Are you trying to repair a leak that sprung out of nowhere on your main water line? There are many situations where shutting the water off is not an option. Too many people then choose to go ahead with the repairs without trying to slow the leak of water. Some of them even drain all the remaining water on purpose, wasting a lot of water and money as well. There is a solution out there in which the pipes can be frozen so that they aren’t going to let water flow through them for a short time. This is the perfect solution when the pipe in question can’t be turned off. This is one of the best methods to use when you are repairing the plumbing in older houses. Some of those places don’t even have shut off valves, meaning that each tube is supplied and controlled directly from the main water valve.

How a Pipe Freezing Kit Works

Pipe freezing is basically the formation of a plug of ice inside your pipe that can hold out against the pressure of the water long enough for you to repair the leak or to install a service valve so that you can shut the water off yourself. It works on all kinds of pipes, whether they are made of copper, plastic or metal. There are two types of kits too for the average homeowner or plumber. One of these air gauge providing the very highest standards of customer care is the spray method in which the fluid is sprayed out of an aerosol can into the jacket around the pipe. The other is the electric freezing method. Both of them are pretty effective, and the principle is the same. They push a volatile fluid all around that area of the tube so that it freezes the water inside the pipe into the plug of ice. It does this by evaporating quickly and powerfully, causing a cooling effect. Think the evaporation of sweat cooling your body down, multiplied by 10,000,000 times.

The Difference between Aerosol and Electric Methods

Aerosol vacuum gauge  http://www.zenithinstruments.com.au/pages/vacuum-gauge.html makes use of an insulated jacket that is wrapped around that section of the pipe. This creates a controlled atmosphere in that area so that the cooling effect is not diminished by external conditions. The electric method works by moving the fluid in a circuit around the pipe so that there is no loss of fluid as it moves around the pipe.

The electric motor powers a pump and a compressor. The compressor does its job and compresses the gas. A heat exchange system cools it and pushes it to the pump which sends it on a circuit and back to the compressor.

Read More