Rofrost Turbo or Freezemaster 420D?

[Guest123]

I'm looking to buy a pipe freezing kit but I'm not sure what one is the best, most reliable and works quickly. I've looked at a few and can't decide between the Rofrost Turbo 1 or Freezemaster 420D. The Rothenberger looks a more substantial piece of kit, but the Freezemaster has excellent build quality. I've also looked at the cheaper Rofrost kit that uses Co2 cylinders. Is this any good and how easy is it to get the Co2, is BOC or similar the place to go?
Anyone got any thoughts having used them and can offer a opinion that might help me to make my mind up?

 

[SimonJohns]

I use freeze master all the time. For the sake of £50. Rent one from hss and see what you think


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Guest123]

I use freeze master all the time. For the sake of £50. Rent one from hss and see what you think


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks, good idea, I'll rent each one for similar separate jobs and try them out.

 

[Guest123]

Decided on the Rofrost kit as I can keep tabs on the amount of CO2 left, which in use doesn't actually use very much gas at all. I was a bit concerned that the electric ones may give up without warning during a freeze as the refrigerant may run out? TheRofrost has been absolutely amazing and I prefer to freeze than turn off old creaky valves or empty systems with all the problems of refilling them. It freezes up to 60mm pipe too and it looks highly impressive to a customer on a job and I've had positive comments about this.
The only down side is that I had to open an account with BOC and rent the bottle from them which is a hidden charge not realised when I bought it. This small charge is tiny compared to the benefits this kit brings.
Very highly recommended.

 

[Phil]

So are they worth the money then? I've always seen them as a luxury tool, (the machines, not aerosols). So you use it on gate valves rather than bunging?

The more I think about it, the more jobs I've done in the past would have benefitted from using it.
I've never used a freezing machine, how long does it take, and does it thaw the pipe aswell?

 

[Guest123]

So are they worth the money then? I've always seen them as a luxury tool, (the machines, not aerosols). So you use it on gate valves rather than bunging?

The more I think about it, the more jobs I've done in the past would have benefitted from using it.
I've never used a freezing machine, how long does it take, and does it thaw the pipe aswell?

I've just completed a bathroom and plumbing maintenance work (ball cock changeover, stopcock change) in a Victorian house with 80 year old plumbing. No way I'd have been able to do either the new bathroom install or the other plumbing work without the Rofrost as every valve in the house had seized and the toby outside was under a parked car that stayed there all day. By the way the house was mains fed to the bathrooms.
I use it on cold mains not just gate valves. It takes about 3-5 minutes to freeze 15mm and 22mm copper mains pipe. Once the freezing head has been removed, the pipe thaws by itself in about 5-10 minutes.
Well worth the money and not a luxury and it easily pays for itself. No more draining down and filling up systems or messing about with ancient valves that leak from the packing gland when turned on and off for the first time in years!

 

[Phil]

mmm....I can see myself getting one of these, what are they a good £700?

 

[Guest123]

The electric ones are about £700. The Rofrost I bought doesn't require electricity and uses CO2 liquid gas available from BOC or any industrial gas supplier. The cylinder I have is about the size of a fire extinguisher. This Kit freezes up to 60mm pipe and I can vouch for it working on mains pressure. It only costs about £282 but you have to buy the gas and rent the cylinder which will add on another £100 for your first gas purchase. After that the refills cost about £20.
I got mine here: Rothenberger Tool hire & sale UK - Pipe Freezing Kit: Rofrost CO2 Pipe Freezing Kit

 

[cr0ft]

I've got the Rothenberger Eco Freeze electric pipe freezer. Tried using the gas canisters and they filled me with absolutely no confidence at all to be honest! The Eco Freeze comes with heads to freeze 8, 10, 15 and 22mm pipe. In practise, I've tried to use it to freeze 22mm pipe before and it's never been up to the job. Either that or it just takes ages and I give up and drain the system down instead. It is great for freezing the other pipe sizes though.

Invaluable tool for when the customer doesn't have a working stopcock or you want to change a valve on a low pressure system and are worried about airlocks when you fill back up.

Mine cost £450+VAT from my local merchant.

 

[Phil]

I've got the Rothenberger Eco Freeze electric pipe freezer. Tried using the gas canisters and they filled me with absolutely no confidence at all to be honest! The Eco Freeze comes with heads to freeze 8, 10, 15 and 22mm pipe. In practise, I've tried to use it to freeze 22mm pipe before and it's never been up to the job. Either that or it just takes ages and I give up and drain the system down instead. It is great for freezing the other pipe sizes though.

Invaluable tool for when the customer doesn't have a working stopcock or you want to change a valve on a low pressure system and are worried about airlocks when you fill back up.

Mine cost £450+VAT from my local merchant.

Thats quite worrying croft, inc VAT its £540 and may or maynot or is suspect at freezing 22mm?

 

[cr0ft]

Yes, I'm going to be calling Rothenberger customer services on Monday about it. Freezes all the other pipe sizes fine but doesn't seem up to the job on 22mm. I waited around like a lemon for half an hour on 2 occasions before giving up on it. I did notice that only one of the freezing heads appeared to be working though so I think I've got a dodgy unit.

 

[Guest123]

My Rofrost using a carbon dioxide cylinder is NOT the same as the freezing can kits you can get. It comes with freezer heads up to 60mm and I have ABSOLUTE confidence in it. I've frozen 22mm high pressure mains in about 5 minutes and it has stayed frozen all through the work on it. The freezer head has a handle with a nozzle that allows you to adjust the gas flow in fine increments.

This is how I use mine:
Clean the pipe first, remove any paint or dirt.
Fit the appropriate freezing head over the pipe.
Turn the valve about half way and when the frost forms on the pipe, the gas will start to escape so turn the valve down until this gas escape stops but keep the gas flowing on the pipe all through the freezing process until you're finished.
After about 3-5 minutes on a 15 - 22mm pipe it will be frozen. Crack open a tap or valve to make sure or slightly slacken of the nut on a compression fitting.
Keep the gas flowing through the freezer head with the nozzle at minimum setting.
After work has been completed, switch off gas, remove freezer head and I lightly run a cloth over the frost on the pipe once. After about 5 minutes the pipe will thaw naturally.
Never try to freeze moving water as it won't work. Keep taps and valves fully closed when you freeze.
Always wear protective gloves and use CO2 in a well ventilated room.
Insurance companies must be notified if you're carrying compressed gas in your vehicle.

My worry over the ELECTRIC kits is that they may fail without warning as there is no way to tell how much refrigerant is left. I don't like the DIY freezer cans either as one failed on me.

 

[Chris Kafetzis]

I've just bought the rothenberger Eco freeze machine. Paid £500. Got it home and set up a piece of 15mm copper pipe to my bib tap. I've filled the pipe with water, purged all the air out etc....

ive then waited 30 minutes with the machine running, pulled off the jg cap and unfortunately it wasn't frozen. Thinking maybe I'd done something wrong ive started again, using conductivity paste and this time putting both freeze heads right next to each other. After leaving the machine running for a whole hour all I got was a light frosting on the copper pipe. But no I've cap and when pulled the cap off a full flow of water. Doesn't give me much confidence that this is gonna work in someone's house!

After speaking to rothenberger apparently you have to put water in the unit somewhere, meeting the rep on Monday to see about this. Overall tho disappointed to spend £500 on a machine that simply doesn't work, and considering the instructions for the unit say that there are no serviceable parts inside is very annoying that now they say you have to put water in it! Will check back on Monday when I've tested the thing again...

 

[SimonJohns]

They were poop when freezemaster made them too

The only electric one to have are the ones that rely on refrigerant not Pelletier effect

 

[Howsie]

And you could of had one of my rofrosts for £400.

 

[Barry98]

It's under where the display is little glad had screw , undo fill with water sorted

 

[Chris Kafetzis]

Well if the thing still doesn't work very well then I will be getting a refund, as I can't believe rothenberger would produce a piece of kit worth that kinda money that is such a piece of junk!

If you let me know condition etc i might be interested anyway...

 

[Ermintrude]

Well if the thing still doesn't work very well then I will be getting a refund, as I can't believe rothenberger would produce a piece of kit worth that kinda money that is such a piece of junk!

If you let me know condition etc i might be interested anyway...

The only decent tool rothenburger ever produced was the sure fire 2. Their grips, pipe slices, screwdrivers are horrific! The rebranded led lensor torches are good.

Always found get best results using freezer behind bends so the plug don't move.

 

[woodytheplumber]

i quite like rothen grips! have a pair from 15 years ago that i got off my grandad (like 80%) of my tool kit ha ha) and a pair fron 2 year ago the olderones are better but still great at the moment i am using the polar freezing kit its expensive to run but takes up no room in the van and works a treat

 

[northcarr]

I have a freeze master 420d well worth the cash.I have had it for 5rys or so now and has only failed to work once and i think i did't get all the paint removed.I have used it on 35mm copper no problem.

 

[Chris Kafetzis]

So I met up with the rothenberger rep, very helpful lady however didn't get very far with the machine. Low water was definitely a problem, but after topping up and venting the thing was still slow to cool down and even when the clamps weren't connected to a pipe the temp didn't get very low, then if you touched the clamp putting a tiny load on it, it would warm up almost instantly anyway.

In my opinion the things might be good if your lucky enough to get one that isn't broke, but I've heard lots of other people on these threads saying that they bought a faulty one. Brings me to the opinion that they are cheaply made and manufactured.


Fortunately I got a refund. But this was only because I managed to get a meeting with the rep. Judging from the phone call she made to their offices the normal procedure would be to send it in for repair. So for full price I would have been stuck with a "friday jobby".


Not so keen on rothenberger at the moment....

 

[Dickie]

Rothy are having big problems with these Eco machines, a pile of poh in my view.
Ive used CO2 for years for freezing, it's great. Cheap Pub Co2 cylinder inverted will do the job fine, you don't need a BOC account just ask at your local boozer.
But in the scheme of things it's not something that's used every day & you can hire machines.
HTH

 

[Dickie]

Sorry, I should elaborate on the CO2 cylinders. There's a dip pipe in pukka Pipe Freezing cylinders, to get liquid & not gas out. So by inverting a Pub cylinder you don't need a dip pipe.