Freezing plastic pipe

[bathroomboy]

I have froze pipes with aerosol pipe freezers many times, I now have at my disposal a Rothenburger Rofrost electric freezer, supplied by my company, great bit of kit, only problem is I have tried to freeze Hep20 twice and there is a lot of this in the building I work in, I have so far been unsuccessful, it works great on copper, but doesn't seem to want to freeze on plastic, even though it was in the specs it would. Any ideas anyone?

 

[SimonG]

Takes a lot longer.

 

[hammers4spanner]

Just use on of those pipe squish things

 

[ShaunCorbs]

Depending on pressure and where your working cut and slam a coupling on with a lever valve and your done

 

[WaterTight]

If length long enough you can just cut and bend it in half and tape two halves together.

 

[bathroomboy]

Takes a lot longer.

Had it on over 35 mins the other day and it didn't freeze, this also a hospital type environment, can't have water blowing off everywhere

 

[bathroomboy]

You mean like a clamp, will this not damage the pipe? never used this method, seen it on mdpe to change a stop valve but not hep20 or speedfit.

 

[tolly]

I presume you made sure the water wasnt moving while you were trying to freeze it...i.e secondary return or someone running a tap etc.

 

[tolly]

You mean like a clamp, will this not damage the pipe? never used this method, seen it on mdpe to change a stop valve but not hep20 or speedfit.

I dont think any pushfit manu's like squeeze off tools used on there pipe, but its up to you i suppose.

 

[REDSAW]

wet the pipe first

 

[hammers4spanner]

Never had a problem squishing any plastic pipe.

 

[bathroomboy]

wet the pipe first

Thanks, I put the paste on that was supplied with the kit, but will try wetting it first, also there was definitely no flow in the pipe I was trying to freeze, thanks for the replies so far.

 

[bathroomboy]

Never had a problem squishing any plastic pipe.

What do use to squash the pipe? I have some G clamps. does the pipe need warming up first?

 

[bathroomboy]

I presume you made sure the water wasnt moving while you were trying to freeze it...i.e secondary return or someone running a tap etc.

Deffo no Flow

 

[quality]

wrap the pipe with wet loo roll first

 

[REDSAW]

Never had a problem squishing any plastic pipe.

is that with pressure in?

 

[bathroomboy]

wrap the pipe with wet loo roll first

Thanks will try that

 

[quality]

A paper towel is better but there is always loo roll around, even if its the emergency one out off the van

 

[macackau]

Yep. Even on copper I use a bit of wet blue roll and if it's a humid/hot day I try and do it first thing in the morning and wrap a dry towel round the lot to help the freezing process.

On another note I once froze two pipe tails to a rad in a packed office, for some stupid reason when I took the knackered TRV valve off I decided to switch off the pipe freezer and shortly afterwards created an indoor water feature. To this day I still don't know why I switched the machine off

 

[bathroomboy]

lol

 

[bathroomboy]

Yep. Even on copper I use a bit of wet blue roll and if it's a humid/hot day I try and do it first thing in the morning and wrap a dry towel round the lot to help the freezing process.

On another note I once froze two pipe tails to a rad in a packed office, for some stupid reason when I took the knackered TRV valve off I decided to switch off the pipe freezer and shortly afterwards created an indoor water feature. To this day I still don't know why I switched the machine off

To this day I still don't know why I switched the machine off , lol iv'e done quite a few things like that in my time, the brain switches off sometimes

 

[SJB]

Clamp it if it's plastic, won't damage the pipe.

I tried all sorts of diy heat transfer pastes with my old electric freezer, toothpaste, moisturiser, nappy cream etc. Best results I had was with silicone grease. Messy tho.

 

[1Steven]

I use face cream , cheap as chips. Quicker on hot pipes.

 

[Last Plumber]

If you're just freezing one place put both heads on next to each other.

If you're freezing two point you obviously cannot do that but whatever you do, use the paste on the pipe and between insert and head as well, wrap a damp rag around the heads leaving the temp gauge on show and wait till its minus 20 deg before you cut into it.

 

[bathroomboy]

Hi All, Tried again to freeze some plastic pipes, they were again hep2o as before, the pipe freezer is a rothenburger electric turbofrost. I wrapped wet j cloths round the pipe before clamping, the probes on the clamps read -20c and was on for 25 mins, but did not stop the flow.
Tried again with damp paper towel and some conductivity paste to no avail. There is no flow through the pipes which are feeding a shower mixer valve. Any other suggestions anybody. Thanks

 

[ShaunCorbs]

yea get wet and fit some valves you might need to leave it on longer if you dont want to get wet

 

[Millsy 82]

I hate freezing. The last time I did was a hotel and I didn't want to turn the hot and cold off and drain it all.

Anything domestic I just drain not worth the hassle to save an hour.