Frozen Pipes! How to Thaw and Fix Water Lines!
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- Опубліковано 25 лют 2022
- Learn how to thaw out frozen pipes quickly! We show you what we do when a water line freezes up on us in the barn. Also we show you how we repair broken or leaky water pipes. You will get to see the water cups we use and how we would fix them if need be. As well as the type of plumbing supplies and tools that are used to keep the water flowing on the farm. We hope you all enjoy the video, thank you for watching!
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I've been a mechanic for over 40 years, and you said the most TRUE statement ever made. " it never pays to take short cuts". Love your farming!!!
My Grandfather also said...."We learn from experience so pay attention to the education and don't take short cuts!" Look forward to your videos, keep them coming...
Your Dad's second career choice would have been teacher I would guess. Great video. The dedication and pride your family has to your farm is refreshing in this day and age. Keep the videos coming and God bless.
Thank you God Bless!
Brings back memories, nothing worse that a flooded barn in the middle of winter. I only remember one time in our barn when one of the drinking cups valves stuck, what a mess. At the time I was just a little fellow, may 5 or 6 years old. Granddad and my dad had to clean up the mess and I think they where a little upset that day, so I didn’t hang around. I was sure at the time as young as I was, it just wasn’t a good time to hang around with grandad an my dad.
Your Dad is prepared and correct… Experience is the best teacher! Having parts and the correct tools is priceless. My Dad had boxes and bags full of parts because “stuff broke on Sunday”…..! We were always ready and I am the same way 30 years later… LOL
Your dad is a rare breed in these modern times, friend. Refreshing to see these sages still out there carrying this lifestyle forward. God bless you and your family.
Even though I knew, I still watched. You're lucky to have your dad as a mentor, he's a good teacher. Thanks for another great video.
Thank you!
The knowledge and skills gained through a lifetime of hard work and experience are priceless!
Your dad does a great job of explaining things and always stays focused. Great job!
Thank you!
Your dad is an excellent teacher 👏
The joys of farming in Wisconsin during winter!
no kidding lol!
@@GierokFarms it's a bad morning when you come out to the barn and theirs a broken water bowl or line and the gutters are full of water!
Our barn was originally mostly Jamesway equipment. I loved the Jamesway buckets because the cup could be taken off separately to wash to sanitize the bowl before stabling the cows in the winter.
When I did pipe repair I always added unions because the original piping only had 1 union for 16 cows.
All our piping was 3/4 inch for simplicity.
We hooked up a light to the water pump to show when the pump was running that could be seen from the house.
Very creative using the old socks soaked in hot water to thaw out pipes. They would be very flexible and easy to rap around the pipe. Your dad had a good thought to not cut corners and go cheap when fixing things. They have a old saying that "Going the cheap route turns out expensive in the long run". Thanks to you and your dad for taking the time and effort to create this helpful video.
Self saficintcy is the key to making a living on a small dairy . You folks are really good at fixing your own stuff. Thanks for the great videos 👍😎
Thanks for watching them we really appreciate it!
Excellent video, even for a female to understand. Good job 😊
Great video.It pays to have what you need to fix something before it breaks. Funny thing is, pipes like to break on x-mas morning when your are going 🙃 to the inlaws for x-mas dinner. The wife tells you when you go out for chores she wants us to go early to help her Mom. Sure enough your getting done early and you find a broken pipe. 🙃 So you tell the wife and kids to go ahead and you will get there as soon as the pipe is fixed.The wife gives you the look of, you better not miss dinner. Well for once it was an ez fix and it was peace on earth 🌎 and good will to the inlaws!! Thanks 😊 .
Hi guys, just started watching this video and man did it bring back some memories. We had a building called the pump house were our well was. There was no heat. So we had heat tapes and hay around it. It froze 1 day and remembered that my dad had a guy come out with a welder and he used it to thaw out the pipe to the house. It only took a few. minutes. But it can be done. Later on in that winter the heat tape shorted out started and the hay unfire and burned down the pump house. We rebuilt the shed, building another room around the pump and it was heated. No more problems. This video reminded me of that. Keep making the videos. Mike
Welcome to the channel, we are happy you found it! That sounds terrible to deal with, I could imagine the pump house burring down that would suck! But at least you guys rebuilt something nice and new! Always a positive side!
Last winter, the water lines froze going out to the new free-stall barn. We tried a hairdryer, and that took forever, and barely worked. I'll have to try using the wet rag trick in the future. I'm really enjoying and appreciating your channel. Your dad is filled with great knowledge!
Thank you, I hope it helps you in the future!
Thanks for the video. I remember replacing cups in Dad's barn but don't remember any frozen pipes. Could just be my aging brain. Lots of good advice from your Dad.
We changed everything over to plastic, much easier. We enjoy the videos, keep them coming!
Love this video. Working w/ galvanized/steel pipe is the most difficult. If one can plumb w/ these materials, one can do almost anything. I use pex everywhere I can. It is cheap, flexible, super easy to work with, and can expand up to three times its size (ie freeze) before breaking or splitting. You can buy NPT to pex adapters if you need to replace a section of steel or copper. It also never clogs up w/ rust. I LOVE it. If you guys ever try it, you'll never go back to steel.
Your dad is a amazing teacher thanks guys 👍
Thanks, really enjoy the videos. Your Dad is very patience and knowledgeable. Cheers from Nova Scotia, Canada.. 💯🇨🇦👍
we used real long heat tapes to come on automatic when it got cold.they worked real good for pipes and waters.
Old Forney Stick welders that were promoted for farm use had a entire section in the manual on how to use it to thaw pipes. Never did it myself, but the pipe smoking old heads here always said it worked well.
Moved those supply pipes down on the stanchions up on the ceiling beams and ran feed lines to the cups down with hose, never had any freezing issues after that, warm air was up there, put ball valves in line to be able to isolate without killing everything. Never had much issues after that other than valves on the cups. Although in the winter only a few windows were cracked at one end, had a small fan at the other end on a t-stat, it ran pulling air most of the time through the barn but not enough you felt a draft.............If the temp got to low inside, the t-stat killed the fan and let the air warm up inside before it would run again. Was easier than guessing about how many windows to crack open and worked well.
I can see how a fan system like that would be really nice!
For many years in the 60s I used to thaw pipes with electric arc welder. One terminal to a running tap and one frozen. Then go and have coffee. It worked every time witn iron pipes.
It would be interesting to see!
I wish I had figured this out 50 years ago with thawing pipes. Great video!.
Our well was at the side of our 1869 stone house and the pump was in a little cave where we busted through the basement wall where the well went down. The water went from there to the barn 100 foot away at least 4 foot under the ground. This almost never froze but there were a couple of record cold spells where it froze and we couldn't thaw it with hot water. We called in a guy who had a welder with long leads and they hooked one lead to the pipe in the cave in the basement and another to the pipe in the concrete stock tank in the barn where we sometimes had 12" gold fish living that thrived off the ground feed dropped off the cows' whiskers as they drank. In just a few minutes we had water again and the cows quit bellowing and were fighting for a drink at the tank.
On another subject, according to the old blacksmith in Witwen, Wisconsin that fixed all the farmers' machinery thereabouts; not just any oil works good for cutting oil. Petroleum products are like trying to cut metal with microscopic ball bearings. They hinder more than help the cutting process. Cutting oil is made from animal fat. He said if you don't have the store bought kind, use rancid lard. It's basically the same thing. I used old bacon grease for years and it works just fine.
We do this almost exactly the same. We have a dozen or so extra water cups and on Sundays during the winter I am rebuilding valves if I need to. On the coldest of nights I will sometimes go out to the barn at 10 o'clock or so and turn the water of and drain the lines. Turn the water back on in the morning at 5:30 or so. That worked well for us.
Dairy breakfast Saturday June 8th..... Next time. 😃
Making sure the water stays running is so important on a dairy! Thanks for watching!
Love to watch you guys I have learned a lot! Have an uncle same way just good old school! We have livestock and have had frozen lines never knew to do it like that! Hair dryers definitely don’t work and take forever!👍👍👍 yor dad is good!!
I've watched most of your videos but I've never commented before...but I have 2 questions completely irrelevant to the topic of the video...but we're things I noticed in the background in your video.
1. I noticed a picture of a IH 1206 above your entry door to your shop. Is that a tractor that used to belong to your family?
2. I noticed the dairy breakfast banner in the shop. I'm assuming that your family hosted a dairy breakfast at some point. What year was it held?
Keep up the good work from a fellow Wisconsinite farmer!
Great video, you guys are very organized
It’s awesome when you need something and is right there! Love all the videos!
Thank you!
Aaron, 👍 great video. Eaglegards ...P.S. In 1963 on our dairy farm in Michigan, we used a welder on the pipes 6' underground from the house to the barn. It worked great.
Good to know thanks!
Great demo !
We have a 65 cow tie barn here in central mn and I’ve got all black plastic pipe been real good for us for yrs to👍 And yep it’s a guarantee if they’re going to break it’ll be at night to flood you out😆 Love the videos and that’s a beautiful blue roan cow you guys got to 👍👍
Very informative video. I learned a couple new things. Thanks u guys!
Thanks again Dean!
A+ for creativity, what ever works, get the job done! 👍💪🙏
Thank you!
Another great video, thanks for sharing 👍
I used to use hot water but either your fingers get scorched or there wet and freezing in the cold. The best thing is a hand held torch with the on off trigger. The secret is using the right gas. You want to use the yellow little cylinder you can buy from any big box hardware store. Because it burns so hot you can just move along at probably 2 seconds per foot. The pipe , plastic or metal will absorb heat and distribute it to the ice inside for a few minutes after you pass by.It's fast , your hands stay dry , and you don't walk to fetch a pail of water and walk back to put the pail and rags back. The water left on the pipes along the curbs makes it a lot easier for cold to refreeze pipes again.
Thanks Ron!
Awesome video you guys are the best
Great video 📹
Great job as always!
Thank you Todd!
Great stuff lots of good info
Thanks for the video
Another great video guys .
Thank you!
Very practical video and interesting.thanks. I have done all of that over the years with the equipment you used. Lot of memories for me . Thanks again.
Very good information.I just found your channei. Cant wait for the next one. Thanks.
What a great idea with the socks
Great educational video
Thank you John!
Blue monster pipe dope. 👍 I don't know if it works better than any other brand but I used a lot of it when I was drilling wells and installing water systems.
If you know the temperature is dropping extra low and you think you have a run of pipe at risk of freezing, crack the water at the valve to just drip out. That small amount of water movement will keep pipes from freezing solid. I do like the old socks idea.
Thank you!
PEX is great and not to bad to fix if you have all the parts, but if the barn is all iron it is expensive to convert to PEX ..great tutorial thank you for taking time out of your day to make a video
Thanks for watching Tim!
Good video, I think a lot of people don’t realize all the challenges involved in having a dairy farm…especially during a Wisconsin winter.
Special when they complain about Milk prices and all the dairy products 🙁
I would try heat tape, turn on when needed, then I would shoot a little heat to your barn from your wood boiler, or I would hang up a couple of LB WHITE 408s set at 45 to 50 degrees. I would also use black plastic 3/4 pipe. Do what you want. Mr John likes his 408s, a little costly but never failed me with no fires. Never had a fire with a 408, they run and run. Those cows need lots of water!!!! Do what you want, looks good what you all do. I HATE FROZEN WATERS. John T.
Love watching your videos. It takes me back to when I was on the farm. Our farm was a few miles south west of Woodstock Ontario Canada it was called Codylane Farm
Thank you Rob we are glad we can bring back good memories for you!
I usually chamfer the outside of the pipe with a bench grinder to help the pipe threader to get started. Give it a try.
I could see that helping thank you!
Is that a Farmi JL501 in your shop that looks brand new from the backside?
I have a 351P and absolutely love it! So much more productive in the woods with one on the tractor.
Keep up the great videos!
Thank you Dave!
I use a hose and a water tank with a tank heater in it!
You might consider replacing with plastic as the metal either breaks or splits from freezing ,just a thought
I recall using a hot water bottle on a pipe corner of the barn. If you did not latch a door properly and got a freeze up you I were not in the good books. In the Ottawa Valley Ontario🇨🇦 we used the term “unthaw”. Makes no sense I know, but it I still say it.
What ever works is the main thing! Thanks for watching and the nice comment!
we have 1/2" black plastic pipe and have blue water bowles with red water stems pretty much I used what I had water seems to move really well. The water froze twice this year and it was in the water stems in the bowl took 20 mins to thaw i got lucky next year I'll have more cows and barn buttoned up air flow is good have unico fan just not enough bodys on them - days
It's amazing how much heat the cows give off!
The cows only break a pipe and flood the barn on the coldest days! Our cows were famous for flooding the barn around the holidays!
2 inch pipe with a Rigid hand threader. I weigh 260 and it it takes all my body weight to do it.
Just how we did it on the farm. Never had an issue doing it that way. When we gonna hear the airhorns? 😂
air horn coming soon stay tuned!
@@GierokFarms haha nice! Had to bug you about it lol. Have a good one
Where do you farm in Wisconsin
yes
If there’s power in the barn why not put a few heat tracers on the pipes
the more you can fix yourself the farther a head you are and you know it is done right
If it's going to be cold, give the cows a lot of salt, salt makes them----- thirsty! If they're thirsty, they're going to------ drink water, if they're drinking water, running water doesn't------- Freeze!! I'm just catching up on your videos!
Man pex is soooo much easier to work with. Your old man is pretty dialed in so I get it…He’s got a system, but if you want to make repairs 10x easier get rid of that stuff and put in the pex.
Pex is nice!