Froze down flooded wheel house

[pj4]

i agree, do not use a gun to crack the ice. too many things can go wrong. imagine explaining to the sherrif why your buddy has a hole in the forehead from the recqocet of the ice!! been thinking of a design where a person can use a weed burner in the end of your frame to blow heat through out the frame for thawing out ice. one corner turned up with cap to add heat, opposit corner has outlet. just a thought!

[Nate McVey]

Like Deitz said, please do not do the gun trick! Not only might you put lead in the water, but you don't know where that shell/bullet is going to go! Do the keg party and put some tip-ups out, I'd be there with my chisel, sunflower heater and kerosene heater in a second!

[Dave S]

Thanks Dietz and Shiner2367 for commenting on the gun trick. I almost "pulled the trigger", pun intended, on a post earlier but felt it's best to keep the comment to myself.

[Dances with Walleye]

I often wandered what I would do if this happened to me, I agree I would not use any rock salt, as that might undermine your foundation causing it all to go under depends how fast you get at it, besides not good for our enviroment, I would get the ice chipped up around the whole house, try to get under the cornerswith a hole so you can put a jack, high lift jack and start out putting pressure on the frame, or you could get something sturdy under the frame put a block under it take a hefty come along drill two holes run the cable and hook under the ice hook to your ball hitch and start cranking, with that floor frozen down you kinda in a jam, im afraid youll twist it or something, definately get the floor warmed up, I think I would smack the floor try to get the ice to shatter get what you can busted up, I dont think heat will never penetrate through the floor, maybe a guy could build a frame around the perimeter and pull it up with a winch, put pressure on your wheel winches and front jack, I always jack my tongue up first on my wheel house, just some crazy ideas.

Also, Rock salt is ineffective below 18 degrees... So it would have to happen before the cold snap... And then shovel up the contaminated area.

Isoporpyl alcohol would help... But it's a spendy solution, and again looking at contamination...

******

Going to have to set the heater on high for like 2 days, a blow torch and chisel, chisel, chisel.

*****

My house was frozen in 3 inches on skirting... 5 inches on the wheels...

Took 2 hours of pain in the butt chiseling after a day of heating... But we got her.

[Down Deep]

A few years ago I got involved in digging out a frozen house up at Lake of the Woods. It is going to be harder than you think because the frames cross members under the floor are more than likely iced in as well. We ended up using a handyman jack, spud bars, and a couple of good long pry bars with a couple of RR ties to get some leverage. We also used a chain saw to chip under around and under the frame. Bring and wear your safety equipment as the saw will throw ice all over the place. The chainsaw really saved a lot of time. Be prepared for a long job. You'll owe your buddies lots of beer.

[leech~~]

Hey fellows! I just said I seen someone use an .06, not that I would or agreed with them doing it! Sorry for bring it up! leech ~~

[Tyler23]

hook her up to the pickup and start jerking. lol i would try the salt idea before i went any farther.

[SM1]

I also did the auger trick. Drill a couple inches away from the frame, all the way around the house about 6" down or so. chisel around the bottom to help break frame free and around the holes inside the house good. Then use jacks. If they dont work..use more chisel and try jacks again. My house came up easier than I thought it would. The house was frozen in about 4 inches.

Do the keg thing also

[teamfish]

Not sure if this is a good suggestion but maybe you could use a welder and hook to the frame and thaw it out. Works on frozen water lines maybe the same can work here. Just a thought, and more input would need to be looked at.

[LightningBG]

I like Jeff's idea with the chain, and its proved to work in the past. I would use some salt too. I cant imagine a 40lb bag or two could hurt the lake too much (in comparison to the truck thats plwing/salting the road around the lake).

80 Lbs of salt is better that 3000 lbs of shack in the lake.

[motley man]

Turn up the heat all day and chisel at corners, use handy man jack to get pressure and chisel around edges. Put something between house and top of jack so as to not do damage. Please be careful! Always put blocks under house, at least two 2X4's

[fishandshroom]

One thing that will make it easier is just to jack two opposite corners. Kinda like twisting an ice cube tray.

[wayne123]

Are people really serious about putting salt on the ice? I cannot imagine that is legal.

[Caleb S]

No easy way out here. It's just going to take a lot of elbow grease and some serious chopping with a chisel. Chop all around the outside, inside around the holes, anywhere you can access the frame. If you do that and get a few jacks it will pop loose. Worse case scenario you have to destroy some of the floor to get at the frame but leaving it there's no option so...

[dougger222]

A couple years ago had the 11x16 low house freeze in with 4in blocks. Had to spend five man hours with chizels to break it loose.

Could have been worse like when my friend called me to see if I could help him move his sleeper house. He put the crank poles down on 2x4's and they broke right through the ice. A guy with a one ton truck who was crazy enough to be on the lake pulled it out. When we moved the house we looked at the hole and all five of us standing there could have jumped in at once. 50 mph wind and 50 degrees ate up the ice really fast. If it would have gone another day he would have lost his house.

[deadeye]

Lots of good ideas. I would go with a big combo, blast the heat, chip all the ice out of the inside, chip out the tires, and use the hi-lift jack around the edge to pop it loose. Oh yeah, and what Tumbleweed said too, lots of manpower motivated by the thought of free beer. Its amazing what can be done when the reward of free beer is offered.

[L_Cappo]

the chain saw thing works well.i seen a guy use a riffle.he opened up 4 holes in eahc corner of the house and fired 4 shots.the ice shattered and the house was free.i think that would be my last resort tho.get a few chisels and a chain say also a track jack works best.do not try to pull the house unless you know its free.

[lovebigbluegills]

I've read all of the ideas on this post, and the best-sounding one I think (for the water and safety), is the keg.

[mr hockeypuck]

Get your self a jack, put it under your hitch and jack it till it has quite a bit of pressure. Not so much to bend the hitch. Then put as much heat on inside of the house as you can. Give it time and it will pop free. I have seen some really frozen houses break free using this method.

Bobcat Jerry

P.S. Have patience can take up to a couple of hours to come up, if it starts to lift and still is frozen apply more pressure with the jack

[Big Dave2]

If your steel frame on your wheel house is hollow all the way around you can hook a hose to the front tubing that is connected to a heat source like the tailpipe of your truck. let it run for a while and it will heat up the frame hopefully enough to pop it loose.

[broman]

I've read all of the ideas on this post, and the best-sounding one I think (for the water and safety), is the keg.

Nothing says safety, like a bunch of drunks swinging picks, chisels and hammers while standing on the ice. Sweet.

[broman]

If your steel frame on your wheel house is hollow all the way around you can hook a hose to the front tubing that is connected to a heat source like the tailpipe of your truck. let it run for a while and it will heat up the frame hopefully enough to pop it loose.

I kinda like that idea. Just don't sit in the fishhouse while you're doing it. Cough, cough, thud....

[ice_it_06]

Have seen one broken loose by drilling 2-3 partial holes outside the frame @ hole locations. Chisel under the frame to get a "chain" under the rail and go inside and pass chain through to the other side by reaching in the holes.

Drill out opposite side as the other.

Put a jack in the partial holes and apply pressure.

In the case I witnessed the frame did not pop free. They used a 30 pound propane tank with a hose/torch attachment and heated the frame up all around the house.

Took about 20 minutes and they hooked the chain to the truck and cut it free with ease. Was a 8 X 16 froze in about 3".

[deadeye]

[Nothing says safety, like a bunch of drunks swinging picks, chisels and hammers while standing on the ice. Sweet.

LOL, U got to wait until after they get it free to tap the keg. They will work harder than if you tap it right away. Plus, you wont notice that your back it thrown out till the next day because of the medicine right after the work.

[Iambjm]

Did you get it out?