Than to defrost the sewage under the ground: the causes of freezing pipes and methods of defrosting

With the arrival of cold weather, many owners of houses and apartments may face the problem of freezing of the pipeline and sewage system. This is due to the non-observance of the work technologies, as both the thermal insulation and the vapor barrier were broken. To avoid such situations it is necessary to use the relevant documents, instructions and SNIPs during installation. But if the freezing of pipelines has already occurred, then you need to defrost it in various ways.

To begin with, it is necessary to determine exactly where and how the pipe was frozen, for example, a plastic one. Frequent occurrence - freezing in the joints, which is much easier to eliminate than the whole pipe, where the water has become an ice plug.If this freezing occurred at the bends of the pipes, then the task is at times more complicated, special tools and tools are needed, and the help of specialists is recommended. Indoors this can happen, but only in the absence of heating and prolonged negative temperature.

In private homes, where there is not so much wiring, people often use improvised means or special devices when it is necessary to warm the sewage system. If the freezing is small, then you can handle the usual building hairdryer. And you can also use the burner (for metal pipes). In these cases, it is very important not to overheat the material, as this may lead to its deformation. A universal heating cable will be a universal method; it is enough to wind it around a frozen area and wait for a defrost. But you need to open the tap in the house in order to understand whether the ice has melted or not.

This method is used for defrosting a bent plumbing, as well as for the angular, where conventional methods do not work. For implementation, you need an elastic hose through which you can apply the pressure of hot water. The hose is inserted into the desired pipe, where there is a frozen area, after which the hose reaches the right place, and the pressure of the hot water begins to gradually melt the ice. Defrosting the sewage system is done in exactly the same way.

When freezing the joints of metal pipes at the site, at the exit or joints can be resorted to as the above method, and use the welding machine. To do this, it just needs to be connected to both ends of the pipe.

If your house has an autonomous water supply and heating, then, most likely, you also have insulation. In this case, even in the most resistant and wild frosts, you will not be left without water.

This problem is very common in private areas where there is no autonomous water supply system.There are two effective ways to eliminate this problem, which will help just melt the ice in the pipeline. One of them is the use of a self-made design. To do this, you need to use the principle of electric heating for defrosting; for this purpose, copper wire with two conductors is necessary. An insulating layer is removed from it, after which two conductors of different colors remain in front of us. One should bare, and the second we bend along the exposed wire in the opposite direction. After that, we take the bare wire, performing at the same time around the cable exactly five turns.

Expose the adjacent cable with a distance of 5 mm to the end of the winding, and also make five turns. It is very important that the conductors do not touch each other. The end of the cable that will be connected to the mains is supplied with a plug and very carefully insulated. After that, such a billet must be thrust into the pipe and pushed until it stops in an ice-cold layer of water. As soon as the stop has gone, turn on the device in the outlet and wait for the full defrosting. In fact - this is a type of electric heating type, however, disposable.

Using this method of heating pipelines requires a large amount of time, since such a procedure often takes about two days. To prevent freezing of such a construction, it is recommended to continuously pass water through this pipe. You can just leave the valve open with a small stream of water, this is quite enough.

When the pipe freezes underground far from the living quarters of the house, it is better to use the medical mug (the Esmarch system) and the hydro level. We assemble a similar device, align the wire and the tube of the hydro level. Further, these two tools are interconnected with tape, after which the device is made more rigid. To do this, you need to bend the end of the steel wire, and you need to mount the hydro-level pipe in such a way that it protrudes 12 mm from the wire. The opposite end of the tube should be attached to the same circle. After these manipulations, the first end must be inserted into the pipe and pushed directly to the ice plug.

In case your pipeline has a lot of flange connections, as well as fittings, it is better to disconnect them gradually., to understand the scale of damage, and to find the most accurate place of freezing. After that, you need to apply the pressure of hot water from the opposite end, and leave the one that we have given open, substituting a basin or bucket for it. It is important to remember that moment when pouring hot water there will be enough small amount, how many will be poured - so much will come, maybe a little more because of the thawing of ice. On average, 1 meter of plastic pipe takes about an hour, because it is worth planning your affairs based on this parameter.

For defrosting metal pipes such methods will not work, they can not be heated. In this case, you will need the usual disassembly of the line with mechanical troubleshooting. It is better not to act with a blowtorch or welding machine, otherwise you will definitely lose the heated section of the pipe, and you will need to dismantle and replace it. For such highways only the electric heating wire is needed.

When the sewer pipes in the house freeze, they can be melted with the pressure of hot water, and water can be supplied through a thinner hose or pipe than the sewer pipe. Professional plumbers say that the sewage system is best heated by a concentrated salt solution, but the solution must be hot. When it becomes warm, and the cold weather is no longer foreseen, it is better to take the opportunity to sort out this problem, and also it is necessary to warm the necessary section.

Low-pressure polyethylene pipes can also be frozen in winter. For defrosting it is required to restore water supply from the PND of the pipeline, resorting to proven options that have proven themselves well over time. One of such methods is ice crushing with a special apparatus. No matter how it seems, but defrosting pipes - albeit a very uncomplicated work, but still worth good money. The crushing apparatus operates in such a way that water is supplied under high pressure. Since the apparatus itself is a very powerful pump, under such pressure ice is cut off and falls out, but you should not abuse it, because such pressure can also cut all sorts of other structures, shaky pipes, for example.This is also due to the fact that the freezing point of water is zero, and water in any case will be positive.

From this we can conclude that with competent and timely repair, water supply can be restored very quickly. If there are no large funds, then the simplest option is continuous supply of hot water. If the pipe is metal, and one section has frozen, you can pour boiling water on top. The result, of course, will be worse, but you will not have to open the pipe. This is the oldest and most proven method of defrosting pipes.

For PVC pipes, a steam generator is the best solution that will rather quickly melt the icy area. Its operation is extremely clear and easy, first you need to fill it with water, which is poured into a special container, after which a hose with high heat resistance is connected to the valve (which is fused), which is put directly into the pipe to the place of icing.After the plant, it is necessary to turn on the steam generation device and wait for some time until the pipes are thawed. The defrosting time is no more than an hour, as there is a critical temperature drop. The only caveat is that the pipe is not damaged at the place of freezing, because steam together with ice can aggravate the situation.

In addition to standard situations, in the winter there are others who are mostly associated with the wrong way of laying pipelines. But it is also common that the pipes are laid too close to the zero mark, which negatively affects their frost resistance. In such cases, the defrost should go directly from the source, that is, the pipes coming from the pumping substation should be heated. The best option for defrosting with such a problem would be a heating cable.

This is due to the fact that the problem may lie in the ground, and in other nodes and connections.In addition, a layman will not determine damage to pipelines that have occurred in difficult sections of his route, which clearly has a negative effect on performance.

It turns out that it is possible to defrost pipes. It is enough to know a few nuances, such as the material of the pipes and the availability of the necessary tools. But the main solution to this situation will be the calculation of many factors even before the heating season, in order to solve such problems in advance, insulating or deepening the pipeline and sewage system. The most common mistake made by employees or owners is an elementary failure to comply with the norms, an error in calculating the level of soil freezing, which leads to a freeze that cannot be fixed. In exceptional cases, the freezing occurs not so much through the fault of the workers, as the fault of the manufacturers of both pipes and heaters.

How to warm the frozen sewage, see in the video below.