Anti gel for frozen trailer air lines?

You should be able to find air-line-antifreeze (alcohol based) in most truck stops and auto parts stores. I would not use anti-gell myself.

 

Isopropyl alcohol works in a pinch.

 

You mean don't set the brakes.

 

The alcohol will erode the abs valves. 90% of the time it's not the lines that are frozen, it's the drums/pads. Release brakes, thump drum, rock, repeat until free. When it is the air lines, simply having them released and pumping the service breaks will clear the problem after a few minutes. To avoid the air freezing, drain your air tanks daily (a couple seconds is fine) and do the cdl brake test daily.

 

I've very rarely used cheap isopropyl alcohol (rubbing alcohol) to free up the ice inside one of the air lines. Rubbing alcohol, post-pandemic, must be way cheaper than the stuff sold for the same purpose. I've been told to not use more than 1 cap-full of alcohol, MORE IS NOT BETTER.as It dries out any rubber or felt seals. If a little bit of it doesn't solve your problem in seconds, more will not fix your problem.

When I used it, I set both brake valves in the truck. Disconnected 1 glad-hand at a time, and poured a cap-full of alcohol into each glad-hand and then reconnected both to the trailer and pushed in my brake valves. About a second later I heard a ker-chunk and my brakes were working.