I returned to Melrose on February 3, and checked the water pressure only to find out that there was no water coming into the house, that the main inlet from the city was frozen. I am a New Englander at heart, and knew that the best thing was patience, so I put a heater on the line, and went to bed.
In the morning, there was still no water, so I called the city and reported my situation. Paul came out, and told me that I was doing everything right, and we would wait a day to see if the heater fixed the problem. It was the warmest day in quite a while, but my pipe was pretty deep below the surface. "Do not try to move that valve!" he said, "It hasn't been moved in 100 years."
Thursday morning came, and still no water. Toilets are filling up. It was not predicted to get as warm (only 38 F), and a major storm was predicted for Friday. I made the decision to pay the $360 to have the welders come out and run 200 Amps of electricity through the inlet pipe to warm it up. I had to sign a statement that if they broke anything, they were not responsible, and that they would give me up to 2 hours for the fixed price. They were pretty confident that this would work, since it was a short distance from the city cutoff valve to my water inlet.
They passed one end of a huge cable in through a basement window, and clamped it to the pipe (after disconnecting the meter and my whole plumbing system). The other electrical connector attached to a pole that was inserted into the valve that connects the city plumbing to my house. The truck is the generator capable of 200 Amps at 40 volts, making the vice clamps red hot. The man from the city, Paul, was constantly on site.
They turned on the power for about 45 minutes, then ran a cable inside the pipe to find the blockage, which was still short of the city valve. They ran the electrical current for another 45 minutes, and then checked the length, and were well past the city valve.
That meant that the frozen plug was beyond my cutoff valve, on the way to the water mainline. The welders packed up and went to another job. I was $360 lighter, and still did not have water. But it was now a Melrose responsibility, and my line was clear.
Paul and the welders came back at 2:00 for the next step, warming from my cutoff valve to the city water main.