 75. That was the setting to use the machine for pipe thawing.
Reply:Originally Posted by PipelinerHit up Tozzi.  He had one nice looking linc thaw box back a few months ago.
Reply:Here she isSent from my HTCONE using Tapatalk Attached ImagesDisclaimer; "I am just an a$$hole welder, don't take it personally ."
Reply:The chartSent from my HTCONE using Tapatalk Attached ImagesDisclaimer; "I am just an a$$hole welder, don't take it personally ."
Reply:Buddy of mine had his water line freeze here a couple of years ago during a really cold spell.He dug a trench parallel to where the line was, threw a half cord of wood in it, and set it on fire.Waterline not frozen any more.Gary
Reply:Seeing as Lincoln now doesn't recommend using a welder to thaw pipes they might pay you to get that Linc-Thaw box back Tozzi. Doesn't look like it's had a lot of use over the years.  In really good shape.So curious minds want to know what it looks like on the inside?  A fuse on one leg and shunt for the ammeter on the other?MM200 w/Spoolmatic 1Syncrowave 180SDBobcat 225G Plus - LP/NGMUTT Suitcase WirefeederWC-1S/Spoolmatic 1HF-251D-1PakMaster 100XL '68 Red Face Code #6633 projectStar Jet 21-110Save Second Base!
Reply:Years ago, my now deceased father in law told me about a case back in the 70s where a severe cold wave froze a lot of people's water pipes.He had a friend who owned a plumbing repair company.  His friend went to a house in an old subdivision to see about thawing the pipes.  He was getting prepared to run out his welder cables to the home's water meter at the street when the homeowner's next door neighbor showed up to see if he was thawing the pipes.  Neighbor said "When you get done with him can you thaw mine next?"Plumber guy looked over at the neighbor's house and saw a water spigot in the house rear foundation wall and decided that instead of running to the water meters of 2 houses as separate operations, he would just run one welder lead to the first house backyard spigot and the second welder cable to the neighbor house back spigot and thaw both simultaneously.  It worked and he collected 2 service calls from the happy home owners.
Reply:Originally Posted by deepskyridgeBuddy of mine had his water line freeze here a couple of years ago during a really cold spell.He dug a trench parallel to where the line was, threw a half cord of wood in it, and set it on fire.Waterline not frozen any more.Gary
Reply:Originally Posted by deepskyridgeBuddy of mine had his water line freeze here a couple of years ago during a really cold spell.He dug a trench parallel to where the line was, threw a half cord of wood in it, and set it on fire.Waterline not frozen any more.Garythank god for the low water cutoff feature on my boiler. i was talking to one of the plumbers at work and he told me that if i had auto water feed my basement would've really been flooded. my lucky day for sure.Last edited by docwelder; 01-10-2014 at 05:31 AM.i.u.o.e. # 15queens, ny and sunny fla
Reply:Originally Posted by M J DAround here you would die of thirst long before you could dig a trench. 3-4 feet of frost now, but it hit 12 degrees above zero today.
Reply:Originally Posted by duaneb55So curious minds want to know what it looks like on the inside?  A fuse on one leg and shunt for the ammeter on the other?
Reply:Originally Posted by ironmangqExposure would kill you long before dehydration digging that trench up here. Finally above 0 for the first time in weeks, -3F yesterday and it felt warm. You never realize how cold it's been till below 0 weather starts feeling warm.
Reply:Some of the memories of the family earthmoving biz was thawing water pipes in the winter.  Years before I was around Grandpa, his brother in laws company and my other grandpa had 3 of the 4 biggest welders in the county, one of the welding shops had the other.  They took care of farmers, biz owners as well as the city and few smaller villiages in the county when it came to water mains.  Hundreds of feet of leads, box full of vice grips, amp meter and number of other tools.  Mid-90's is when we quit doing it but the guy that bought our Big 40 still uses it for the purpose.  Never did have an issue...and after hearing of a few others in the tri state area Dad made the call...we were buying a new welder for the service truck...something bit smaller that wasn't 100% duty cycle so we COULDN'T thaw pipes.  Sometimes do miss them days but made for some long ones as well.
Reply:Memories brought back, I grew up in Anchorage and remember the "Thaw Wires" Coming out of the ground from Fire Hydrants and some homes water lines.  They were copper of course, about 5/16 or 3/8 " in diameter. Welding shops advertised pipe thawing services.That was 60 years ago.  The city had truck mounted boilers, with long steam hoses and "Thaw Points" that were hammered into the soil as it thawed.I offer three choices: Good, Fast, & Cheap. You may pick two.Hobart AC/DC StikMate LXHarbor Freight AD HoodHarbor Freight Industrial Chop SawDeVilbis 20 Gallon, 5 HP Compressor