MARION TOWNSHIP (KDKA) — A man trying to thaw the pipes with a blow dryer and heater in his Beaver County home sparked a large fire Friday. The single-story home, built on stilts because of its proximity to a nearby creek and the creek’s tendency to flood, was destroyed in the multiple-alarm fire. The blaze broke out around 4 p.m. along Eckert Stop Lane in Marion Township. Firefighters from companies in both Beaver and Butler counties battled the flames in frigid, single-degree temperatures. “The house was so far gone, there was nothing we could do to save it when we got to the scene,” Assistant Fire Chief John Murtha told KDKA-TV’s Ralph Iannotti. Homeowner Leonard Szulczewski, at times in tears, says he lost everything in the fire, including his treasured baseball memorabilia collection. The fire started after Szulczewski used a hair dryer and a propane or kerosene heater to thaw out frozen pipes under the house. He said he apparently fell asleep on a couch and was awakened by popping sounds. Szulczewski managed to get out safely.
Oh man....I'd be totally lost without a hairdryer to style my mullet! The filbert's problem was not that he used a hairdryer per se to thaw the pipes, but that he did so in combination with devices using volatile, combustable fuel.....UNSUPERVISED... As they say...dumb is as dumb does....having a smoke / CO detector may have given him enough time to save his treasured baseball memorabilia.
In Alaska, when we had Metal pipes and they froze, we took a welder and put it across the the frozen section and heated the pipe that way. Used the water pressure to force the slush from the pipe as it melted. Once I used it on Copper piping and got it so hot, I melted the solder joints, and had to resolder a few, but it did thaw the pipes.
This is not the first time I've heard of this kind of thing happening with propane heaters being used to heat pipes that are frozen. Usually its because the people wander off to do other things while the pipes are being heated. Another potential Darwin award winner.
His last name pretty much sums it up. Let the Pollack jokes begin. My family escaped Beaver county 30 years ago and I will never go back. Whynot
Around here (New England), we get frozen pipes "now and then", and plumbers usually use propane torches to heat copper pipes, but the question I have is "How do I thaw plastic pipes"? William Warren
Easy Heat® 24ft Water Pipe Heating Cable (AHB-124) - Heat Tape & Accessories - Ace Hardware Mr. Heater Portable Kerosene Heater — 50,000 BTU, 1200 Sq. Ft. Heating Capacity, Model# MH50KR | Kerosene Heaters| Northern Tool + Equipment keep these back from anything flamable. Select Heat King Size Moist Dry Heating Pad - Walmart.com or even an electric blanket or throw.
We just leave the water running a teeny bit at night to keep the pipes unfrozen. One of the locals said she was the only one of her neighbors who did that when we had the typical deep freeze we get once during cold season, and all the neighbors had frozen pipes.
That NEW Heat Tape that uses two parallel Wires encased in semiconducting Plastic, which is good for 3 Watts per foot. Then wrap the pipes with that, and then overWrap the pipes with those Foam Pipe Covers. Here in Alaska we bury that wrapped pipe in a split PVC Pipe, about four feet down, below the frost line. That is how I built my Potable Water Line from the Well House into the cabin. (About 25 ft). Hasn't ever even got slushy in two decades, even at -25F outside.........
