When temperatures plunge below zero each winter, the City of Rhinelander (Wisconsin) Public Works Department is prepared. Officials know calls are coming from customers to help with frozen pipes and that the city’s own water and sewer lines may also need to be thawed out.“We try to be proactive,” says Tim Kingman, Rhinelander’s director of public works. “Every day is an adventure here.”Unthawing methods
When lines freeze, the typical thawing method is connecting a welder to the frozen pipe and adjacent service or fire hydrant, then running a current through the pipe. The average thaw time is two to three hours.
