Suction Breaker

Several years ago I was speaking with an Engineer from the Army Corps of Engineers. He told me that overseas someplace (an I dont remember where) they used Arc welders to break the suction aroung a stuck piece of equipment. Supposedly stick probes in the ground on either side of the machine and pour the power to the probes. He claimed that this broke the suction and allowed the stuck machine to be pulled out with ease. Has anybody had any first hand experience with this proceedure?:beatsme

very interesting but i dont think id want to test it out

That's a new one.. Don't you need one of them Corpse's of Engineers to be holding on to one of the probes??? :falldownlaugh:falldownlaugh

why dont you show me how it works while i stand on this big rubber pad!! ointhead:duh

sounds like a real electrifing experence for sure . Think that I will pass on sitting in the operators seat on this job

I wonder if it is like using an arc welder to thaw underground pipes? Maybe heat up the area enough to vaporize the water and create positive pressure rather than negative...

kanewolf said:

I wonder if it is like using an arc welder to thaw underground pipes? Maybe heat up the area enough to vaporize the water and create positive pressure rather than negative...

Click to expand...

Your the first one here that actual thought about it kanewolf i am proud of you And yes that is the way the thaw out water lines. The other posts talked about electrocution, but the probes are both grounded so i can see a possiblity that the electrofield could cause the suction to be broke. Seems a possibility too me:beatsme Just thought maybe someone here on HEF had some more info.:cool2

Just grew up in an area with a few frozen water lines. Seen it done many times...

Never heard of this tecknique using welder currant to help break the suction grandpa.In my "Forney" welding manual It discribes the thawing process in the way the frozen line is thawed.I always thought it just warmed up the water pipe,but the book said the electric currant causes fractures in the ice allowing water to start flowing through the cracks thawing out the line.Electricity can have a strange effect on it's suroundings.It's posible it would help breack the suction.I might try it on the next recovery job.Now one time my buddy stuck his td 20 dozer good,we backed the wrecker in and hooked up the cables then drove a 15 foot piece of inch gas line under the dozer then put air pressure on the line as we began pulling with the winches.I think it helped a little.

welding cables

I have never heard of the welder being used. But I have of using injected air to break the suction effect the folks that have used it inject air atround the stuck machine in several areas over several hrs thanks BIG D

Experiments with this concept to reduce the amount of power needed to pull large chisel plows/ rippers in ag applications has been done , but never made to it to market. Bigger tractors with duals and triples , and tracks must have been more practical than electrically charging tillage tools.

Using arc welding generators to thaw frozen pipes I've done. Never heard of the use for unsticking badly stuck machines though. Hope someone comes up with more info on that.

With lots of machinery now using computers, I would be leary of subjecting the machine to large elctrical currents. A computer burn out could be more costly than a little digging and pulling.
David d.