What to do if the sewer is frozen. What to do if a sewer pipe freezes? How to heat a sewer at home

The functioning of the septic tank occurs unnoticed until it is in good working order. Project development and installation of autonomous sewage system in country house involves taking into account a large number of factors, among which a prominent place is occupied low temperature air. Sometimes it happens that a septic tank pipe in the ground freezes. If the installation of the septic tank is done professionally, then this should not happen, but this happens due to errors during installation.

To understand at what thermometer readings the VOC will freeze, it is necessary to take into account not only the location of the pipeline, but also the material from which it is made, the angle of inclination, diameter and other parameters.

Why do septic tank pipes freeze?

Here are the main reasons:

• The pipe inclination angle was designed incorrectly. Water does not flow through the pipe by gravity; as a result, it stagnates and freezes when frost sets in.
• The autonomous sewer system was installed at an insufficient depth (less than two meters), the pipes are below the freezing point, which is typical for the area.
• No insulation was done ( about how to do high-quality insulation, read). If the pipes were installed above the freezing point of the soil, then they must be properly insulated. The places where they leave the house also need to be insulated. Unfortunately, some craftsmen ignore these requirements and use insulation Low quality or carry out installation work incorrectly.
• Small pipe diameter selected. Typically, pipes with a diameter of less than 110 millimeters freeze.
• Often the sewage system freezes in a country cottage due to blockages. What to do in this situation? The pipes need to be cleaned.

Why did the septic tank freeze?

• There has been a water drainage problem. Local sewage treatment plant overflowed, heavy fractions settled, and the water froze.
• The VOC is located at a considerable distance from the source of the effluent. The water flow, moving towards the waste pit, cools, and this causes it to freeze in the place where the pipeline is adjacent to the VOC.

Some dacha owners who carry out installation on their own often do not think about whether the septic tank will freeze. It is known that VOC is a container in which wastewater with intensive decomposition processes is stored. Since thermal energy is released during the decomposition of solid waste, freezing is eliminated. In addition, it is advisable to install the VOC at depth.

But it is worth noting that unforeseen situations can arise at any moment, so cottage owners should know what needs to be done if the septic tank freezes.

How to defrost a frozen sewer pipe in a private house?

Eat different methods and means on how to defrost a septic tank. All methods can be divided into two groups:

• Thermal method. Must be submitted thermal energy to the place where the water froze. There is a risk of damaging the pipe. This method can be used when there is no more effective means, and calling a specialist is very expensive or difficult.
• Chemical method. Today, it is quite rare to use chemicals to defrost a pipe, since not all chemicals are capable of defrosting a septic tank. In addition, this method is expensive. Chemicals may adversely affect bacteria, which are an integral component of VOCs.

Enough effective method defrosting - use the Mellerud product.

Stages of work on defrosting a septic tank

First you need to find the place of freezing (the appearance of an ice plug). It is appropriate to inspect the area where the VOC water is escaping. This algorithm of actions is determined by the fact that the pipes are designed so that water drains easily. This means that they must be placed on a slope.

Ice plugs should be heated gradually to water flow flowed down naturally. If this is not done correctly, then the wastewater may be directed to reverse side, then they will need to be pumped out.

As a rule, it is necessary to combat freezing in the direction from the VOC to the pipeline. The following factors influence the order of work:

• Location of the freezing point. If water freezes in the interior sewer system(the building was not heated), then the defrosting process will be as simple as possible.
• Ice plug dimensions.
• Geometric characteristics of the sewerage system. If there are many straight sections, then it will be easier to defrost the septic tank.
• Installation method. As a rule, pipes are placed underground. If an ice plug appears in the sewer system, which is located at a depth under frozen soil, the number of defrosting methods is significantly reduced. If you can’t get there from the VOC, you need to act from home.

The simplest and effective way To restore the functionality of the septic tank in severe frosts, call competent specialists in Moscow or the Moscow region. They have experience and special tools, thanks to which they can quickly cope with ice jams.

What to do if the septic tank in a country cottage freezes?

Methods will vary depending on the location of the freeze. The following will discuss the problems and their solutions.

Frozen sewer drain: what to do?

The drain freezes quite rarely, since it is located at great depths underground. If this problem is not corrected, the withdrawal will stop Wastewater, which will cause the VOC to overflow and subsequently freeze.

To defrost the drain, you need to pour water or saline solution heated to 80 degrees into the VOC. After this, you need to pump out water from the station biological treatment and refill the water. The heated water will eventually melt the ice, and the operation of the septic tank will be restored.

A drain is also a pipe that carries waste away from its source (toilet, bathtub, shower, sink). Freezing of this pipe may be due to the fact that the room was not heated, and the water is not heated. Usually, the pipe freezes at the point of contact with the source. To melt the ice plug, you should use a hair dryer. This device will also help if the riser is frozen.

What to do if the septic tank freezes?

This can happen if the drainage is not properly organized. To eliminate the freezing point, you must do the following:

• Heat using a light bulb that is placed inside the VOC. The ice plug will thaw, but it will take a long time. On average, one meter of ice melts within 24 hours if the air temperature outside is minus 15 °C.
• Pour in hot water, then ensure it is pumped out.
• Pour into biological treatment station quicklime. This method is more suitable for cesspools, and for modern VOC it is most likely irrelevant.

Pipes are frozen

This is a very unpleasant situation that is difficult to resolve, since there are two limitations: 1) the pipes are located under the ground, and this prevents the use of external heating, 2) it is difficult to find the source where the ice has formed.

How to find areas where ice plugs appear?

For this it is advisable to use two wires. One wire should be placed in the pipe from the cottage, the second wire - from the septic tank. Knowing the length of the pipe and the distances over which you were able to push the wire, you can detect the freezing point and determine its size.

Methods for removing ice jams

External heating

It is necessary to remove the earth to gain access to the sewer pipes. After this you can:

• If the pipes are made of metal, you can ignite open flame on the pipe, having previously wrapped it with rags. It is also appropriate to use a torch.
• Wrap foil around the pipe, then use a heating cable to connect to the electrical network.
• Apply heating tape.
• Heat plastic pipes using a hair dryer.

This method is rarely used because it is very labor-intensive. How to restore the functionality of a sewer system that cannot be reached? Obviously: we need to act from within.

Internal heating

The ice mass must be affected from the inside. Options:

• The wall should be heated if the frozen pipeline is inside the house.
• Apply hot water.

An effective method: a straight pipe should be cleared of ice by placing a hose with a funnel into it, into which you need to pour water. As the ice melts, the hose should be moved deeper. To increase effectiveness this method, it is appropriate to use water together with salt in various ratios (from ten to one to one to one).

To defrost a pipeline with complex geometry, you need to follow the same steps, but you should use flexible hose, which must be wound to the wire. The wire should protrude ten to fifteen millimeters above the hose in order to more effectively bypass obstacles.

Important to remember:

• The temperature of the water that enters the hose should be no more than 80 degrees.
• It is necessary to ensure a continuous supply of water.
• As the ice melts, water will pour out of the sewer; it is necessary to place a container in advance.
• Applying this method, the ice will melt at a rate of one meter per hour if the diameter of the pipeline is 110 millimeters.

Another method is to use a small boiler to heat water in an ice plug. Many people note that the “army boiler” is very effective for this. It’s quite easy to make: in the lid from plastic bottle you need to insert two blades at a distance of half a centimeter, you need to screw a copper wire with a cross-section of two by one and a half to the blades, one end of the wire needs to be connected to a plug and inserted into the electrical network. If you are dealing with plastic pipes, you should work carefully, trying to ensure that the boiler does not come into contact with internal walls. This can be avoided by enclosing it in a mesh shell.

To eliminate the ice plug, you should also apply welding machine, which must be connected on both sides to the pipeline. Only for metal pipes!

You can also use alcohol, but this is a rather expensive method, since the volume of 1 linear meter of pipeline with a diameter of 11 centimeters is equal to eight liters.

You can also use a steam generator.

Freezing Prevention

If you want to prevent your pipes from freezing, you need to drain them occasionally. a large number of heated water (when frosts are raging outside). To prevent the appearance of ice plugs, it is necessary to lay a heating cable at the pipe installation stage.

If autonomous sewerage still got out of standing, then it is necessary to carry out a competent

What to do if the sewage system in a private house is frozen or the heating or water supply system is frozen? The Belarusian website dom-expert.by offers excellent instructions on how to thaw frozen pipes and restore the status quo in a country house for those who have no time to wait for warmer weather or the arrival of repairmen.

What causes pipes to freeze?

Most often, water in sewer or water pipes freezes if:

• The pipes are laid within the soil freezing depth. In Ukraine, the standard freezing depth, depending on the region, ranges from 60-70 to 90 cm, so if your pipes are buried to a shallower depth, their freezing is quite real story in severe frosts;
• The pipes are not insulated or the insulation layer on them has been damaged ;
• The sewer pipe is laid in the ground in violation of the requirements for its slope (calculated as 20 mm for each linear meter pipes). In such pipes, any small debris can lead to pipe clogging, and as a result, to delay and freezing of drains;
• The diameter of the pipes is too small - for example, sewer pipes are less than 110 mm. Through thinner pipes, liquids flow more slowly, which is why they freeze faster;
• The pipes have leaks or cracks, due to which gradually leaking and freezing water blocks or even tears the walls of the pipes;
• Too little water is drained into the sewer, which is why some of it can freeze both in the pipe and in the septic tank.

Note to the owner

Most often, metal and plastic parts of pipes freeze at their connections and at the places where pipes exit to the surface.

Water in pipes can turn into ice either in one or several areas or throughout the entire pipe. How to find out? If the pipe is not in the ground and is accessible for inspection, do the following:

• Lightly tap the pipe - in places where there is ice, the sound will be dull, and where there is none, it will be ringing;
• If possible, disassemble several connections and inspect them for ice;
• Check how strong the wind is in those places where the pipes are on the surface: where there is constant draft, the likelihood of pipes freezing increases;
• Are the pipes on the surface okay? This means there is an ice plug in the part of the pipe that is in the ground.

How to heat water supply and sewerage

There are several options for how to warm frozen pipes - it all depends on the scale of the accident, the material of the pipes, their location and the time available to warm them up.

Quick options

If the question is how to melt ice in a sewer pipe quickly, then you can try the following methods:

• Boiling water - good in cases where the area where the pipe freezes is small and easily accessible. Required area The pipes (the material of the pipe is unimportant) are wrapped with a rag and poured with boiling water. After completing the procedure and obtaining the desired effect, this area is wrapped with insulation to avoid recurrence of the problem.
• Construction hair dryer or heat gun- suitable as boiling water for individual sections or for joints and bends of pipes, fittings. You can use any powerful device that generates a flow warm air. Wrapping the heated area with insulation is also mandatory. And be careful with plastic pipes - don't melt them!
• Gas burner or blowtorch- a very fire hazardous method that is only suitable for metal pipes!
• Cleaning ice with a hydrodynamic machine. This is a specific device that professionals use to clean pipes: it pumps liquid into them under high pressure. Not very good for plastic pipes - you can damage them under pressure, and you won’t be able to get such a device quickly, and buying it specially is expensive.

Slow options

Simpler, but also effective ways to warm up sewerage and water supply in a private house, especially if frozen areas are located at depth or in the ground:

• Pump hot water into the frozen pipe using a pump: to do this, insert a flexible hose into the pipe to the maximum depth. But not an ordinary garden one, but best of all - designed to supply oxygen or domestic gas from cylinders. If the source of ice formation is located near the sink or toilet drain, you can pour hot water and salt into them (1 kg of salt per bucket of water).

  In places where pipes bend, you need to get creative with inserting the hose: you should attach a metal wire with a curved tip to the hose. It will help push the ice through the pipe.

The method is suitable for plastic and polypropylene pipes, but you can’t call it fast and economical: to melt 10 cm of ice you need a bucket of water, and it will take you about an hour and a half to warm up one meter of frozen pipe.

• Light a fire for several hours over the place where the frozen pipe is buried in the ground, even if it is at a decent depth (a meter or more). The burnt coals then need to be covered for another 6 hours under a slate hut. Even if warming the ground doesn't help, it will warm the ground and you can dig up the pipe to visually determine its condition.

Electric options

Sometimes electricity is used to warm frozen pipes.

Note to the owner!

• Warming with welding transformer. The frozen (metal only!) pipe is freed from insulation and paint, and wrapped copper wire. The ends of the wire are connected to the secondary winding of the welding transformer and turned on with a minimum operating current: this combination allows you to melt the ice in a sewer pipe in just a couple of hours.
• Heating using bare wires for plastic casings. Only suitable for plastic pipes without metallic connecting and other elements (including taps). In this case, use a two-core cable with cores with a cross-section of 2.5 mm (for example, an installation power cable), from which the outer insulation is removed in a small section and the cores are separated from each other. Wires required preliminary preparation and careful handling, otherwise heating from the mains can end very sadly.

How to prevent pipes from freezing

It is easier to prevent a problem than to solve it. Therefore, it is better to do everything in advance so that one day your heating in a private house, sewerage or water supply system does not freeze.

• Bury the pipes below the freezing point of the soil - to a depth of at least 1 meter.
• Insulate the pipes: for this you can use any ordinary insulation: mineral wool, polystyrene foam, polystyrene foam, and so on.
• Install pipe protection along their entire length in the basement or plinth: it can simply be a larger diameter pipe, the remaining space in which can be blown out with foam.
• Use heating for pipes in the ground: a special cable is wound around the pipe, to which current is supplied for heating when the soil temperature drops to critical.
• Use pipes of larger diameter made of polyethylene: they are elastic in cold weather and ice does not break them, and a strong flow of water prevents them from freezing.
• Use for sewerage chemical compositions that prevent it from freezing - only when purchasing them, consider what material your sewer pipes are made of.

The problem of frozen sewerage is, unfortunately, not so rare. Therefore, the question of how to defrost a sewer pipe is often asked. To answer it, you need to understand the reasons for the formation of an ice plug. And they mostly relate to purely technical features construction of the sewer system. Namely:

• the slope of the pipe was chosen incorrectly; optimally for sewerage it is 2-3 mm per 1 linear meter;
• a large number of bends and elbows of the route;
• the sewer network was laid above the ground freezing level and poorly insulated;
• pipes of smaller diameter were installed, which reduced their throughput.

Even the presence of one of these reasons immediately becomes a problem, which will be determined by the question: the sewer is frozen - what to do?

Frozen sewer

In fact, what can be done, in what ways can defrost the sewer be carried out. Basically, there are not many options. The thing is that the sewer system is usually laid deep underground; getting to it in winter by digging through frozen ground is not the easiest problem. But if there is no other way out, then you will have to dig.

However, it should be noted that you can only work with an open sewer pipe if it is made of metal. But before you defrost the sewer, you need to determine where the ice plug is forming. This can be done very simply.

• A hose or wire is used for this.
• One of these products must be pushed into the sewer line from the side of the house from the first inspection window or inspection well.
• As soon as the wire rests against something solid, it means that there is an obstacle in front of it. Perhaps this is an ice jam.
• To check this and be one hundred percent sure, it is necessary to perform the same action on the side of the septic tank. That is, a hose or wire is inserted into the open pipe and pushed all the way.
• Now, on both sides, using the same wire, you need to mark the distances along the line of laying the sewer pipe. If they converge in one area, then this is a guarantee that the ice plug is located exactly here.

If in the same area there is manhole, then this simplifies the process of defrosting the sewer system. Access to the traffic jam is simply reduced.

Forgot to insulate

Heating of metal pipes

So, the location of the ice plug has been determined, now you can dig a hole or trench all the way to the pipe. Typically, metal pipes for the sewerage system are cast iron samples with a socket connection system. We got to the track, now we can defrost it.

The simplest and most effective option is to pick up a blowtorch, light it and walk along the pipe. If it is not available, then you can make a fire on the spot. Some even suggest connecting both sides of the pipeline electricity, on one side there is phase, on the other there is zero. This is unlikely to help, although purely theoretically this option should work.

A metal pipe can be heated with a burner

Heating of plastic pipes

Fortunately, plastic pipes have almost completely replaced steel pipes in the sewerage system. They are very smooth inner surface, which guarantees high permeability of sewage drains. 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 heat sewerage from PVC pipes?

As in the first case, it is necessary to find the exact location of the frozen drains. That is, you need to do all the manipulations with the wire or hose. No need to dig anything, any action on plastic high temperature, and even more so with an open fire, will lead to its melting, accordingly the pipes will lose their integrity and become covered with holes. That is, there can be no talk about the tightness of the sewer system.

Steam defrosting

It is necessary to influence the ice plug from inside the pipeline hot water or ferry. To do this, you first need 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 volume of hot water, for example, it could be a barrel placed on a fire. If steam is used, you will have to install a low-power steam generator. 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 point 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. In this case, the defrosted wastewater will flow by gravity through the pipe into the septic tank. This is why it is 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 fill the hot water from the side of the house. But here a problem arises related to pumping out the melted wastewater. After all, they will collect above the plug, remaining in the sewer pipe itself. It's good if the ice blockage is not very large. Hot water will gradually melt it, and all the drainage, along with pieces of ice, will fall further down the pipe, and from there into the septic tank. What if the plug is big, if it’s frozen sewage pipe(large area) – what to do in this case? How to pump out defrosted sewage?

Pouring hot water into a sewer pipe

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

Alternative solution

There is another option. It is simpler, 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 septic tank side and turned on. Hot air penetrates the pipeline, filling it with itself. Having reached the ice plug, he begins to thaw it. This process is not quick, it will take several hours until the entire ice jam melts.

Conclusion on the topic

So, what should you pay attention to before defrosting a plastic or metal sewer pipe? First of all, you need to decide on the size of the plug. The larger it is, the more difficult it is to cope with. But we can cope. The most important thing is that obvious defrosting methods cannot always be used immediately. It’s worth considering whether it’s worth all the effort to use this particular technology. Maybe there is an easier way? Or maybe you shouldn’t tinker with the sewer yourself, maybe it’s better to call specialists.

Don't forget to rate the article.

Ice plugs that have formed inside the sewer pipes can cause great inconvenience; in this case, you cannot fully use the water in your home. The problem of frozen pipes must be resolved quickly. Since this phenomenon is quite common, a solution to the problem has long been found, you just need to follow the advice. Moreover, it is important not only to eliminate the problem, but also to find out the cause of ice in sewer pipes. After all, without eliminating the cause itself, you will repeatedly have to deal with freezing pipes. Let's take a closer look at what to do if the sewer is frozen.

Sewer freezing - causes

Mostly, freezing of pipes occurs due to errors made during the installation of the system. Or an accident can happen if you use the drain incorrectly. Here are the main factors causing this phenomenon:

1. The installed pipe has insufficient slope or a pipe with a smaller diameter than required is used. Such errors contribute to the fact that the speed of movement of wastewater is low; it can accumulate in pipes and freeze in severe frost. It is in this case that the longest ice plug is formed.
2. The drainage of water in the septic tank is disrupted. When the filtration fields are made on insufficient area, and drainage pipes installed shallowly, water will not come out of the septic tank. As a result, it will overflow, and new liquid will flow and accumulate in the pipes. To solve this problem, you will have to empty the contents of the septic tank until it warms up and you can redo the filtration fields.
3. Water leakage. It happens that the valve in the drain tank or the faucet in the bathroom or kitchen leaks in your home. In this case, water will constantly flow into the pipes in small quantities. Since there is little of it, it can easily freeze on the way to the septic tank. Layer by layer it freezes, forming an ice plug. The owner just needs to repair the damage to avoid liquid leakage.
4. Another reason is blockage. No one is immune from this, so you will need to not only warm up the pipes, but also clean them.
5. The sewer pipes are not insulated. If they are not insulated, the water will often freeze.

Armed with this knowledge, you can prevent next appearance ice jams in your system. But what to do next, how to fix the problem?

Calling specialists is easy and worry-free

But this is the simplest option. Some people don't want to spend extra money on something they can do themselves. So let's look at how to solve the problem yourself.

What do you need to know?

So, having found out the reason, you can move on to eliminating it. First, you need to assess the full scale of the “tragedy,” since this will influence the choice of method for eliminating the accident. You need to find out:

• where exactly is the ice plug located?
• what is its length through the pipes?

Having this information, you can get to work. You will have several methods at your disposal that you can choose from:

1. Pouring hot water into the system.
2. Using a blowtorch.
3. Steam heating using a steam generator.
4. Application of external methods.

Let's look at how to warm up the system using each of these methods.

Hot water helps

If you determine that the frozen area is small, we recommend the simplest method. Even a child can do this. It is enough just to fill the sewage system with hot water with added salt. Cheap and cheerful. As water flows to the site where the plug is formed, it will gradually defrost it. This method is good for its simplicity and effectiveness.

In the case where the plug is located far from the sewer outlet, this method will be useless. By the time the water reaches the place of formation, it will simply cool down. Therefore, it is recommended to use hot water only when the plug is close and small in size.

This method is universal and suitable for both plastic and metal sewer pipes.

• simplicity;
• efficiency;
• no additional tools required;
• everything you need is at hand;
• versatility.

• only valid under certain circumstances.

Using a blowtorch

The second method is only suitable if you have metal pipes. After all, the plastic ones will simply melt. But the good thing about it is that the location of the plug and its size do not matter. And using a blowtorch is not a difficult task. The only problem is that heating must be done from outside. If you live in a private house, you need to dig a trench. This is especially difficult in winter period when the ground is hard. Well, then it’s a matter of technology! Heat up cast iron pipe gradually until the ice inside melts.

• suitable for any location and size of plug;
• ease of operation;
• efficiency.

• external use;
• Suitable only for metal pipes;
• the need to dig a trench.

Steam vs ice

If your pipes are made of plastic, it is problematic to use an open fire. But this is not a problem, since steam generators are provided for this purpose, which will help you restore the system with hot steam. You just have to go to a specialized store and purchase this unit.

If you don't want to spend money, you can ask your neighbors or friends if they have a steam generator. They may lend it to you for work.

How is the work done?

1. The steam generator is filled with water.
2. A hose is inserted into the sewer pipe, at the end of which there is a nozzle. It needs to be pushed all the way into the ice plug.
3. The device starts up.
4. As the plug melts, you need to move the hose further until the plug is completely removed.

The peculiarity of using a steam generator is that if you need to defrost pipes located underground, you don’t have to dig anything.

• safety;
• efficiency;
• simplicity.

• purchase of expensive equipment.

One of the varieties of this method is hydrodynamic flushing. For this purpose, installations are used that supply hot water under pressure. Thanks to this, you will not only remove the blockage, but also get rid of blockages in the pipes. Also, thanks to this method, you can check whether there are damaged pipes in the system.

Ways to heat outside

Besides using a blowtorch outside, there are other heating methods. For example, the electrical defrosting method is often used. This defrosting is only suitable for metal pipes. After determining the emergency location, where it begins and ends, the terminals are secured. Electricity is supplied to them, which heats the metal. Eventually the ice melts.

The length of the heated pipeline directly depends on the power of the installation.

Open pipes can be watered with hot water from above.

Another external method– installation of a self-heating cable. It is attached to the pipes and power is supplied to it. Gradually the pipe heats up and the goal is achieved. This cable can be installed on both metal and plastic pipes.

We fixed the problem, what next?

After all defrosting work has been completed, you should take preventive measures. In winter, pour boiling water into the pipeline from time to time to prevent the sewer from freezing again. Since you definitely don’t want to defrost the system often, when it gets warm, start insulating the sewer pipes. For this purpose you can use the same heating cable, thanks to which the water will not freeze, and you will not have to shiver in the cold, defrosting the sewer. Moreover, cable installation is quick and effortless.

It’s better not to wait until the sewer freezes, but to take care of it before winter, using the tips from the article.

Video

We break through an ice plug in a sewer pipe using a CamSpay heated hydrodynamic machine:

See how you can defrost a water drain in a private home:

Ivan-054

The underground sewer in a private house is frozen, what should I do?

Freezing of sewerage in a private house is a real problem, which leads to the impossibility of using drainage in Everyday life. It needs to be resolved promptly in order to prevent more serious consequences and considerable financial costs.

Among the main reasons for the formation of ice jams are:

• incorrect installation sewer drain in a private house;
• Availability ;
• shallow depth of sewer pipes;
• lack of insulation on drainpipes;

Sewage system for a private house

• low slope of the sewer system, which does not ensure rapid drainage of liquid into the cesspool;
• the appearance of cracks that allow water to penetrate into the soil.

There are several effective ways to combat freezing sewer pipes:

1. Filling with hot water (with added salt).
2. Heating the pipe with a gas lamp (soldering iron).
3. Heating with a steam generating device.
4. Use of external heat sources (heat pump, electric defrost, self-heating cables).

Advice. Before you start defrosting the sewer, you need to determine the possible location of the ice blockage. This will allow you to choose an effective way to deal with trouble.

The simplest and most common method of removing ice is hot water With salt. Using such a mixture only makes sense when the frozen plug is located close to the drain itself. Otherwise, it will be ineffective, since it will have time to cool down even before the passage problem area in the sewer.

A blowtorch will help in emergency defrosting of the sewer

The second defrosting method is a blowtorch ( gas-burner). It quickly heats up a frozen area, but is only used for heating metal pipes. Although this device has high efficiency, its use is not always convenient and advisable, since it requires direct contact with the place where the ice plug forms (in winter time It's not very easy to dig a trench in frozen ground).

Defrosting the sewer system using a steam generator is the third way to deal with ice in the pipeline. It is used to defrost plastic pipes. It is quite effective, but not every householder can afford to buy such expensive equipment.

Defrosting using a steam generator

The principle of using a steam generator:

• launch it;
• the tube is placed in the sewer pipe and pushed until it hits the ice;
• move it along the drain pipe as the ice disappears.

The steam generator not only helps remove ice jams, but also helps clean pipes from contaminants.

External methods of combating freezing

• heat gun;
• electric defrost;
• self-heating cables.

Hot air from the heat pump will help quickly defrost the problem area, as will self-heating cables that are installed under the sewer pipes (during their installation).

Insulation of sewer pipes

To prevent pipes from freezing in the future, the homeowner should conduct preventive actions. Among them are:

• pipeline insulation;
• installation of a heating electrical cable.

These measures will prevent the occurrence of similar troubles in the future, as well as quickly eliminate the ice plug if it forms in the sewer pipe.

How to defrost sewer pipes: video