How to defrost the pipe: 8 reliable ways

Frozen sewage in a private house is a problem to be solved. Especially brightly the question is how to defrost the pipe under the ground? In this article we will give all the available solutions to this problem.

Causes of glaciation

Before we consider how to defrost a sewer pipe in a private house, let's get acquainted with the causes of this situation.

1. Shallow immersion depth of the external pipeline under the ground. In order for the ground to be able to protect wastewater from crystallization, they must flow below its freezing level, which usually ranges from one and a half to two meters.

Tip: Try to avoid contact of the pipe with reinforced concrete, since its thermal conductivity is much higher than that of the soil, and the risk of glaciation in this case increases significantly.

1. Weak insulation or lack of it. This is especially true in those cases in which it is not possible to deepen to a sufficient level when installing the sewer line.

Tip: It is recommended to use a method of improving thermal insulation called a “sandwich”, which involves insulating a plastic or iron waste pipe with polypropylene, felt or mineral wool and placing the resulting structure into another asbestos or metal pipe of a larger diameter. In this case, you can be sure of the security and durability of the insulation material.

1. Poor sewage pressure due to rare operation. Especially often observed in the case of your long-term departure from home.
2. Abnormal frosts. Sometimes, even with all the conditions, the winter can present unexpected surprises in the form of an unprecedented drop in temperature, which, despite all your efforts during the installation of the pipeline, will still cause the freezing of sewage.

Defrost methods

There are several solutions to the problem of icing the contents of your sewer.

Call of experts

A professional team knows how to defrost heating, sewage or plumbing pipes. Equipping with special equipment will eliminate any ice buildup.

The advantages of this method:

1. Maximum effect.
2. Nothing to do with your own hands.

But before you start calling the company that provides the relevant services, you should know that the price of such a call will be quite impressive. So it is better to try to solve the problem on your own first, and to resort to the help of specialists only as a last resort.

Turn on the heating cable

This is a great method that solves a problem easily. But there is one caveat: it should be taken care of even during the laying of the pipeline, which usually does not occur because the owners rely on the preventive measures described above, which in most cases is quite enough.

If you do not have the opportunity to sink to an acceptable depth when you dig a trench in the ground, and you are not sure about the insulation material used, then you should consider installing a heating cable along the entire pipe. In the future, you in the case of crystallization of the liquid, you only need to turn it into an outlet until thawing.

Use of the building hair dryer

A rare case when the pipe freezes in the visible area, as usually sewage reliably hidden from view. But then the problem can be solved with the help of a conventional mounting dryer, heating the damaged area. Also, this method is suitable if the ice was formed close to the wall.

Welding machine application

If your sewer line is made of iron, then a welding machine is suitable for its defrosting. It is enough to connect the terminals to the two edges of the frozen section, turn it on and wait for the result.

There is also special equipment that can be rented. It has the following technical parameters:

The manufacturer indicates that the pipe with a cross section of 60 mm and a length of up to 23 m will be unfrozen within an hour.

But this applies only to metal products, let's now figure out how to defrost polypropylene pipes, which today are used in plumbing more often.

Thin metal pipe and boiling water

You probably have in the farm a piece of plastic pipe with a smaller section than the sewer pipe. Insert it until the moment when it rests on the ice, and pour boiling water into it. The truth is worth noting that this option is only suitable for flat areas.

Use of hydrotechnical level

This method will allow to defrost curvilinear pipe connections from any material. A complete list of necessary tools looks like this:

Application instruction:

1. Steel wire fastened with a hydraulic level tube using electrical tape.

Tip: it is recommended to release the plastic tube a centimeter forward. Due to this, the wire will not scratch the walls of the sewer and abut them.

1. The reverse side of the hydro level is connected to the Esmarch circle.
2. Align the resulting product and push a thin end into the highway to the ice formation. Small diameter and flexibility will allow him to avoid all obstacles.

1. We boil water and pour it into the prepared funnel, after substituting a bucket under the pipe, because how much liquid we run into the pipeline, as much water will flow out.
2. After pouring ten liters of boiling water, push the homemade tool further through the melting ice.
3. Repeat the procedure until the barrier is completely passed.

Tip: You can add salt to boiling water. It provokes chemical reactions, significantly accelerating the process of destruction of ice formation.

Reheating with heaters

Another electrical method for eliminating ice from the sewer line:

1. We fix the U-shaped heater to two ends on a thin plate, which in turn is attached to a thin metal-plastic tube.
2. We connect a cable of the required length to the device taking into account the distance to the ice plug.
3. Push the product into the sewer to the stop and turn on the network.
4. Slowly move to complete the passage of glaciation.

Bare wire - extreme way

The method described below should be used only in the presence of a professional electrician, as with improper handling it can be dangerous:

1. We take a two-core copper wire and fix the plug to it.
2. Remove the insulation and strip one of the wires, twist the other around the cord.
3. At the edge of the bare trimming do five turns.
4. We retreat three millimeters on the second piece, we also strip and curl. It is important that both wiring is not in contact and not closed with each other.
5. Insert the plug into the outlet and get the device, popularly called "burbulyator", which, when passing through cold water, will warm it.
6. Check the product in a bucket of water: boiling and a characteristic buzz mean a positive result.
7. Then we pass through the sewer to the ice.
8. In the process of work, we slowly move the device to overcome the permafrost. The filling pipe is pumped out by the compressor.

Useful tips

Regardless of which method you choose, there are some rules to follow in each of them:

• It is impossible to carry out heating from the middle of the frozen segment, since thermal expansion can damage the pipeline.
• Cast iron pipes are best heated from the bottom up, moving from the riser.
• To melt the liquid better flowed, open in the process of defrosting the water tap.
• Try to eliminate possible freezing even when designing sewers.

Conclusion

Any pipeline, including sewer, may freeze at sub-zero temperatures. To eliminate this, the line should be lowered during installation below the ground freezing level and additionally insulated. If glaciation did occur, then use one of the methods listed above to eliminate it.

The video in this article will introduce you to additional materials. Remember that it is better to completely eliminate the appearance of a problem than to solve it.