Spent a winter using a heat gun vs a propane torch for thawing frozen pipes

The heat gun took forever on a 10-foot section under the crawlspace and I still had to bust out the torch to finish. Has anyone else found the torch is just way more practical for this unless you're working near something flamable?

3 comments

3 Comments

aaron1977d ago

Wait, you "still had to bust out the torch to finish" after all that time with the heat gun? That's wild to me. I've never had that happen but I'm honestly shocked it didn't do the job on its own if you gave it enough time. Maybe my pipes are just thinner or something, I don't know. Still, if you're crawling around in a crawlspace for that long and then need the torch anyway, the heat gun seems like a waste of time honestly.

angela1917d ago

Is there any chance the heat gun was on a lower setting or you didn't hold it close enough? I mean, @aaron197 has a point that if you give it enough time, a heat gun usually does the job, but maybe you were moving it around too much instead of focusing on one spot. I've thawed a few frozen sections with just a hair dryer on high, and even that works if you're patient, so a heat gun should be plenty for most pipes unless you're dealing with ice that's packed super thick.

lisa_brown4d ago

Idk, @aaron197 might be onto something about the heat gun being a time waster if you still need the torch anyway.