Does anyone have a remedy to unclogging a downspot that is fully clogged with ice? One of the downspouts on my house is so backed up that droplets of water are now trickling down (from the warm afternoon sun) and ice is forming on the whole outside of the spout . I'm not much of a handy person and, if it becomes necessary, who/where (i.e.what tradesmen) could I find someone to correct a problem like this?
Appreciate any comments/feedback.
Terry hinterlands of Ontario (GTA)
Try road salt or antifreeze (hardware store: Canadian Tire, Home Dept...)
You can also buy a Heat Tape, it's a wirey cord that you can wrap around the gutter to heat it up. They are normally used to keep pipes from freezing, look in the plumbing section. I'm not sure but I think someone even makes a heat tape especially for laying in the gutter.
Cheers, Jim
Heat tape would work. However, if this is just a temporary thing get one of those little magnetic block heaters for automobile oil pans. Any auto parts store in cold country should sell them. They are meant for attaching to your oil pan and keeping it warm in extreme cold. Stick it on the downspout at the lowest point of the freeze and move it every so often and it might work. Or you might try a propane torch but be careful.
Jim
Thanks for all the suggestions. I've tried the antifreeze idea to start, to see how it'll work out. If it fails I'll go the heat tape route.
Once again, thanks to JezzCe, Jim and Jim.
Terry
antifreeze, are you then collecting it at the bottom of the spout? or polluting the ground?
Last year, we took the downspout apart and soaked it in the tub. You didn't say how big the section was, so this might not work for you. Luckily we didn't have a screw holding that section to the next higher section or it may have been more difficult. We did have to use a hair dryer for quite a few minutes to loosen the section. I'm told that hot water freezes more quickly than cold, so pouring it over the gutters will compound the problem.
After you've fixed it, make sure that you keep the downspout's egress point clear of snow as best you can, make sure there's a good angle on any angled sections so gravity can keep that water moving, and make sure it's not lying in a puddle or a low spot. The puddle is what happened to us.
-Oldy
Personally, I have tried both salt and antifreeze. I prefer salt. The antifreeze was left over in the garage from the previous owner. The product was sold for this purpose. I am not sure about the environmental impact and with such a small amount.
For a long term solution, you can install Roof De-Icing Cable(s). After all the ice has melted, drop the cable inside the gutters and all the way down the sprouts. Switch the de-icing cable "on" only at freezing or above freezing temperature. I use a remote switch. The one you use for the outdoor Christmas lights.
Aslo check the following web page:
Put a cup of 34-0-0 (nitrogen) fertilizer at the the top. This will lower the melting point of the ice, but it won't work under 20 degrees F.
You don't need a tradesman for this. But how much you end up doing kinda depends on how much you want to go climbing up on a ladder in the snow and freezing your buns off, and how much you don't.
if you want to do it the right way, your priority will be to melt or chop the ice dam that's gumming up the downspout where the downspout is. A whole variety of melting methods abound, from piling on a mess of salt, that white ice-melt stuff, fertilizer, etc., or hacking away with a hammer and cheisel.
If you want to do it the lazy guy's way without the ladder business, wait until a good 35-40 degree day when the ice and snow are melting and bang on the sucker a bunch of times until the ice comes out the end of the spout.
Pretty much up to you.
AJS
UPDATE Well the antifreeze really didn't do a thing except sit, and freeze I suppose, on the horizontal eavesdrough that drains to the vertical downspout!?! None of the antifreeze made it down to ground level. The downspout is approx 25 ft long and the whole spout is frozen over with a solid block of ice. And unfortunately the ladder I have does not reach high enough - don't ask how on how I managed to get the anti freeze in, ahem, opening the living room window, standing on the window sill, and (barely) reaching up & over to deposit a cup of anti freeze into the eavesdrough!. I believe that because that the whole span of the 25 ft spout is frozen solid with the ice, I really don't have any chance of effectively melting it down!?? The temperatures at night have been constant over the last few nights at about -15 celsius (approx 2 F), and the suggestion of the heat wire will not do the trick. Depositing salts, nitrogen fertilzier sounds like an option but I guess that I'd need to place them at the top opening of the downspout which I can't reach with my ladder (I'm planning on asking my neighbours this weekend if they have a tall ladder).
Again I appreciate all of you taking the time to respond to my call, thanks !
Terry
well its going to cost some money but try this, hook up a hose to the hot water and spray it at the roof above the spout!
also, in my house I removed the bottom bend of the spout and with a couple good smack's large chunks came out!
It takes time for the antifreeze, or any de-icer to make its way down 25"; be patience
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