How to thaw a frozen sewer

Causes of ice in the sewer

With proper installation of sewer pipes, water does not remain in them, therefore it cannot freeze. If an ice plug has formed in the system, it means that the pipeline laying technology has been violated. Let's look at some of the causes of this problem:

1. With an insufficient slope - less than 20 mm per 1 meter - the drains do not completely drain into the septic tank, but stagnate and freeze in the pipe. The second reason is that the diameter of the installed pipes is less than 110 mm; the liquid moves slowly through thin channels and has time to crystallize.
2. Insufficient piping depth. External sewer wiring in a private house should take place at a depth below the freezing point. If you neglect this rule, then in winter the cold will get to the pipes.
3. Violations in the device of the septic tank. Insufficient area of ​​the filtration field to drain water from the septic tank, or the shallow depth of the drainage pipes, leads to the cessation of liquid leaving the sump. The level of sewage in the septic tank rises and closes the opening of the outlet pipe. Sewerage from the house does not drain into an overflowing well, stagnates in the pipe and freezes. It will not work to redo the drainage system in winter; until spring, you will have to periodically call a sewage truck and pump out sewage.
4. Small leaks provoke freezing of a thin crust of ice on the walls of the outlet pipe. Over time, a cork of considerable length is formed, which does not allow sewage to pass into the septic tank. It is necessary to identify the place of leakage (faucet or toilet tank), eliminate it, and then defrost the pipe.

Defrost methods

There are many options for heating a sewer pipe located underground. The choice of method depends on where the freezing occurred. The system can be restored in 5-10 minutes, but sometimes it takes several hours. To defrost plastic pipes with your own hands, you do not need any special equipment. The necessary materials and tools for work can be found in any home.

Boiling water

Sometimes, to defrost plastic pipes, just pour boiling water over it. But this method only works if the ice plug is a short distance from the drain. After using the water from the container in which you boiled it, try opening the hot water faucet. You can also pump out all the drains from the drain and pour boiling water. In order for hot water to get ice, first place a hose inside the pipe. Its edge should touch the place of freezing. After that, pour hot water through the hose.

Boiler

This method is used if other, safer methods do not work. Defrost must be done carefully. First, make a boiler out of blades with a long wire and wire it to a small piece of wood. After that, attach the structure to a thick wire or hose and push it into the sewer. Once you're sure the kettle is near the ice plug, plug it in and wait for it to melt.

Heating cable

The safest, but too slow, way to defrost is to use a heating cable. It is desirable that it be self-regulating. In this case, the insulation will not melt even if it is overlapped.

Wrap the cable around the end of the stiff hose and move it slowly to the problem area. The main thing is to ensure constant contact of the ice plug with the cable. This solution can be used to prevent freezing. If you live in an area with a cold climate, you should equip the sewer system with a self-regulating heating cable in advance and thereby solve the problem of freezing.

Bonfire

Plastic pipes laid at a shallow depth can be thawed with a fire.This method is appropriate for a moderate length of the ice plug. A fire is lit along the entire length of the jam and the soil is heated for 2-3 hours. Take care that the strong heat does not damage the pipes. Such a solution will be effective if the sewer system is located at a depth of no more than 0.5 m.

Chemistry

Chemical heating can only be used on plastic communications. To work, you will need soda and sulfuric acid. Do not forget to also take care of protective equipment - a mask and gloves.

Sulfuric acid is poured into the pipe 1 glass every 30 minutes. After 2-3 hours, it will react with sewage and the pipe will begin to heat up. After that, you need to pour 5-10 liters of a saturated soda solution. To remove the remnants of the cork, pour 3 buckets of boiling water into the sewer. Dissolves ice and hot salt solution well.

How to thaw a frozen pipe (3 ways)

Watch this video on YouTube

Blowtorch

Plastic pipe can be thawed with a blowtorch. To do this, in the place where the sewer passes, they dig a trench, find a pipe and heat it with a lamp, starting from the side of the cesspool

You need to act quickly and carefully so as not to damage the pipe. If you are not sure that you can heat the sewer with a blowtorch without damage, use a building hair dryer

How to thaw plastic sewer pipes

The defrosting procedure is somewhat reminiscent of clearing a sewer blockage, only here you need to think about a way to warm up the ice. Just pouring boiling water into a pipe is a pointless exercise. In order to defrost sewer pipes, it must be fed directly to the ice floe. If the problem is very close, on a straight pipe section, this is relatively easy to do. It is necessary to push a metal-plastic pipe or a rigid hose of a smaller diameter into the pipe until it stops and pour hot water. The efficiency of this method of heating the sewer can be somewhat increased if salt is dissolved in boiling water, the more the better.

If the problem lurks more than 10 m from the house and there are turns along the pipe, the technique will have to be modified. To do this, you need a hardened steel wire, a hydraulic level and an Esmarch mug. If there is none on the farm, you can take a plastic bucket from under mayonnaise or pickles and solder a piece of a tube of a suitable diameter into the bottom. The hydraulic level and the wire should be aligned. The end of the wire can be bent for greater rigidity. Fix the wire along the length of the hydraulic level with electrical tape, while the end of the tube should protrude approximately 1 cm in front of the wire, attach the entire structure to the Esmarch mug (bucket). Then the matter is small: push the tube to the ice plug, pour hot water and move forward as the ice melts. As practice shows, it takes about an hour to defrost a meter of ice, and it will not be possible to push the tube until 10 liters of boiling water have flowed. All modifications of this method have an unpleasant feature: its contents will pour out of the pipe, so you will have to stock up on large containers to collect the liquid.

To warm the sewer in a private house, you can push a home-made boiler made of razor blades, or a “burbulator”, into the pipe. The last device looks completely frivolous. For its manufacture, a copper two-wire wire is needed. First you need to expose the end of one core and make 3-5 turns around the wire, then repeat the operation with the second wire, stepping back 2-3 mm from the turns of the first. A plug is attached to the second end of the cable.

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What causes freezing

Before you start defrosting, you need to understand the reasons for the freezing of drains:

1. Water supply and sewerage are laid at a shallow depth. If the system is located above the freezing depth of the ground, it will constantly freeze in winter at low temperatures. To avoid these problems, before arranging water supply and sewerage, it is necessary to clarify the depth of soil freezing in your area. If it is not possible to lay pipes deep, take care of the heating system.
2. Poor insulation is another common cause of freezing.
3. Small water consumption with a significant decrease in temperature. If a sharp drop in temperature is predicted at night, it is better to leave the water on. This is not the best solution to the problem, but in this way you will be able to prevent the formation of ice jams.
4. In the absence of heating in the room.
5. When designing, the angle of inclination of the pipeline was incorrectly selected. Water cannot move by gravity, as a result it stagnates and freezes.
6. Small pipe diameter. Even with a minimum amount of wastewater, pipes with a diameter of less than 110 mm should not be laid, since they freeze through much faster.
7. blockages. If plaque has formed in the sewer or large debris constantly enters the drain, an obstacle may form inside, near which water stands. In severe frosts, it will freeze, and the system will fail.

Why does the sewer freeze

Causes of freezing sewer pipes:

incorrect design of the angle of inclination of the sewer pipeline. Water does not have the ability to move by gravity, stagnates in pipes, which leads to freezing in winter;

insufficient depth. The septic tank according to SNiP is installed at a depth of at least 2 meters from the soil level, the pipe system is located below the freezing point characteristic of the region. But a situation is possible when it’s just too lazy to dig a trench for laying pipes deep (or not possible) or frosts exceed the average and the soil freezes deeper;

lack of insulation. Sewer pipes laid above the freezing point of the soil need to be insulated. The place where the pipes exit the room must also be insulated. However, in practice, such a requirement is either ignored, or an unsuitable heat-insulating material is used, or its installation is incorrectly performed;

small diameter pipes. If we consider consumer reviews, then most often those who laid pipes with a diameter less than the recommended 110 mm face the problem of sewer freezing. Especially often the owners of dachas and seasonally operated houses sin with this. Due to insufficient diameter, the sewer pipe freezes faster;

blockages. They happen due to the ingress of large objects into the system or insufficient water flow, in which plaque forms in the pipes.

Causes of septic tank freezing:

septic tank is broken. At the same time, the septic tank overflows, heavy fractions settle, and the water freezes;

the septic tank is removed from the sewage source. Then the water, moving to the sewage pit, cools, which leads to its freezing at the junction of the pipe to the septic tank.

Many users who do the work themselves do not even think about whether the sewer freezes.After all, the very principle of operation of a septic tank is that it is a container for storing wastewater with actively ongoing decomposition processes. Since heat is released during the decomposition of solid residues, freezing is practically excluded. In addition, according to the standards, the septic tank is installed at a considerable depth.

However, no one is safe from force majeure, and it is better for the owner of a country house to know in advance what to do if the sewer is frozen.

Causes of a freezing septic tank

The formation of ice plugs in the pipeline is an unpleasant thing already because it is impossible to use water. But most cases of sewer freezing can be avoided if you control the installation of the system and use the design correctly. So, the reasons that cause the septic tank to freeze:

1. Small slope of the pipe or use of a pipeline of a smaller diameter than it should be. Errors lead to stagnation of flows and water freezes in certain areas.
2. Broken drainage. The small area of ​​filtration fields, the low depth of laying pipes lead to overflow, which means that newly arriving flows will be delayed in the pipeline. You will have to pump out the water from the septic tank and repeat the procedure before the onset of heat in order to re-equip the filtration fields.
3. The formation of a blockage also leads to trouble and you will have to rack your brains in which place you need to defrost the pipe.
4. Leaks. A dripping faucet, leaking water in the drain tank - all these factors lead to a constant low flow of water into the pipeline. And even an insignificant amount of liquid in winter will freeze layer by layer, creating an ice plug.

Causes of freezing sewer pipes

Any problem is always better to prevent than to deal with its consequences. This part of the article will talk about the reasons why sewer pipes can freeze. Having corrected the shortcomings in the system (if you are building or living in a private house), you will almost never have to think about the question of how and how to defrost a sewer pipe.

So, the biggest cause of this common problem is improper pipe laying. If you are just starting to build a house, then be sure to check that all sewer pipes are laid below the level to which the soil on your site usually freezes in winter. In addition, it is additionally possible to wrap the pipes of the entire sewer system with special heat-insulating materials.

There are a number of other reasons:

• small diameter pipes;
• wrong slopes;
• few drains in the pipe;
• blockage formation.

Unfortunately, for most of us, knowing the causes of freezing pipes will not help. Not all modern multi-storey and private houses have a well-built sewerage system. It is easier for residents of high-rise buildings - either the utility service or the company with which the service contract was concluded is responsible for this system. As for the residents of private houses, for the most part, they have to solve the problem of defrosting sewer pipes on their own.

The situation is heating up - electricity comes to the rescue

Very often, electricity is used to thaw pipes. Advanced site owners do this using the following techniques.

Heating with a step-down transformer
. Take a copper wire, remove the insulation from it and wind it around a piece of frozen pipe. First remove the thermal insulation (if any) and paint residues from the pipe. Bring the ends of the wire to the secondary winding of the welding transformer and fasten to them (the device must be turned off!
). Set the unit to the minimum running current. By turning it on, you will melt any ice within a couple of hours, since the high current and low voltage will gradually warm up the case and eliminate ice "congestion". Advantages
: point action on the frozen element and simplicity. Flaws
: you need access to communications, you can only work with metal pipes, and you must have experience with electrical devices.

Bare wires for plastic casings
. Take a two-core cable with 2.5 mm cross-section (for example, an installation power cable), strip the outer insulation at a length of 8-10 cm and separate one core from the other. Bend the “blue” core for the time being, strip it to half and twist it in a spiral so that the core does not unwind (as shown in the figure below).

Strip the “red” core almost completely, bend it back and wrap its tip of the cable, grabbing the insulation of the “blue” core. Pass the wired end through the pipe to the first plug, and power the other end from the mains. A discharge will pass through the two resulting windings, which will heat the ice and melt it. As this happens, “drive” the wire, move it forward to the next “checkpoint”, and pump out the melt water with a pump. pros
: only ice melts, water supply and sewerage elements, wires do not heat up, so the method can be applied to plastic materials. Minuses
: you should carefully handle the "homemade" so as not to get an electric shock and operate the cables only on plastic pipes with similar fittings, taps and locks.

Ways to unfreeze communications

Sewer pipes may vary according to the material of manufacture. They can be plastic or metal. There is a difference in how to defrost plastic sewer pipes or metal ones.

Sewer defrosting work can be done in several ways.

This takes into account:

• ice plug length,
• its distance from home.

You can measure the length of the plug using a hard wire, which is inserted into the pipe first from the side of the house, and then from the side of the drain pit.

The fact is that defrosting of sewer pipes can be done without opening the ground if an ice seal has formed near the house. In this case, you can apply the following method.

If you have a long piece of metal-plastic pipe available, then use it. If there is no such piece, then take an ordinary water hose. The hose is inserted into the pipe from the side of the drain pit until it hits a frozen area. After that, hot water is supplied to the hose. The melted drains will merge with water into the pit. The disadvantage of this method is the rapid filling of the drain pit. This method is universal, therefore it can be used for any type of pipe.

External defrosting of sewer pipes

This method is only suitable for metal pipes. A trench is dug over the laid pipe in the ground in the place where the ice formed. After that, the desired area is defrosted using a blowtorch, electric heater, hot air gun, gas burner or ordinary firewood.

During the heating process, it is necessary to protect open sections of the pipe from freezing. Usually the defrost process does not last long, especially if a powerful heater is used. Of course, the plastic cannot be heated to avoid melting it.

A significant disadvantage of this method is that it is difficult to dig frozen ground. Although, if the farm has some kind of tool, for example, a mini-tractor, then the work will go very quickly.

How to defrost a pipe from the inside?

Now let's talk about defrosting the sewer with an electric heater. This way you can defrost any pipes, but for plastic this method is more effective, because there is no heat loss through the pipe walls. And for safety reasons, it is not recommended to lower the heater inside a metal surface.

So how do you defrost a plastic sewer pipe from the inside? To do this, you will have to make a small heating element, which should have an elongated shape. The heating element must be fixed on a piece of board.

The size of the board is chosen in such a way that it easily passes into the sewer pipe.

The heating element is attached to the board so that its curved part protrudes in front of the board, and the edges do not go beyond it. Otherwise, the heating element will touch the pipe walls, which is unacceptable. Wires are connected to the heating element, which are securely insulated. A guide is also attached to the board, with the help of which the heater will move inside the drain.

The device is inserted into the drain hole from the side of the drain pit, after which it moves forward to the very ice plug. After that, the electricity is turned on and the defrost process begins. So the ice lock is gradually defrosted.

We examined the main ways to defrost the sewer system in a private house. Now you know how to defrost sewer pipes correctly without damaging the entire drain system.

How and with what you can defrost sewer pipes yourself

The first thing to do is to determine exactly where the pipe is frozen, and also what is the size of this ice plug. For these works, you will need a long rigid wire, with which you will need to clean the sewer pipe from two sides: from the house and from the septic tank. Knowing the distance between the drain and the intake of waste (and if for some reason you don’t remember it, it’s easy to calculate it), it will not be difficult to determine the place where the ice plug forms and its size.

And then, it is worth advising to call specialists, especially if the pipe is frozen not in the house, but on the street there are severe frosts. But if this is not possible, following our instructions, you can defrost yourself.

So, first you need to dig a trench in the place where the ice jam is formed. Further, depending on the type of pipes, one of the following methods can be applied:

1. Pipes located on the street are optimally heated with an open fire (unless, of course, they are plastic). To do this, you first need to free the pipe from thermal insulation. For heating, a gas burner or a blowtorch is suitable. Gradually moving a lit lamp or burner along the pipe, warm up the frozen section of the pipe. If you don’t have any of these tools, then you can lay out a rag under the pipe, which you can pre-moisten in gasoline, kerosene or other combustible agent. When using open fire, be very careful.
2. The pipes that are in the house are best warmed with hot water. With this method, the frozen section of the pipe is wrapped with rags and poured with boiling water. If you have the ability to supply hot water to the pipe with a hose, the heating process will be very fast. Note that this method is applicable to pipes made of different materials.
3. Another way is to warm up a frozen pipe with the help of heating elements. It is suitable for plastic pipes. For this, either special heating cables or U-shaped heating elements can be used. In the case of using a cable, it is necessary to wrap the pipe with foil, and wind the heating cable on top in a spiral (in increments of 10 centimeters). This design is covered with mineral wool or other heat insulator, and connected to the mains. If you decide to use a heating element, then it must be fixed on a plank with rounded edges (a U-shaped bend at the front edge). A piece of metal-plastic pipe and a wire of sufficient length are attached to this structure. A piece of pipe here acts as a pusher. The resulting structure must be thrust into a frozen pipe, always from the side where wastewater is received.

In principle, as can be seen from the description of the methods, the heating process is quite feasible on our own.But it is better, of course, to prevent pipes from freezing and take care of the correct laying of sewer pipes in advance.

Heating of plastic pipes

Fortunately, plastic pipes have almost completely replaced steel pipes in the sewerage system. They have a very smooth inner surface, which guarantees high sewer permeability. But, as mentioned above, improper installation of pipes can lead to the formation of an ice plug. Therefore, we will deal with the question of how to warm the sewerage from PVC pipes?

As in the first case, it is necessary to find the exact location of the frozen drains. That is, it is necessary to do all the manipulations with the wire or hose. You don’t need to dig anything, any action on the plastic of high temperature, and even more so with open fire, will lead to its melting, respectively, the pipes will lose their integrity and become covered with holes. That is, there is no question of the tightness of the sewer.

Steam defrost

It is necessary to influence the ice plug from inside the pipeline with hot water or steam. To do this, first of all, it is necessary to determine the distance from the septic tank to the plug. If it is large, then it is better to use water, if it is small (up to 5 m), then steam can be used. In any case, you need to prepare, that is, collect a large amount of hot water, for example, it can be a barrel mounted on a fire. If steam is used, then a small steam generator will have to be installed. The first option is both simpler and more reliable.

So, a hose is inserted into the sewer pipe from the side of the septic tank until it stops. A funnel is installed at its other end. The higher it is installed, the better, but even the level above the ground will be sufficient to deliver hot water to the place of demand. Now you just need to pour heated water into the funnel. She will reach the ice through the hose and begin to melt it. At the same time, defrosted drains will flow by gravity through the pipe into the septic tank.

This is why it is so important that the hose is inserted from the side of the septic tank

Of course, if the distance from the collection well to the plug is large, then it is probably easier to pour hot water from the side of the house. But here there is a problem associated with the pumping of melted effluents. After all, they will gather over the cork, remaining in the sewer pipe itself. Well, if the ice blockage is not very large. Hot water will gradually melt it, and all the drains, along with pieces of ice, will fall further down the pipe, and from there into the septic tank. And if the plug is large, if the sewer pipe (large section) is frozen - what to do in this case? How to pump out defrosted sewage?

Pouring hot water into a sewer pipe

Basically, there is only one option. Install a suction pump and turn it on periodically. That is, you will have to insert another hose from the pump into the sewer pipe. How to understand when to turn on the pumping device? As soon as water appears from the input side of the hoses, you can turn it on.

Alternative Solution

There is one more option. It is easier, but not as effective, as defrosting with hot water or steam. To do this, you can use a hair dryer (construction or household). It is simply inserted into the end of the pipe from the side of the septic tank and turned on. Hot air enters the pipeline, filling it with itself. Having reached the ice plug, he begins to thaw it. This process is not fast, it will take more than one hour until the entire ice jam melts.