Use of welders for thawing

According to a recent General Electric Company announcement, electric welding equipment has been used successfully to thaw frozen water pipes with no special equipment other than reliable pipe clamps for firm connections. Connections are made in the ordinary way with the work and electrode leads connected to the pipe on opposite ends of the frozen section so that the heat generated in the pipe wall will thaw the ice. The current to be used has been set at between 200 and 500 amperes, but the time required varies greatly. Tables I and II will help determine the various factors involved while Table III shows maximum outputs obtainable from equipment which normally would be used for pipe thawing purposes.