# PLEASE HELP! Thawing a basement



## Maxwell10/4 (Apr 17, 2015)

Ok, I have a crazy property that is all frozen over on the inside (ice build up around some pipes and small buildups elsewhere, as well as frost on walls and spots on ceiling ETC) I have several bids to create on this place but I have NO clue how to approach bidding the Thaw order they gave me.

they want me to bid on thawing the frozen basement...

please help.

a huge generator and several heaters??? I can add rental costs to bid but what about labor? how flippin long will it take to thaw this place? couple pics attached


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## AceVentura (Sep 6, 2015)

maxwell10/4 said:


> ok, i have a crazy property that is all frozen over on the inside (ice build up around some pipes and small buildups elsewhere, as well as frost on walls and spots on ceiling etc) i have several bids to create on this place but i have no clue how to approach bidding the thaw order they gave me.
> 
> They want me to bid on thawing the frozen basement...
> 
> ...


 Если вы не можете понять, как это сделать это из вашего объема работ? Есть ли у вас возможность сделать эту работу?


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## Maxwell10/4 (Apr 17, 2015)

Im sorry I only speak english


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## Maxwell10/4 (Apr 17, 2015)

AceVentura said:


> Если вы не можете понять, как это сделать это из вашего объема работ? Есть ли у вас возможность сделать эту работу?


okay i google translated it. I am fully capable - I beleive. just making sure I am not missing something. Was only looking for pointers not for board members to treat me as if I have no business here, or no business in this line of work.


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## BRADSConst (Oct 2, 2012)

Pics from my last thaw. Took 8 hours. Would have taken much longer but the water heater was drained before I got there and the house was starting out at 35 deg. Good thing they waited 3 weeks to approve it.


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## BRADSConst (Oct 2, 2012)

If the water heater is frozen solid, you could be looking at days to fully thaw it. If you are bidding through a regional, forget it. They'll want you to do it for $400. 

I'd be $1k to $2k with no frozen water heater. $2k to $3k with a frozen water heater. I also own my equipment and only rent the propane cylinder.


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## MKM Landscaping (Sep 27, 2012)

Maxwell10/4 said:


> Ok, I have a crazy property that is all frozen over on the inside (ice build up around some pipes and small buildups elsewhere, as well as frost on walls and spots on ceiling ETC) I have several bids to create on this place but I have NO clue how to approach bidding the Thaw order they gave me.
> 
> they want me to bid on thawing the frozen basement...
> 
> ...



I love thaws great time to slap some propane heaters in the house, fuel the generator and charge $1000.00 a day. Not sure what the CE will allow you to make.


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## Wannabe (Oct 1, 2012)

Notice Brads Picture? &#55357;&#56397;

He is running generator. Be sure to turn off power to home-preferably at the meter and not at frozen panel and be sure the water is off at street.


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## JoeInPI (Dec 18, 2014)

That looks like a maid refresh house here in N MI. Minor freeze...


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## RichR (Sep 22, 2012)

BRADSConst said:


> View attachment 3082
> 
> 
> Pics from my last thaw. Took 8 hours. Would have taken much longer but the water heater was drained before I got there and the house was starting out at 35 deg. Good thing they waited 3 weeks to approve it.


Brad, what brand of heater is that


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## BRADSConst (Oct 2, 2012)

RichR said:


> Brad, what brand of heater is that


Rich,

That's an LB White. Awesome heater but it wasn't the cheapest thing on the market. 180k BTU. I bought it because it is dual fuel, both LP and natural gas. All I do is turn a lever 90 deg on the inside of the unit and remove the LP regulator from the end of the hose that connects to the tank. 

The dual fuel is nice. I thaw frozen boilers too. Many times the broker has the gas and electric on, but due to frozen boiler, no heat. In that case, I connect into a capped line for a stove or dryer. Than my costs are really low as I don't even rent the LP tank! Only thing is do NOT believe LB on the heater you can NOT run it in the house no matter what they say. Even though it is 99+ efficient, you still can not run it in the house. I listened to their crap (I should have known better), and next day all the CO alarms were going off.

This particular house started at 35 deg and 8 hours later was 78.5 deg. I did cheat a little though, if you look closely in the picture, the yellow 100' cord runs though a hole in the window adapter. I disconnected the ON/OFF switch on the furnace and hooked it into the generator. Set the furnace to fan only and was able to use the house HVAC system to circuit the air. I set it up in the morning and have a low cost laborer babysit the equipment all day. He can play games on his phone for all I care. He just has to fill the generator with gas and make sure nothing gets stolen. Pack up at the end of the day and shut the house up. It's usually in low 50's the next morning inside the house. Fire up the heater again and start the wint. Otherwise, worse case laborer plays games on his phone all day again. I'm too lazy to use heater guns, torches and torpedo heaters and run all over the house with them. I will supplement this with other methods if the water heater is frozen.


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## Wannabe (Oct 1, 2012)

We used to rent the LB Whites from a company is Minneapolis called Temp Heat, INC. Found out that in MN you are supposed to be a licensed steam fitter or master plumber to hook up at gas line in home or at meter on exterior of home and they (MN) requires a $150 permit for thawing. Mn taxes everything and sometimes twice 

This company always installed the unit inside home BUT the LB White has an attachment to duct the exhaust out the home. Maybe look into the ducting? Inside the home we spiderwebbed ducting to concentrate on areas where the water system was located. The LB White indirect heaters are expensive but great machines!


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## Ohnojim (Mar 25, 2013)

*I use a mobile home hot air oil furnace*

you just set it on a couple cinder blocks use a flex exhaust pipe out a window, or hook it right in the chimney, or set it outside and duct it in, set the thermostat forget it. You can find them cheap, or get paid to haul them away in my case, and they work basically unattended. They only draw 3-4 amps and can be run on a couple car batteries and a 750 watt inverter overnight if you turn the temp down so its not running too often, once the basement is up to temp.


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## BRADSConst (Oct 2, 2012)

Wannabe said:


> This company always installed the unit inside home BUT the LB White has an attachment to duct the exhaust out the home. Maybe look into the ducting? Inside the home we spiderwebbed ducting to concentrate on areas where the water system was located. The LB White indirect heaters are expensive but great machines!


The sales rep should have spec'd out (and sold) exhaust ducting when he told me I could run it inside the house. I'll have to check into that. Then I don't have to pay a laborer to babysit the heater so it doesn't walk off on homes that have gas/electric on.


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## RichR (Sep 22, 2012)

So who has any secrets to thawing frozen hot water heaters? Those are just about impossible to thaw 100% unless your heating for days! It sucks because you know damned well if its frozen solid, its no longer usable but yet they insist it has to be thawed and drained


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## Maxwell10/4 (Apr 17, 2015)

BRADSConst said:


> If the water heater is frozen solid, you could be looking at days to fully thaw it. If you are bidding through a regional, forget it. They'll want you to do it for $400.
> 
> I'd be $1k to $2k with no frozen water heater. $2k to $3k with a frozen water heater. I also own my equipment and only rent the propane cylinder.


Yeah they simply want me to bid it - I told them already that the 400 W/O wouldn't touch it. They issued me that first - :wink:


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## industrialguttersma (Feb 23, 2016)

AceVentura said:


> Если вы не можете понять, как это сделать это из вашего объема работ? Есть ли у вас возможность сделать эту работу?


You may want to translate this to English AceVentura as people here use English. 

Regards,
George
http://industrialguttersma.com/


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## hammerhead (Apr 26, 2012)

industrialguttersma said:


> You may want to translate this to English AceVentura as people here use English.
> 
> Regards,
> George
> http://industrialguttersma.com/


new invention called Google.


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## GG3 (Mar 3, 2013)

Maxwell10/4 said:


> Ok, I have a crazy property that is all frozen over on the inside (ice build up around some pipes and small buildups elsewhere, as well as frost on walls and spots on ceiling ETC) I have several bids to create on this place but I have NO clue how to approach bidding the Thaw order they gave me.
> 
> they want me to bid on thawing the frozen basement...
> 
> ...


If you want to win your bid you need to find out the square footage of the home and add on on for the basement not included in the GLA. The breaks in Repair Base are below and some sample prices but it will depend on your zip code. You will then need to account for the discount of the National you are working with and work out a price if you are going through a regional. 

Thaw Frozen Plumbing up to - 1000 S.F.	1	EA	$773.59	
Thaw Frozen Plumbing up to - 1600 S.F.	1	EA	$1,005.69	
Thaw Frozen Plumbing up to - 2400 S.F.	1	EA	$1,160.51
Thaw Frozen Plumbing up to - 3500 S.F.	1	EA	$1,624.71


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