# Hose freezing



## muddermankc (Apr 6, 2009)

was wondering what the best way is to keep hose from freezing. Alot of the houses we cant get real close so hose is outside on ground,gonna get tarps tomorrow to lay down but still not sure that will work, 5degrees in kansas city today.


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## alltex (Jan 31, 2009)

To keep your hose from freezing, DRAIN IT ! Personaly in winter i don,t use a hose. I use the freeze thaw method. Just brush your empty tools in a buckett of water (or don,t),and wrap em in a mud bag and leave them to outside.Just like meat when thawed they look just like you left them.Make sure they are emty before freezing. the aluminum thaws quik.pumps take a little longer But if you just can,t stand to be a pig like me drain your hose and freez you hands cleaning up in 5 degrees . your welcome.


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## muddermankc (Apr 6, 2009)

no our texture hose,lol not my garden hose:yes::yes:


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## smisner50s (Jan 6, 2011)

Go to you local supply yard and get some pipe insulation for copper water lines that stuff comes in multi dia choices and its got double sided tape to make airtight seal


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## drywallnflorida (Sep 19, 2008)

how bout a couple of benches or homemade x braces to keep it off the ground and don't stop spraying till your done. 

I don't know how you all deal with the cold I hate it when it gets below 50 degrees


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## The_Texture_Guy (Dec 31, 2010)

how bout this. man up and tell your builder you don't spray in 5 degrees. thats what we do in florida. unless its 40 we WILL NOT SPRAY the mud wont dry. it looks funny afterwards. makes better sense to do it right.


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## Mudslinger (Mar 16, 2008)

....


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## 2buckcanuck (Jul 9, 2010)

The_Texture_Guy said:


> how bout this. man up and tell your builder you don't spray in 5 degrees. thats what we do in florida. unless its 40 we WILL NOT SPRAY the mud wont dry. it looks funny afterwards. makes better sense to do it right.


you live in a warm climate,so I understand your line of thinking but.....
In the cold areas of north america ,the house is going to be nice, warm and toasty.That would be a poor excuse to not go to work because the weather is cold outside.that would be like a taper saying he can't go to work today,because it's raining


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## alltex (Jan 31, 2009)

Oh, sorry .I used to just leave it pumping.Tie the hose in the tank and let it pump all the way to the job and till you spray.I had it freez on the way once and put a tarp over it at the job with a 250000 btu blaster under it that thawed it .


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## Workaholic (Dec 13, 2010)

Insulate the hose and/or keep it off the ground.


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## muddermankc (Apr 6, 2009)

thanks everyone,went and got some insulated tarps this morning and didnt have any problems today. Did leave the garages off cuz its just to damn cold. Well go back and grab em once the trim trees gone and we have a slow day.


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## The_Texture_Guy (Dec 31, 2010)

2buckcanuck said:


> you live in a warm climate,so I understand your line of thinking but.....
> In the cold areas of north america ,the house is going to be nice, warm and toasty.That would be a poor excuse to not go to work because the weather is cold outside.that would be like a taper saying he can't go to work today,because it's raining


i am not going to risk breaking my 30k machine just cuz they want texture sprayed in 5 degrees. we don't have big portable heaters inside houses. we usually freeze our butts off. in florida, we have a humid cold. it stings. and it hurts real bad, even 50 degrees sucks here. i would rather spray in 5 degrees in kansas anyday of the week then in 40 degrees in florida. 

Hell i was at the ICE show at the gaylord palms inside without a jacket on in 9 degree temperature. that was a breeze. my hands got a little numbe because they werent covered but other then that. you will never experinece a cold like a florida cold. it sucks. big time


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## rhardman (Jul 7, 2009)

*Interesting timing...*

We've been working on this.

What do you think of 10 feet of hose you could heat up to 150 degrees so everything running through it would be warm? I'm not sure what excessive heat would do to the mud but you wouldn't need to have it that hot.

I contacted a hose company about this a while back.









Good idea?
Bad idea?


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## silverstilts (Oct 15, 2008)

Heat tape it...then plug it in and use some insulation blankets that they use for ground thawing and you are all set. Heat tape does not generate super high temps. Even with Ricks suggestion I don't think mud or texture would get that hot or even warm unless you just left it there heating while not spraying.


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## The_Texture_Guy (Dec 31, 2010)

silverstilts said:


> Heat tape it...then plug it in and use some insulation blankets that they use for ground thawing and you are all set. Heat tape does not generate super high temps. Even with Ricks suggestion I don't think mud or texture would get that hot or even warm unless you just left it there heating while not spraying.


Well i can tell you being in florida when it it hot during the summer. i have had hoses blow just from having thicker mud in the line and the heat getting to it made the mud expand and boom. this is when the rig wasnt even being used. Ive seen in on about 5 different occasions. even when i was just a laborer working under someone. so heat can be a bad thing. It will make the mud harden and dry faster then what it should. it might make it harder to pump as well but i can't be quoted on that as i don't know if thats ever been proven.


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## tpope (Jan 16, 2011)

we just use insulation bats ,wrap hose and duck tape it works great


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## alltex (Jan 31, 2009)

Where i live i,v sprayed in minus 5 to plus 100 degrees,thats why i put my rig in an insulated ,heated trailer.Keeps it cool in summer ,warm in winter.The hose comes out when i ,m ready to shoot and gets put rite back when i,m done,no need to insulate hose if your mud is moving.I,m sure the Minasota boys do some exteme sprayin too.A couple winters ago i got done and the thermometer in my truck said minus 20.Thats cold !!!


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## Mudslinger (Mar 16, 2008)

....


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## pipercub17 (Feb 26, 2010)

graco sells line heaters 
or you could get this stuff '
http://www.goulburnvalleyreptilesupplies.com.au/Heat Cords.htm
i have this on the first 20 m of my line with pipe insulation 
works great ! 
you can get this stuff from many pet stores
this company makes up to 16m 
http://www.zoomed.com/db/products/E...iO3M6MToiMCI7czo4OiJTZWFyY2hfeSI7czoxOiIwIjt9

just plug it in as soon as you get to the job so it has time to heat up !


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## pipercub17 (Feb 26, 2010)

The_Texture_Guy said:


> Well i can tell you being in florida when it it hot during the summer. i have had hoses blow just from having thicker mud in the line and the heat getting to it made the mud expand and boom. this is when the rig wasnt even being used. Ive seen in on about 5 different occasions. even when i was just a laborer working under someone. so heat can be a bad thing. It will make the mud harden and dry faster then what it should. it might make it harder to pump as well but i can't be quoted on that as i don't know if thats ever been proven.


yes i can see adding heat in a warm place would be a bad thing 
but when it is - 20 lines will be rock hard in no time


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## Justa Hick (Nov 23, 2008)

.city today.[/quote]


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## Justa Hick (Nov 23, 2008)

Hmm, a question for Lake Wobegon. We used to be the only ones on the job when it started to get a little chilly here. Lots of time the roofers would skip out because their hammers and the shingles would shatter at -20 or so. 
First keep the sprayer and mud warm. Easy here as our trucks get lined with 1 or two inches of good foam board. I had 3 inches on my walls and ceilings, two under a plywood layer onto of the floor boards of my FL-70. (26,000lb gvw) Heat it with direct vent lp furnaces. A 20 foot box van needs 30,000 btu to say warm. Mount a 100 lb lp tank in the frame underneath. The heat system will cost 1,000 plus. The Styrofoam 1,000 +-. You will also need to splice in a line to feed a 30-60,000 or larger 80-150,000 btu torpedo heater to thaw things out when the open doors let enough cold in to freeze things any way. 
When the doors are shut one or two radiant electric heaters mounted on the ceiling will keep it toasty. Nice heat as it warms the box from the bottom up. Felt like infloor heating. Works much nicer than forced air electric heaters. 
Keep your hoses and anything freezable at least a paint pail above the floor. Anything lower will freeze in the dead air space down there. 
But you question was about the hose lying outside. I always had two hoses. One off the wall tex side, and one off the ceiling tex side. Each was 300 ft coming of a 2L3 and a 2L4 pump.
We sprayed apartment building and hotels all the time. We were jumping between 2-3 24=75 unit buildings all the time. ($100,000 a month in just board cost at 25 cents foot.)
The biggest trick is to have the crew tight enough that you just don't stop the flow. Moving water does not freeze. Neither does moving mud. The coldest we sprayed was -30 or a bit lower. The super couldn't believe we of all the trades would be the only ones to show up. As long as the hose did not sit still for more than about 5 minutes it didn't freeze. If we were remixing the next 300 gallons, on break, or something broke, we did not pull in the hose. 
We just kept pulling the outside part indoors before it lay long enough to freeze. We had lots of hose so we into and out of the truck and building never letting any one section stay cold. Once the chilled part got indoors or in the truck it would warm enough to go back out for another turn in the freezer. 
We did not insulate it, except on the metal coupler between 100 foot sections. The metal would freeze in a heartbeat. fiberglass insulation and duct tape there. Looked like a Red\Green volleyball, but it worked. 
I thought about running it through a 6-10 inch insulated flex tube. (like flexible ducting) The still air would freeze yet but i would like to hook a blower up to the open end inside the building. Then the house air could be pushed by the hose on its way to heating the truck box also. 
My first machine was a 240 gallon split tank spray king on wheels. Open California style. Not so good when the job ran long and i had to leave a full batch out in freezing weather overnight. Pulled the hoses off and put into the building. Then we stood fiberglass insulation all around the bottom of the frame and machine. (like a trailer house in cold winter) then stuck the nose of a 30-50,000 lp torpedo through the insulation to heat the tanks and machine like a cooking pot on a fire for the night. Worked gooten.





muddermankc said:


> was wondering what the best way is to keep hose from freezing. Alot of the houses we cant get real close so hose is outside on ground,gonna get tarps tomorrow to lay down but still not sure that will work, 5degrees in kansas city today.


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## Justa Hick (Nov 23, 2008)

Hmm, a question for Lake Wobegon. We used to be the only ones on the job when it started to get a little chilly here. Lots of time the roofers would skip out because their hammers and the shingles would shatter at -20 or so. 
First keep the sprayer and mud warm. Easy here as our trucks get lined with 1 or two inches of good foam board. I had 3 inches on my walls and ceilings, two under a plywood layer onto of the floor boards of my FL-70. (26,000lb gvw) Heat it with direct vent lp furnaces. A 20 foot box van needs 30,000 btu to say warm. Mount a 100 lb lp tank in the frame underneath. The heat system will cost 1,000 plus. The Styrofoam 1,000 +-. You will also need to splice in a line to feed a 30-60,000 or larger 80-150,000 btu torpedo heater to thaw things out when the open doors let enough cold in to freeze things any way. 
When the doors are shut one or two radiant electric heaters mounted on the ceiling will keep it toasty. Nice heat as it warms the box from the bottom up. Felt like infloor heating. Works much nicer than forced air electric heaters. 
Keep your hoses and anything freezable at least a paint pail above the floor. Anything lower will freeze in the dead air space down there. 
But you question was about the hose lying outside. I always had two hoses. One off the wall tex side, and one off the ceiling tex side. Each was 300 ft coming of a 2L3 and a 2L4 pump.
We sprayed apartment building and hotels all the time. We were jumping between 2-3 24=75 unit buildings all the time. ($100,000 a month in just board cost at 25 cents foot.)
The biggest trick is to have the crew tight enough that you just don't stop the flow. Moving water does not freeze. Neither does moving mud. The coldest we sprayed was -30 or a bit lower. The super couldn't believe we of all the trades would be the only ones to show up. As long as the hose did not sit still for more than about 5 minutes it didn't freeze. If we were remixing the next 300 gallons, on break, or something broke, we did not pull in the hose. 
We just kept pulling the outside part indoors before it lay long enough to freeze. We had lots of hose so we into and out of the truck and building never letting any one section stay cold. Once the chilled part got indoors or in the truck it would warm enough to go back out for another turn in the freezer. 
We did not insulate it, except on the metal coupler between 100 foot sections. The metal would freeze in a heartbeat. fiberglass insulation and duct tape there. Looked like a Red\Green volleyball, but it worked. 
I thought about running it through a 6-10 inch insulated flex tube. (like flexible ducting) The still air would freeze yet but i would like to hook a blower up to the open end inside the building. Then the house air could be pushed by the hose on its way to heating the truck box also. 
My first machine was a 240 gallon split tank spray king on wheels. Open California style. Not so good when the job ran long and i had to leave a full batch out in freezing weather overnight. Pulled the hoses off and put into the building. Then we stood fiberglass insulation all around the bottom of the frame and machine. (like a trailer house in cold winter) then stuck the nose of a 30-50,000 lp torpedo through the insulation to heat the tanks and machine like a cooking pot on a fire for the night. Worked gooten.


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## Justa Hick (Nov 23, 2008)

I dont think the electric heat tape is depenable idea. First off they are realy low wattage. Even if one was strong enough to pull 15 amps off an outlet (which would be 1500 not 50-100 watts) they would not hold back 0-minus 40 cold. A 1500 watt heater would do nothing outdoors here. Second you would never know if it was on as you cant see it working as you can see the flame of an lp heater. you know when the lp is burning or not. you cant see if the breaker poped or some one else pulled you extension cord out to plug in their radio.


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