Outdoor Heating Blankets Will Thaw Frozen Hose Water

It never fails that each time a cold snap hits, gardens and yards across America are put to bed. This also means that the household garden hose is coiled up like a snake waiting to pounce, is placed with all the other gardening tools. What happens if you need water outside during the winter? You usually haul a cumbersome, oversized bucket heavy with water to wherever you need the H2O. If you invested in an outdoor heating blanket, using your outdoor water would be a cinch. Insulated blankets designed specifically for outdoor use, can ease any frozen burden you encounter during the long cold months. Outdoor heating blankets are meant to withstand the vigorous demands of rugged outdoor projects and can be driven on, pulled on, dragged through mud and snow, and refolded until its next use. The electric blanket can be used in all kinds of weather, including any type that produces precipitation. The outdoor heating blankets have been designed to attach to one another to accommodate various size requirements you may have.

My parents have a hot tub on their back deck and are faced with the necessary task of emptying it at certain intervals for cleaning. After the water is drained, the next daunting winter task is to brave the elements and fill it back up. Year after year the water to the outside faucet is frozen over and the hose has to be hauled out for each use. Using an outdoor electric blanket might be a handy alternative to plugging in the hair dryer, bundling up and standing by the faucet as they blow hot air hoping for some water to drip! 

Electric Outdoor Heating Blankets For Your Pets

Winter always comes too fast, even faster for my horses and dogs that live outside, so this year I decided to investigate the PowerBlanket. My neighbor told me about this outdoor heating blanket he had used for ground thaw. It sounded like a feasible option for my animals. I’d never thought of an outdoor heating blanket until I watched my loyal chocolate labs shivering this fall when the first snow hit. I got online and did some digging to find out more about the electric PowerBlanket.

This electric outdoor heating blanket has many uses, only one of them being a snug way to keep my pets happy and toasty in the cold temperatures. Many people use them for construction sites and curing concrete. And my neighbor found a nifty application using it as a way to thaw the ground he needed to dig around. But I wasn’t sure if the PowerBlanket would work for animals.

Sure enough, I found out that these are durable electric heating mats. They are even strong enough to drive over or bury under the ground. I felt confident the PowerBlanket could handle a few horse hooves and energetic labs jumping on them. On days that I am not using them for the animals, they will be handy to help thaw the ground around my various outdoor projects. I’m excited to test these outdoor heating blankets this winter and look forward to the peace of mind that will come from warm and happy animals. Even though they live outside, the harsh winter months shouldn’t be a bother anymore, now that they’ve got this energy efficient outdoor heating blanket.

Avoid Digging in Frozen Ground

If you have ever tried to dig a hole in rocky terrain, then you already know what it's like trying to dig on frozen ground. Digging in frozen ground will hurt your back (if digging by hand) and your equipment. The PowerBlanket ExtraHot SuperDuty is designed for exactly this situation (more specifically for thawing ground for mortuary services). One ExtraHot SuperDuty PowerBlanket can thaw a depth of 18 inches and an area of 72 square feet of frozen ground overnight.

If the frozen ground where you are digging is covered in snow, the ExtraHot SuperDuty PowerBlanket can melt 5 feet of old snow (that is settled and denser than fresh snow) in approximately three days. Because the PowerBlanket is so durable, it can be walked on, driven over, and dragged without ever receiving damage. This means while the ground is thawing, the PowerBlanket also serves to heat the work area while other jobs are being performed. For best result, the minimum allowable temperature is -40 degrees F.

Winter construction always poses a lot of problems, but with the proper equipment you can make your job site manageable and more efficient. The key is finding products with multiple important usages, to cut down on your materials/equipment costs. The versatility of the PowerBlanket gives your work site the freedom it needs to get winter construction projects finished on schedule with as little bumps as possible along the way.

Concrete Curing Blankets Keep the Project on Scheduled During Cold Winter Months

Winter construction and concrete curing is difficult, especially when temperatures drop below 40 degrees Fahrenheit. The problems get more difficult when building brick walls and curing concrete in masonry projects. Once the temperatures get below this number, the curing of the cement is reduced significantly, and in some cases it stops altogether. Here are a few tips for successfully completing a winter masonry project:

1. Heat the mortar ingredients. The PowerBlanket concrete curing blanket (also available as barrel warmers) is a useful solution for heating mortar ingredients and should be a standard tool for every year-round contractor.
2. Store units in a protected enclosure to prevent freezing. A more sophisticated way to accomplish a protected enclosure is to surround the construction area in poly-draped scaffolding. Freezing can be prevented using any number of the PowerBlanket options depending on the size of the job.
3. Once the mortar has been applied to masonry, keep the temperature above 40 degrees Fahrenheit. A PowerBlanket concrete curing blanket will adequately keep the mortar at about 70 degrees Fahrenheit. Curing at 70 degrees will make the mortar 3-times stronger than curing at lower temperatures. Multiple PowerBlankets can be attached together to accommodate varying job sizes.

Many other winter precautions are required to be in accordance with code. Some of these involve keeping materials off of the ground and covered. Depending on your specific weather conditions, codes will vary. Be sure to check local codes before beginning any masonry or building projects. 

Don't Let Cold Weather Hamper Your Concrete Curing

One of the most important aspects of curing concrete is keeping the temperature  between 65 and 85 degrees Fahrenheit. Traditional solutions for this problem include using blankets or straw to keep concrete from freezing in cold weather; or simply delaying a concrete poor until fair weather arrives. For contractors seeking a more reliable long term solution, a PowerBlanket is a must have for every job site. 

The colder the temperature the concrete is exposed to, the longer it will take to set and reach its maximum strength. For example, concrete that is steady at 70 degrees Fahrenheit will set in approximately six hours. Concrete that is at 40 degree Fahrenheit will take 14 hours to reach maximum strength. In addition, concrete that cures at 70 degree Fahrenheit will be almost three times as strong as concrete curing at 40 degrees. Bottom line: for perfect concrete every time, use a PowerBlanket during the curing process.

Thaw the Ground to Facilitate Winter Digging

Snow, ice, debris, trees and shrubs are some of the many obstacles faced when preparing a site for construction. Difficulty increases with frozen, hard ground that becomes impossible to prepare without the use of major machinery. Keeping the site free of snow and ice is another problem that often delays construction schedules and causes damage to newly poured concrete and construction. An electric heat PowerBlanket is an excellent solution to all of these problems.

The SuperDuty PowerBlanket can be easily connected to additional blankets to cover the allotted area. Its durable design allows the blankets to withstand even the harshest conditions, and is as easy to use as unrolling a sleeping bag. The blanket produces fast even heating for melting snow and ice, making ground preparation simple and easy, and to keep your construction site operational. Multiple PowerBlankets may be connected to cover larger areas.