Archive for the ‘Ice Dams: General Info’ Category
Tuesday, September 29th, 2015
I was recently interviewed by Realtor Magazine for a piece about preparing home buyers for severe weather –including Ice Dams, why ice dams happen and ice dam prevention methods.
You can read the full Article at Realtor Magazine Here:
Help Clients Prepare for Weather Challenges
The piece also discusses other weather related problems and disasters that can happen from strong winter weather. Check it out. I am frequently interviewed from media and professional sources from all around the country on the topic of ice dams because I started The Ice Dam Company so long ago. We are in fact the largest and the oldest ice dam prevention and ice dam removal company in the country. Before the Ice Dam Company, no other company existed that specialized in this area of business. Now, of course, the web is littered with ‘experts’ and ‘specialists’ purporting to be leaders.
-Steve Kuhl
Tags: about ice dams, best rated ice dam removal contractor, commercial ice removal, edina ice dam removal, edina ice dam steaming, how do I know I have ice dams, minneapolis ice dam removal
Posted in Ice Dam Prevention, Ice Dam Removal, Ice Dams: General Info, Water Damage | Comments Off on National Association of Realtors and The Ice Dam Company
Wednesday, March 11th, 2015
As the oldest ice removal company in the USA, we get asked to do some pretty bizarre stuff. We have done our share of strange ice removal projects but one that keeps popping up is removing ice from around cooling towers. What is a cooling tower? I don’t know exactly but I suspect it has something to do with providing chilled air or water to industrial equipment inside buildings. We have removed ice from around industrial equipment, like cooling towers, for many years. The tricky part is that they are normally fed by high voltage and natural gas so you don’t want an inexperienced person attempting this work. We slice away ice from commercial and industrial equipment using the same equipment we use for removing ice dams from homes. That is, we use our modified commercial steamers. Our guys were under such pressure earlier this winter that they worked from 2pm around the clock to 7:30am. The operation of an entire plant depended on the cooling tower being operational. We used two crews to complete the task. It wasn’t a cheap job but the cost of one lost day of production was far worse. Plus, according to the commercial HVAC contractor consulting on the project, there was a good chance that the cooling tower could be seriously damaged if the ice was allowed to remain in place any longer than it was.
Industrial commercial ice removal contractor
Sometimes a crane is required to reach our work.
Commercial roof ice removal using steam
Tags: commercial ice removal, cooling tower ice removal, ice removal from HVAC equipment, industrial ice removal contractor, removing ice from commercial site
Posted in ice dam removal cost, Ice Dams, Misc., Ice Dams: General Info | Comments Off on How to Remove Ice from an Industrial Cooling Tower
Friday, January 23rd, 2015
Heat cable reviews, Ice Dam Heat Cable Reviews
Heat cables manufactured by Easy Heat, Frost King and Wrap On are not worth buying. I can’t say it more plainly than that. These cables are typically sold at box stores like Home Depot and Lowes and they should be ashamed to sell them. Why? For starters, they are only warrantied for 1 or 2 years for a very good reason. That is as long as they last (I’ve attached warranties from Wrap On and Frost King below). Homeowners buy bad cables because they are cheap and because they believe what the packaging says. Sadly, we replace thousands of feet of this junk every year. We install more heat cables that any firm in the country and fully 20% of the work we do is the replacement failed ice dam heat cable systems manufactured by Easy Heat, Frost King and Wrap On.
Beyond the short lifespan, heat cables by Easy Heat, Frost King and Wrap On are energy hogs. While they only typically draw 5 watts a foot, they run at 100% while they are plugged in, regardless of the surrounding temperatures. They are what’s called ‘constant wattage’ cable. Our ice dam heat cables are self-regulating. They sense the outdoor temperatures and draw only the electricity they need to do the job. The net result is that cheap cables made by Easy Heat, Frost King and Wrap On chew through electricity. So, somewhat paradoxically, our heavy duty ice dam heat tape runs at over twice the peak wattage of the cheap stuff, it uses far less electricity over a season.
Don’t buy Big Box heat cable.
Which heat cables are best for ice dams?
Heat tape made by Frost King, Easy Heat and Wrap On is worthless
Heat tape made by Frost King, Easy Heat and Wrap On is worthless
Tags: Easy Heat heat cables are terrible, frost king heat cable is worthless, Heat cable reviews, heat tape ice dam review results, heat tape reviews, home depot heat cable is crap, ice dam company heat cables for ice dams, which heat cables are best for ice dams, Wrap on heat cables are a scam
Posted in Ice Dam Prevention, Ice Dam Removal, Ice Dams, Misc., Ice Dams: General Info | Comments Off on Easy Heat , Frost King, Wrap On Ice Dam Heat Cable Scam
Tuesday, January 15th, 2013
Minnesota and the Twin Cities are having another lighter snow season this year. We are on pace to be well below our average snowfall of about 50″ of snow per winter. When there’s less snow there generally are less ice dams to remove, though snowfall isn’t the only factor that contributes to ice dams forming. Elsewhere there has been more snow that is causing ice dam problems, and we’d thought we’d do a quick round-up of the current status of ice dam formations accross the counrty.
Our Neighbors
Wisconsin has gotten quite a bit more snow then we have, and ice dams are in the news lately.
More than two weeks after the blizzard that paralyzed southern Wisconsin, homeowners may be paying for its effects — broken, snow-heavy limbs and ceiling-spotting ice dams — far into the spring.
Full article From the Wisconsin State Journal About Ice Dams
We found this bit in an article in the Sauk Prairie Eagle about Ice Dams quoting a contractor dealing with Ice Dams in Wisconsin to be fundimentally flawed:
“When there is 10 inches of snow, it’s critical you remove snow from the bottom three to four feet of your roof”
We know from our extensive experience with ice dam removal and ice dam prevention that removing only the bottom 4 feet of snow from your roof doesn’t always solve the problem. In fact, assuming it has solved things can set you up for double the disappointment. Because Ice dams can still form, and even take on a more damaging form. See our case study on “Double Dams”.
The East
The northeastern region of the US is typically a hotbed for ice dams. Where they generally don’t have the persistant double-sub-zero digit temps for as long as Minnesotas does, they make up for in in the amount of snowfall. The Title of this article from the Press Republican makes the genius assertion: “Ice Dams Contribute to Roof Leaks”, and we think they’re onto something there. Then there’s this article from the Booth Bay Register about preventing ice dams that also has the distinction of having the worst ice dam graphic we’ve seen in a while. We don’t mean to poke fun. Not everyone is as geeky about ice as we are.
Posted in Ice Dams: General Info | Comments Off on Although Less in Minnesota, Ice Dams Abound
