marketed by the company welltec a s can be modified for this purpose even though a stroker from other suppliers may also be used the stroker must not necessarily be as shown in fig1 however the stroker must be able to deliver a sufficient forward pressure on the heating device 1 10 tons or more at the same time it will be anchored to the pipe a large forward pressure will slightly lower the melting point of the hydrate plug but more important is that it may allow the device to break through the far end of the plug and thus provide an even faster removal of the plug the stroker should be securely anchored at all times to the pipe in case a high pressure has built up behind the plug the cable to the surface must be dimensioned to deliver sufficient electric power to the heating device preferably in the range of 1 5 kw or more fig2 shows the heating device in detail the device includes a slightly tapered cylindrical section 8 with a rounded tip 8 a the heating assembly also includes centralizers 11 from aft to 1 2 cm in front of the pip heating element the.