Comprehensive protection of pipes from freezing insulation options

How to warm into water in a pipe underground

The best solution to the problem of frozen pipes is the correct laying and use of insulating materials. As they say, it is easier to prevent problems than to solve them desperately later. Therefore, dig trenches at a level that will not freeze even in the harshest winter. But if you do not have this opportunity due to the characteristics of the climate or soil, then be sure to use materials for thermal insulation and protection from moisture. And this is true for both metal and plastic.

The photo shows frozen water in a plastic pipe.

And yet, what to do if the freezing of water in the pipe has already occurred? There can be two options for icing the water supply: inside the house (indoors) or outside (outdoors). The first is less common, but fixing the problem is easier. The second case is more difficult, although, fortunately, it is also not hopeless.

In any case, here are some general tips:

• during defrosting, the water taps must be open so that the melted water flows out of the pipes. Its temperature is lower than usual, and this greatly increases the risk of refreezing;
• the ice plug is easiest to determine by touch: the frozen area is much colder than the rest of the pipe;
• after the problem is fixed, it must be prevented from reoccurring. To do this, open sections of the water pipe must be reliably insulated with the help of special thermal insulation materials.

Metal-plastic pipes are now almost universally used, so the following are the methods that are primarily suitable for them.

Effective ways to heat the line from the outside

To start work with your own hands, you need to unscrew the taps of the water supply or the outlet valve. By the degree of leakage of the liquid, the effectiveness of the technique will be seen.

Hot water

If you do not know how to thaw a frozen water pipe connected to a building or located in an unheated basement, use boiling water treatment:

1. Wrap the outer section of the line with rags or old things that absorb liquid well, in several layers. This will prolong the contact of water and the walls of the product.
2. Heat the water to boiling point.
3. Cover areas that do not need to be warmed up with a heat-insulating cloth to prevent cork movement.
4. Water the wrapped area until the cloth is wet until the ice melts.
5. The system warm-up time is up to 12 hours.

With a hair dryer

A powerful jet of hot air heats up a separate area when communications are inside the building. Work is performed according to the following algorithm:

1. Around the structure, a special casing is made of film or metal, which eliminates heat loss.
2. Open water taps and valves.
3. Evenly, from all sides they blow communications with a building hair dryer.
4. They carefully work out the entrances to the fittings, narrowings and turns to melt the ice.

With the help of electricity

A welding machine will help melt an ice plug or remove plaque in a pipe underground in a residential building. The device is only suitable for metal structures, as they will be conductors.

Principle of operation

When the device is turned on, an electric field is created that activates the electrons and sets their direction. Colliding with ions, the elements generate thermal energy. Metal products are also heated by the current, and the released heat is transferred to the ice, so the cork is gradually pushed into the water pipe.

How to use?

If you do not know how to qualitatively warm frozen water in a metal pipe located underground or above the ground in a private house, follow the following procedure:

1. Put on thick rubber gloves.
2. Open valves and faucets.
3. Excavate or open the desired area.
4. Touch the electrodes to the pipe.
5. After parting, the water will begin to flow in a thin stream.

Technology "soldier's boiler"

Plastic plumbing warms up well if you use a two-core copper wire with a cross section of 2.5 mm. A homemade tool immersed inside the pipe will gradually boil the liquid and direct it to the drain system. The process is carried out in stages:

1. The top insulating layer is removed from the wire.
2. A plug for an outlet is screwed to one end of the wire.
3. The second core is exposed and wrapped around the pipe for 3-4 turns.
4. The excess is cut off with pliers.
5. With an indent of 1-2 mm from the final turn, the second core is twisted.
6. Connect the plug to the mains.

Heating cable for water pipes

This method of protection against freezing of pipes has been used relatively recently. Here, the heating cable acts as the main element. At the same time, it can be located either on the outside of the pipe, enveloping it, or inside the water supply. In both cases, the part of the element of the water supply system, which needs additional thermal insulation, is pre-wrapped with a layer of foil. This will minimize potential heat loss.

Cable heating systems
- these are ready-made kits consisting of a wire of different lengths, with a certain power, a plug at one end and a thermostat at the other end of the cable. The thermostat maintains the set temperature of the pipe heating and can independently turn on or turn off the heating system in a given temperature range. The set of many kits also includes a thermostat that allows you to control the temperature and power consumption.

The main advantages are the possibility of its installation both on pipes running underground and on the surface, while the average energy consumption of the heating system is small - about 15 W / m., and above all, it depends on the expected minimum air temperature and thermal insulation of the pipe.

However, it is important to remember that in the event of a power outage, the heating system also ceases to function. The occurrence of such a situation should be foreseen in advance.

To ensure an uninterrupted supply of electricity, it is worth purchasing and installing an additional autonomous power generator.

The most famous and popular manufacturers of cable heating systems are companies such as Ebeco, Tyco Thermal Controls, Ensto, Nelson EasyHeat, Raychem, Nexans, Special Systems and Technologies, etc.

Outdoor location of the heating cable

The heating cable can be placed along the pipe in one or more lines
.

Another option for the location of the heating element - spiral along the pipe
. When installing the heating cable, make sure that the cable pitch is uniform.

Wavy line along the pipe
the heating cable is located if the length of the cable is too long for the linear method of placement, and insufficient for the spiral one.

1. Temperature sensor 2. Heating cable 3. Water pipe 4. Adhesive tape 5. Thermal insulation

Internal location of the heating cable

For internal placement of the heating element, a cable with a special coating is used. The upper layer of the cable allows the use of this method of pipe insulation in pipelines with drinking water.
It should be noted that when using a heating cable, there is no need to place the water supply system at a great depth.

As a rule, the installation of a heating cable inside pipes is performed if it is not possible to lay it outside. For internal laying, cables use special kits designed for installation in water pipes with a diameter of 1/2″ to 1″.

Ways to prevent freezing

The most effective methods to prevent the formation of ice jams include:

1. Proper installation of the pipeline to a sufficient depth.
2. Arrangement of sand and gravel cushion.
3. Thermal insulation of the system.
4. Pipeline supply with heating cables with temperature sensors.

Heating with a heating cable should not be abused. In addition to the fact that this is a significant cost overrun of electricity, continuous operation will shorten its service life by several times.

Be sure to remember that high-quality protection of pipes at the stage of their installation will greatly facilitate their operation in the future. No matter how carefully they are warmed up, there is a very high risk of damage from the direct expansion of the ice inside. It is highly likely that with the onset of heat, it will be necessary to carry out repairs and replace damaged parts of the system.

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Constantly circulating water

When it is not possible to resort to technical refinements, it is enough just to leave a tap open so that water flows in a thin stream constantly. The method is simple. Yes, it is not always justified, because if water flows into the septic tank, then it overflows, because. even the thinnest jet can turn into hundreds of liters per day. At the same time, already purified drinking water is poured out. In addition, it is senseless to spend electricity on its supply. Another disadvantage of this method is that summer residents often simply forget to open the treasured faucet. After all, the habit of well closing the water makes itself felt. And this, as you might guess, leads to freezing of the water supply.

Is it possible to correctly circulate water? Can. To do this, you need to duplicate the water pipe. The second one will be used as a return line. The pump during operation, pumping out water from the existing well, drives it through these two pipes and returns it back to the well.

To reduce the load on the pump, you can set a timer. With it, you can set the frequency of operation of the unit. For example, 1-2 minutes of work after 30 minutes of rest. In this case, the water will not have time to freeze, and electricity is saved.

When a liter of water freezes, 330 kJ of thermal energy is released. In terms of wool, this is 90 W * hours. Heat loss per linear meter of pipe is approximately 10-15 watts.

When we know the diameter of this pipe and the volume of water that is in it, we can calculate the frequency of the pump, with which it is necessary to replace the cooled water with warmer water from the well.

Defrosting sewer pipes

In the case when the sewer pipe within the building is frozen, the heating methods described in the previous section will help us. But what to do if a pipe froze underground on the street? Watering the soil above it with hot water is pointless, and waiting for the onset of heat is too long. There are several ways to remedy the situation.

If a metal sewer pipe is frozen, then you can use the already mentioned method of heating by supplying current. But the difficulty is that it will be necessary to break the integrity of the soil above the pipe, which is very problematic, since it is frozen. If this scares you less than the absence of the benefits of civilization over the next three months, then you will need to dig two wells along the edges of the icy area. You can also spend money on the purchase of special equipment if this problem is systematic in your case. Actions are almost the same as those already written. The only difference is that there is no need to turn the device on and off (when buying a special device for heating).

It is impossible to warm up using high temperatures immediately in the middle of a frozen area. The melted liquid will have nowhere to go. Always defrost ice from the edges of the mash.

You can also act differently.We will need to independently build a simple device from a long piece of a two-core cable, a water heating element (heater), a small plank and a plug. We connect a plug to one end of the cable, and a heating element to the other. We make sure that the edge of the base of the heating element rests on the edge of the board, and its spirals do not touch it. It is necessary to advance the device with a rigid cable. We put it inside the pipe from the side that leads to the drain (septic tank). It is impossible to approach the ice jam from the side of the sewage inlet, since the thawed liquid will have nowhere to leave the system, due to its angle of inclination. When the element rests on the ice, we turn it on, when we move it forward a little, we turn it off.

Measures when the water pipe frost protection is in operation

To prevent this, it is necessary to protect the water supply from freezing by insulating the water inlet. Thermal insulation made of various materials is used for these purposes: mineral wool, polyethylene foam, extruded polystyrene and others.

It is also necessary to separate the body of the pipe from contact with the wall of the building. This reduces the likelihood of water freezing in the pipe and works as an additional freeze protection for the water supply.

All this pipe, from ground level to the entrance to the house, together with thermal insulation, should be enclosed in a tray or “bedside table” made of bricks or other improvised means and covered with roofing material.

Thus, the covered tray prevents the destruction of thermal insulation from atmospheric influences: precipitation, wind and sun.

But, sometimes, all these works are not enough to completely protect against freezing of water in the pipe, therefore, in addition to thermal insulation, you should use a heating tape or, as they say in everyday life: a heating cable. There are two types of heating cables - resistive and self-regulating.

In simple terms, a resistive cable is a heating element made in the form of a cable. To control it, you need a thermostat that supplies a certain voltage, depending on the length of the cable.

Self-regulating cables are free from this drawback, since they use a polymer matrix as a heating element, along the edges of which conductors pass. Therefore, this cable can be cut into arbitrary pieces of the required length, which will fulfill their function and the heating temperature of the tape will depend on the air temperature.

This allows preventing "defrosting" of pipes and even warming up frozen water in pipes, restoring the lost water supply. The cable is attached to the pipe in the problem area, that is, from the inner wall of the building (entry point) and to the lowest freezing point of the soil (if the water supply goes into the ground).

The electrical connection of a self-regulating cable does not cause any particular problems, and every developer who knows how to hold a screwdriver in his hands can perform these works.

You can power the cable only if necessary, in severe frosts, thereby reducing electricity consumption. Having applied the entire list of works, you can be sure that the protection of the water supply system from freezing will work reliably in the winter.

Pipe heating with cable

This method is currently the most widely used. The idea is simple. After all, winter, even the most severe, is only a few months. Therefore, the pipeline can freeze only during this cold period.

If instead of 2 meters we bury a pipe 50 cm long, wind a heating cable around it and insulate it, then the water will not freeze.

If you take a branded cable, then its cost can be from 400 to 500 rubles. per running meter. Distribution power is 10-20 W per linear meter. If you want cheaper, then you can use a regular wire. The heating cable made at home, as a rule, is low-voltage.In theory, it can be used both outside the pipe and inside. However, it is worth remembering that even at low voltage, the current can affect pets.

As a rule, the water supply freezes in the place where the pipe is introduced into the house. If you wrap it with a few meters of cable, then the problem can be eliminated.

Work with heating pipes

Some believe that this problem cannot affect them, because they live in regions where harsh winters are not observed. But this is deeply misleading. At what temperature do you think heating pipes freeze? Only at -30°С? No, for water to freeze in those parts of the system that are laid under the house (and very close to the outer walls), -7 ° C is enough. And if heating is not used in winter (for example, they left home for a while), then -8-10 ° C is enough for the pipes to freeze inside the building itself.

If you want to protect yourself from rupture of pipes due to their freezing, then when buying materials for the heating system, opt for plastic rather than metal pipes.

Consider several options for how you can warm up a frozen heating pipe in a house.

Hot water

The most primitive method of dealing with an ice plug. Its efficiency is extremely low, time and labor costs are very high. The plan of action is as follows: wrap the problem area with a dense cloth, substitute a large container from below and start pouring hot water over the cloth. This manipulation is repeated every 10-15 minutes. The temperature should be around 80°C, no more. Depending on the size of the problem area, it can take from 2 to 10 hours to warm it up.

Hot air

The easiest and easiest way to destroy the ice jam. Its effectiveness, as well as that of the previous option, is small, but it will not require any excessive efforts from you. Using a building hair dryer (use time - 2 minutes, rest time - 5-7 minutes), or an ordinary household or standard fan heater, heat the surface of the pipe with a jet of hot air.

Thermal conductivity

This method is the most expensive if there are no wires from the underfloor heating system. It is unlikely that you will be able to buy them separately; you will have to purchase the entire system, even if it is of the smallest size. These heating elements are wrapped around the frozen area and connected to the mains. The time spent on heating the element is reduced by about half compared to previous options.

Electrical conductivity

The most effective option for heating frozen liquid in the elements, but not suitable for every system. If the pipes are not made of metal, you will have to choose something else. For defrosting, you will need any electrical transformer with additional resistance (for example, a welding machine). We connect the terminals from the cables at the edges of the frozen section and turn on the current supply. A prerequisite is the alternation of switching on and off the device. Constant work can disable it. The heating time takes no more than two hours.

Some craftsmen recommend heating the elements with a propane torch. This is not true, since the use of such a technique is strictly prohibited. Because of it, the integrity of the pipe body can be damaged, which will lead to a leak.

Additional thermal insulation and insulation of water pipes

The most popular protection against freezing of pipes is the preliminary adoption of measures for additional thermal insulation of the water supply system and water pipes. The materials used for this can be very different.

Mineral wool.
Such a heater is used quite often. In construction, it is in great demand. Its advantages lie in resistance to temperature fluctuations, ease of installation work, as well as the ability to perform its immediate functions for a very long time.

Foamed polyethylene.
Differs in availability and high thermal insulation properties. The top layer of insulation based on foamed polyethylene is made of foil, which allows you to reflect heat inward, which further reduces heat loss.

Styrofoam (expanded polystyrene).
Foam insulation for pipes is presented in the form of a kind of cover (box), consisting of two halves in a longitudinal section. To insulate the connecting nodes, a special foam shell of various shapes is used. The fastening of individual elements is carried out manually.

Most summer residents do not leave their plots for a long time even in winter: they come for weekends and holidays. Now the people are already so accustomed to comfortable conditions that they do not agree to draw water from a well with a bucket, wash dishes in a basin or bathe in a trough. We need such a blessing of civilization as cold and hot tap water at any time of the year. But frosts test for strength not only our health, but also the creations of human hands.

Perhaps you also had a chance to face the problems of winter country water supply. That's about them, or rather about how to avoid them after all, we'll talk.

Of course, if you personally designed and built your dacha, then you took care of the safety of the equipment and the smooth operation of all systems at any time of the year. Fortunately, now there are many ways to protect water pipes from freezing: the latest thermal insulation materials or cable heating of pipes.

And what about those who bought a summer cottage and are forced to use what they have? How can you inexpensively and reliably save ordinary engineering communications in winter so that they do not freeze and fail?

There is an opinion that pipes laid below the freezing level of the soil are safe in winter. This is not entirely true. The degree of freezing of the soil is influenced by several factors: its density and humidity, duration and strength of frost. For example, for Central Russia, the recommended depth of the pipeline is 1.5 m. But, as the practice of recent years shows, the freezing depth in February-March reaches a level of 1.8 m.

If you are sure that your water supply is hidden to a safe depth, it is enough to drain the water from the heating system and you can safely leave for the city. The only advice in this case: let the water flow from the taps in a thin stream. As long as there is water movement through the pipes, the risk that they will freeze is reduced significantly.

Removing water from the water supply

As you know, what is not there cannot be spoiled. As well as freezing too. For this reason, during a long absence, wise people simply drain the water from the system in the fall.

For those who have a submersible pump in the well, it is enough to make a small hole with a diameter of 2-3 mm in the hose next to the pump. In this case, immediately after turning it off, all the water from the system will drain back, i.e. into the well. A non-return valve is installed at the opposite end of the pipe, allowing air to fill the pipe when the water drains. When the pump is turned on again, this valve closes, and water flows freely into the water supply.

Those summer residents who have suction pumps that are located in the basement or directly in the house may encounter some difficulties.

The fact is that a check valve is located at the inlet end of the supply pipe. It prevents water from returning to the well. Therefore, in this case, the system will have to be supported by water supplied from some container. It's easy to organize. Bringing the system up and running will take a matter of minutes. However, when leaving, you will need to remember to drain the water from the system.

Reasons for defrosting heaters

The main reasons for freezing air heaters are:

1. Winter period: outdoor temperature drops below -10 degrees.
2. The temperature of the heat carrier in the supply pipeline is below +45 degrees.
3. The amount of impurities contained in the pipeline system operating for the ventilation system exceeds the permissible limits, which leads to clogging of individual coils of heat exchangers and, as a result, freezing of water in these areas.
4. The power supply of ventilation systems is intermittent, the circulation pump is turned off.
5. Design features of heat exchangers (water heaters). Most European manufacturers make heat exchanger tubes with a smaller diameter than is required for operation in Russia.
6. Incorrect choice of control node scheme.
7. Control valves are selected with high Kv and actuators with low speed.
8. Absence of a return heat carrier sensor and a capillary anti-freeze thermostat.
9. Faulty automatic systems, lack of frost protection.
10. Inconsistent operation of exhaust systems when the supply systems are turned off (air suction through closed shutters), etc.

Conclusions and useful video on the topic

Video #1 Application overview of pipe heating cable:

Video #2 Video review of the heating method using new technologies:

Well, in extreme cases, if frosts are fierce on the street, and the above methods cannot be applied, then, contrary to safety rules, try to leave the tap ajar for the night.

Albeit slow, but still the movement of water will prevent the formation of ice plugs. And at the onset of the warm season, we still recommend that you deal with the problem area and thoroughly insulate the pipeline.

Would you like to share your own method of heating the water pipes? Have you found controversial points in the information provided, have questions on the topic of the article? Please write in the box below.