Frozen!

We are getting closer to having our fiber network installed. For the last week we have seen many AT&T trucks around our Grayslake campus pulling fiber optics up and down the highway. The fiber finally arrived yesterday but there was one big problem that prevented it from being connected.

ICE!

We had rushed to get the conduit on our property run this fall so that we wouldn't hold up the project. We found out yesterday that that conduit had filled with water over the last two months! The record low temperatures we have had over the past month had caused a small portion of our underground conduit to freeze! Now we had to figure out how to clear it out. Hopefully without digging it up.

This is what we tried:

1. (Prayer)
2. Fish tape. Nope
3. Bigger fish tape. Nope.
4. Power rodder (for sewer pipes). Nope.
5. Garden hose run down the pipe to the blockage and hot water turned on. Success!

After leaving the hose on for about 30 minutes we had melted though the 2' section of ice and the pipe was clear. We pumped and vacuumed the water out and sucked a new rope though. Later today, AT&T came back and pulled the fiber.

Hopefully soon our fiber will be done and we can communicate at the speed of light!