Pipe Freeze Kits

[flyrfan]

I have a customer that has some water leaks on a 2" copper hot water line. Draining the system will be a long time consuming task. I'd like to use a pipe freeze kit, but have no experience with them.

I've done a little bit of research, and there are a couple of systems out there. One in particular is made by General Wire that uses CO2 and does 1/2" - 2" for about $500. I also see that Ridgid makes one that uses some kind of refrigeration system for $2500.

Anyone have experiences with these or any pipe freeze kits?

[bustawrench1]

I rent the Rigid kit from Sunbelt for $48.00/day when I need to use one........I think it goes to 2 1/2" on copper lines. I have heard there are systems available to do up to 4", but have never seen them.

I've used it on 2" water lines with 70lbs of pressure on them.......works like a charm. Strap the heads on with velcro, fire it up and wait about 10 minutes............showtime!

Awesome tool!

[fgp6889]

Get the big bottle of co2 and get a spare just in case,Experence talking,1 may not be enough if theres a problem that takes longer.s**T does happen.

[ndfrozen]

Get the big bottle of co2 and get a spare just in case,Experence talking,1 may not be enough if theres a problem that takes longer.s**T does happen.



Dam good advice here take it. Used to do hotel work (25 story bldg) many moons ago. We used the co2 system one guy into the crawl space with the wrap, one guy in the hallway manning the tanks, one guy inside the hotel room doing the actual plumbing work. LOL. loved that job, pay sucked but, the benefits were out of this world. The plumbing contractor didn't install any shutoffs in the supply lines. Had to freeze lines very time a closet shutoff broke or any work needed done in the bathrooms what a huge waste of money over the years in maintain the building. Oh, but those desk babes were something else.:D

[guy787north]

We have a pipe kit that does up to 2" and yes always have extra co2 on hand. For really big jobs, or for example the basement of a high rise we have a company we bring in and they build a little tin foil dam around the pipe and fill it with liquid nitrogen a few minutes later your good to go. When I do it with CO2 I always give it an extra few minutes more than the book says. We even did some Glycol lines.
These kit's are worth their weight in gold.

[flyrfan]

Thanks for the feedback gents!

I am gonna go for the Ridgid self contained unit at a local rental place ($80 bucks a day).

The CO2 kit may be an investment in the future.

Thanks again for your reccomendations!

[itsiceman]

Be careful with CO² in confined spaces

[flyrfan]

Just an update for everyone....

We used the Ridgid 2500 pipe freeze machine. It was a no go! The machine was brand spanking new. After 2 hours of the machine runnning we tested to see if the ice plugs were developed. The instructions said it would take approx 30 minutes...maybe because the line temp was 120*F, it needed to be on longer....but 2 hours...sheesh. Not sure what happened.

I got a qoute to have a pipe freeze company come in and they want $3400 to come in to do 2 freeze plugs at 2 locations on 2" copper pipe....very pricey in my opinion. We'll either drain the system or buy a CO2 system.

[local 832s]

umm, it may take longer than 2hrs for a 2" line. Give it a chance, I have used the ridged on 1" condensate pumped drain lines on liebert units and it worked perfectly. Now this was standing water at around 60* and it took about 3hrs.

[t527ed]

120 deg water on each side of a plug your trying to freeze...........:eek:



thats gonna take a while.........:rolleyes:

[flyrfan]

120 deg water on each side of a plug your trying to freeze...........:eek:


I called Ridgid today, they said that the 2500 should do the freeze in about an hour. They said that the machine I used may be low on refrigerant (R-507).
I told this to the rental place & their going to have it serviced...I may give it another go

[HVAC Teacher]

I used the Ridgid many times without probems. Spray the clamps with water for better transfer. Also there cannot be any flow or the plugs will not form. Good Luck!

[t527ed]

I called Ridgid today, they said that the 2500 should do the freeze in about an hour.


thats impressive.

[flyrfan]

Well...I opted to buy a CO2 Pipe Freeze kit and it worked like a charm. We purged the hot water lines w/ cold water so the temperature was about 60*F.

In about 35 minutes we had plugs developed.

One thing I'll say, which was previously said, have plenty of spare CO2 on-hand.
We did 6 freeze plugs on a 2" CU line and consumed almost 100 #'s of CO2. This included about 1 hour of cutting & fitting time after the freeze.

Based on this experience, I would recommend this method over the Ridgid Machine.

[mcr]

We've been using Add-A Valves on some line leaks that are so old the original valves don't hold or a broken. Quite pricey $700 plus for an 1 1/4 line.

[JEEP HVAC GUY]

I know I should start a new thread, as this is old; but I work for a HVAC company and we have had some success with the 2500, (it's brand new). My question is there anything better? Our facilities in Alaska have glycol and wanted to know what's out for industrial applications, (if there is such a thing). I know this is going to depend on how strong we have the mixture, currently we are working on a facility that has a rating (fractometer) reading of -5 to -10 and the machine is tripping out. So if we are going to spend the money on new equipment, I would like to get some of your thoughts/opinions.

[absoair]

We use the CO2 on carbon and copper up to 2". Never seen anything bigger than 2" frozen.
That kit is awesome and has paid for itself many times over. Don't forget to make sure the tank fas a dip tube in it.
I wrap a wet rag on either side of the sleeves
Ihave also seen the hospital get flooded when one guy got to close to the plug in a tight spot.

For smaller copper lines it would be wise to have a squeeze kit nearby just in case.