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Seb Ballard

Ice bullets!

Updated: May 11, 2021

We have not long had another lot of snow and the cold weather is here to stay for a while. As a drain unblocking and jetting business this gives us a few challenges not just us keeping warm outside!


The jetting machines and water in the tanks we carry to unblock your drains can freeze and is a constant challenge to overcome when the temperature drops below freezing.


Just as you wouldn't want your car engine to freeze we definitely don't want our jetting equipment to freeze as we would be unable to provide our emergency drain unblocking service. If the water in the tank froze we would be unable to pump it and if the water in the high pressure pump freezes it could destroy the high value pump. Water freezing in the jetting hoses presents its own challenge of ice bullets being fired from the jetting hose when you pressurise the system and you definitely don't want to have to deal with that at the pressures the systems run at!


To overcome these challenges when you haven't got a heated garage means we check the weather forecast daily in the winter and plan if the temperature is going to drop below freezing in the night.


We have a few options, unfortunately they are not cheap.


Antifreeze, most jetting equipment is fitted with an antifreeze tank but unlike your car engine that circulates the water and reuses it, jetting equipment pumps water through the system and out. This means there is a procedure to isolate the main water tank open the antifreeze tank and flush the lines through the pump with about 20 litres of antifreeze. This works well but every time you do this it dilutes the antifreeze a little more as it mixes with the remaining water in the system. You also have to flush it back to the tank before use as you wouldn't want to jet someones drain with antifreeze!


Diesel night heater

These heaters are what you would use in a motor home. They run on diesel and you usually have a separate car battery to run them from so you don't flatten the main battery. These heaters mean your van is lovely and warm when you drive off the next morning.

You have to keep an eye on the fuel level so it doesn't run out in the night. Sometimes though they don't fire up correctly and you wake up to a frozen van! When the weather gets really cold you can use up to 5 litres of diesel in a night!


Electric heater

Some people prefer to plug the van in at night and use an electric heater, this is the most cleanest option as you don't have to deal with antifreeze and diesel but you really don't want to see the electricity bill from heating a van outside trust me. You also have to remember to unplug it before you drive away, they don't work in between jobs out on the road


Here at Kings Norton Drains and Jetting we use a combination of the above options to keep us defrosted ready to help you. We usually plug in and go electric in the night and then run the diesel heater to stop everything freezing in between jobs when out on the road in the winter. It also means the van is warm when we get back in and we can defrost ourselves also.


Be assured Kings Norton Drains and Jetting are defrosted and on standby ready to help with any drain, sewer, bath and toilet unclogging you need assistance with.


Roll on the summer!


Photo credit Ben Ballard, if you want to see more of Ben's photos see the link below

https://instagram.com/ben_of_the_woods?igshid=ht745yyoo0dr

Freezing weather
Freezing weather

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