so up here in new england we can get ice dams.
this is when the snow on the roof melts and runs down the roof and refreezes when it gets to the cold eve.
it can get problematic if the dam builds up enough to allow water to back in under the shingles and then into the house.
to fight this one can mount a heating cable on the edge of the roof to create channels in the ice for the melt water to run off, which we have.
so now that we have a nice thick layer of snow and sustained cold weather we have ideal conditions for growing ice dams.
It's time to plug in the heaters to melt them back.
unfortunately, the guy we have to take care of the house got distracted with work this fall and never pulled the plug for the cable out of the gutter. ( incidentally that guy looks an awful lot like this author )

So I had to go melt back the 4 inches of ice that's in the gutter to get out the plug to the cable that will melt the ice that's in the gutter. got that?

So for an hour and a half I laid out my third floor dormer, 1800 watt heat gun in my right hand, shop vac hose in my left, reaching down 3 feet, melting away the ice and sucking the melting ice water up before it refroze in the gutter.

Eventually i finally got that ^&%$&^ thing out...

I will admit it took me a little bit of thought to come with how I was going to get it out.

at some point, I've got to fire the guy who is supposed to take care of this stuff....
I wish.

 

You took the hard route. Allow me to describe the LB easy method.

Remove the shower head from a second floor bathroom. Screw on a garden hose fitting (you can get them at any hardware store). Attach a garden hose to the new attachment on the shower head. Run the hose out a window and aim the end of the hose at the ice you don't want on your roof. Turn on the hot water. Wait a few minutes. Ice will disappear.

A cautious man can do this from inside the house. You can drink coffee while you watch the ice melt from the warm side of the window. But I think any real man who has decided to water his house in the middle of January really should stand out on his roof for all his neighbors to admire.

 

So just put the kill-a-watt on the heater cable.
exactly 1000 watts.
and that is one of 4 cables. sigh

that whirring sound is my electric meter.

 

Thanks to both of you for lifting my spirits immensely. As bad as it's been here I haven't had to deal with ice dams. The winter time shaded side of the pool house roof still has some snow and ice but the gutters are running fine.

The whole neighborhood sounds like springtime in the Rockies.

 

Count your blessings in that you didn't have to shovel 12ft of snow off the roof before you very able to attempt getting the plug out.

We could start a whole list of horror stories from winter experiences but I'd rather just pretend it didn't happen.

 

Jerry, Bill and Catherine, you seem to really know how to have fun!

 

No gutters FTW!

Jerry, ya shoulda waited till later today the Patriots game was a waste of time

 

Dang...... sounds like a fun time living in the northern US!

 

Ice dams, huh?

Well, down here today, the problem was the damn ice. It melted so fast that the cold drinks warmed up in the sun. Talk about a hassle! HPH

 

And I've had a problems with damn mice.............at the office. Body count is up to four.

Dr. C.