Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, January 20, 1994 TAG: 9401200068
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A5 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: MIKE HUDSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Unfortunately, store managers say they are sold out of heat tape - which can be plugged into an electrical outlet to thaw frozen pipes or protect not-yet-frozen ones. A few still have molded foam insulation to wrap around pipes.
Hardware-store managers said you can use a propane torch on metal pipes (but not plastic ones, of course.)
"If you're using a torch on your pipes, you want to be extra careful," said Monica Wood, manager of Wood's ACE Hardware on Grandin Road Southwest in Roanoke. "Use a little common sense."
Put something behind the pipe to block the heat from the torch and make sure it doesn't ignite old newspapers, wood or other flammable objects.
Most hardware stores have run out of propane torches, however.
For both metal and plastic pipes, hardware-store managers say, try some other heat source: a hair dryer, a heat lamp, even a bare light bulb.
Rock salt and ice-melting chemicals also are in demand - and hard to find.
"We're pretty much sold out of anything that has anything to do with heating pipes or melting ice," said Bob Steele, manager of Brambleton Hardware in Southwest Roanoke County.
ACE Hardware's Wood says "probably 90 percent of Roanoke" is looking for heat tape. "They're all out here looking for anything to keep warm with."
When Ray Oyler of Ralph Via Hardware on Brandon Avenue Southwest answered a call from a reporter, he said, "I figured this phone call was for heat tape, kerosene heaters, snow shovels, propane torches, sleds or ice chemicals."
The only item he had left, he said, was ice-melting chemicals. "And I don't have much of that."
Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.