Unusual application for hot air gun

[The Medway Handyman]

Asked to sort out a blocked downpipe on a hotel today. Cast iron pipe coming down from roof into a hopper, then a smaller diameter pipe down to the ground.

Piggin plastic drinks bottle had somehow entered the top pipe at roof level & become jammed in the hopper. Top of the bottle was inside the top pipe, bottom wouldn't go any further into the lower pipe.

Spent half an hour prodding, hacking, pulling to no avail. Finally managed to get a piece of string around the neck & attacked the bottle with a hot air paint stripper gun. After a few mins it started to buckle & shrink the point where I could pull it out.

I was going to leave the hot air gun off the van since I don't use it much :-)

[JimK]

did you need the string round the neck in the end?

JimK

[TheOldFellow]

This why we need manned space-flight. Show me a robot that would think of that.

R.

[Bill]

In message , TheOldFellow writes

Talking of manned space flight, how about a gas and air mix beneath the bottle, ignite it and blow the bottle out of the top of the pipe? Assuming it was open at the top.

[Tim Lamb]

In message , The Medway Handyman writes

How else can you fit plastic hose to a spigot, bend plastic conduit, dry out abrasive paper, speed up glue setting and even strip tiny areas of paint?

regards

[Tim Watts]

Tim Lamb wibbled on Monday 01 February 2010 22:17

I use a pipe spring, cold.

Agree on all the others though ;->

[Heliotrope Smith]

Tim Lamb wrote in news: [e-mail]:

With a blowlamp of course.Plus boil up water for tea

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[Mike Barnes]

The Medway Handyman :

Lost your angle grinder?

[The Medway Handyman]

That was on the list of possibilities :-) I did consider cutting a bit off the upper pipe so I could free the neck of the bottle. Typically the blocked gully was right above the hotel main entrance, so it had to be sorted.

[The Medway Handyman]

Yer. Once shrunk it could have fallen down the lower pipe which went straight underground. Plus it was surprisingly hot when it came out.

[JimK]

ahhh :>)

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Don't forget heat shrink insulation. I'd say that essential when doing electrical repairs.

[Onetap]

If the cap had been on the bottle, it would have expanded and wedged itself into the pipe.

Someone will shortly try your technique with a plastic drain pipe.

[The Medway Handyman]

The cap was on, but I stabbed the bottle several times trying to get it out.

[Tim Lamb]

In message , "Dave Plowman (News)" writes

Of course:-)

regards

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