Thawing Frozen Ground 2

[homerphish]

Is there a way to calculate how long it takes to thaw out a certain section of frozen mud? We have some frozen ground preventing us from continuing our build, and I was wondering if there was someway to quickly thaw it out? Has anyone experienced this before?

 

[dicksewerrat]

If you use 'Thawmasters', it take about 24 hours to thaw 4 feet deep by 6 foot diameter col. These are a propane torches inserted into a 2 inch tube drilled into the frost. Call someone at The City of Mpls. Sewer construction offices and ask about where to get them. 612-673-5629. We used them during the winter there to thaw the ground for trenching work.

 

[Wasdifferent]

homerphish,
A more detailed description of your situation would be helpful.
I have used torpedo heaters and wood fires to thaw frozen ground with very good sucess. Without knowing the exact situation that you are dealing with, I would say that your problem is probably not as bad as you think.
Try, as much as possible, to contain the heat that you are producing.
As far as your calculation goes, a reasonable estimate of the amount of frozen water, the temperature differential, and the latent heat of fusion will show that, even with much of your heat escaping, you should be able to make very rapid progress.

-Mike

http://www.sewellgeneralcontracting.com

 

[eric1037]

This may be a bit morbid, but check with the local cemetary. I would bet they have heaters to thaw out the ground to dig graves. They should have some kind of estimate for length of time to thaw your local soils.

 

[Wasdifferent]

eric1037,
Great idea, simple solution, you are light years ahead of the rest of us on this one.

-Mike

http://www.sewellgeneralcontracting.com

 

[DRC1]

Thaw machines are available that allow you tolay out tubing on the ground and ciculate hot oil. It will thaw out an area pretty quickly. Availble from most construction rental houses like Nations Rent or United Rental Run about 3,000 /week bare.

 

[dicksewerrat]

Simple tubes laid on top of frozen soils will take a long time. You have to have concentrated heat below the surface. But if you only have 12 to 24 inches of frost, use a larger Hydraulic hoe with a large toothed bucket and rip it out.

 

[cureall]

I am not an engineer but logged saw your question on Google. I work for a company called Ground Heaters Inc. Go to our website

http://wwww.groundheaters.com

and you wiil get all the information you need. If not call us on our toll free number. We are the largest ground thawing company in the world.

 

[Wasdifferent]

homerphish,
How did you make out with the frozen ground?

-Mike

http://www.sewellgeneralcontracting.com

http://www.sewellbuilders.com

 

[homerphish]

The ground has finally been thawed. After drilling a grid of holes every four feet or so and filling them with circuited propylene glycol tubing, we finally got the ground thawed and leveled. For those Guinness enthusiasts out there, the overall depth of the freeze was approximately 37 ft. Apparently, that can happen when the underfloor heating circuit in a -20 degree blast freezer breaks and the freezer continues to run for years contiuosly drawing the heat from the ground beneath.

 

[Kogelmann]

Sounds like your problem has been solved. Another option however would have been an excavator mounted hydraulic rotary cutter. They come in a range of size classes from mini-excavators to the big daddys.
These can be rented. They are nice because they can cut very precisely. They also come with an integrated bucket...called a cutter-bucket.
This is not a commericial plug but not many people know of or use such equipement so here is where you can find out about them.

http://www.cutterbuckets.com