It is carried out with violations, which winter time leads to frozen pipes and the inability to use water.

Disturbances in water supply are caused by:

• location of the pipeline outside the house above the ground or above the freezing level in the ground;
• lack of insulation of the water supply;
• errors in the installation of the water supply system.

Pay attention! Before defrosting water pipe, you need to take into account what material it is made of, and where exactly the frozen area is located: indoors or outdoors. Depending on this, the methods for defrosting the pipe and, accordingly, the tools used will vary.

Plastic water pipe

When defrosting water pipes made from plastic pipes, you need to proceed with extreme caution. Methods for thawing pipes may vary depending on the location of the frozen area.

Pay attention! Defrosting the ice plug should begin from the tap side.

A section of the water supply located directly in the building can be defrosted as follows:

Pay attention! Warming up should first be started using cold water, to avoid cracking of the plastic pipe.

When defrosting the water supply system at home, it is necessary to prevent damage to the system due to steam arising in the pipe during the defrosting process. To do this, you need to open the tap and watch when water flows from it.

Defrosting of plastic pipes outside the house depends on where they are laid - above the ground or in the ground. In the latter case, you must provide full access to them. Thawing can be carried out in the same ways as indoors - using hot water and electrical appliances.

To defrost the pipes from the outside, you can use a special heating cable. To do this, you need to wrap it in foil, wind a heating cable on top and cover it with insulation - this will take quite a long time.

If the frozen area is located inconveniently, it is recommended to depressurize the water supply and thaw it by introducing it inside hot water. For this you may need an Esmarch mug. Simultaneously with the supply of hot water to the pipe, it is necessary to use a steel rod to insert it into the water supply and break through the ice plug.

Metal pipes

There are several more ways to defrost a metal water pipe. Indoors, you can use the same methods as for plastic pipes:

1. Thawing using rags and hot water;
2. Thawing using a hair dryer;
3. Defrosting using electrical appliances.

Outside, you can use not only all of the above methods, including a heating cable, but also special devices - a propane burner or a defrosting device.

When using a propane torch, precautions must be taken to prevent fire. For example, when treating a frozen section of a water pipe on one side, it is necessary to place a metal plate on the reverse side.

For metal pipes, it is suitable to use a device that supplies a current that can break through and remove the ice plug.

Pay attention! Each of the methods for defrosting a water pipe is quite labor-intensive, so even during installation you need to take care of timely insulation of the water supply both indoors and outdoors.

Video

For instructions on defrosting a water pipe using hot water, see below:

A water pipe can freeze for various reasons. If, when laying the water supply system, the requirements of GOST were violated and the propylene pipes were laid at an insufficient depth. Poor or lack of insulation. When water consumption is low or in the absence of residents, when water consumption is zero and there are abnormal frosts outside. Whatever the reason, frozen water pipes need to be warmed up. The heating method will depend on where the ice jam occurred: underground or in the house.

Finding the freezing point

Before you start defrosting the pipe, you need to find the area where the ice plug has formed. You can do this in two ways:

• visually inspect the pipe. When water freezes, it expands, and the ice plug can push apart the plastic plug. Externally, there will be a visible thickening on the pipe;

First of all, it is necessary to determine the location of the ice jam.

• the second method is used if there is no way to visually inspect the pipeline. In this case, turn off the tap and then dismantle the nearest plug connection or cut the pipe. Then a metal flexible cable is inserted into the pipe. Using the length of the cable, you can calculate the distance to the freezing point.

Order further actions Removing the ice jam will depend on where exactly the ice jam is frozen.

Defrosting water pipes with electric current

You will need copper wire with two cores with a cross section of 2.5 mm. The wires are separated and pulled apart. Then the end of one core is exposed in such a way that several turns of the exposed wire can be made around the other. The wires must not touch each other to avoid a short circuit. A plug is connected to the opposite end of the wire.

Wire for electric current

The wire is pushed into the water pipe until its ends rest against the ice plug and the plug is plugged into the network. The heating process resembles the operation of a household boiler. The current passes through the water and heats it. This method is safe for the pipe; only water is heated, so melting of the propylene water supply is excluded.

Advice. Before inserting the boiler into the pipe, you should test the device. Dip the end of the bare wire into a bucket of water and plug in the plug. Bubbles and a slight buzz should appear. Do not put your hands into the bucket under any circumstances to avoid electric shock.

We use a steam generator

A steam generator is a special machine that regenerates steam and supplies it under pressure. The fitting is inserted into the water pipe and hot steam melts the ice plug. This is the most effective and quick way eliminating ice jams. There is only one drawback - not every home has such a device. But if you have a double boiler or autoclave, they can also be used for heating. When using them, the procedure is as follows:

You can use a steam generator to defrost the water supply.

1. Pour water into one of the listed units.
2. One end of the heat-resistant hose is connected to the autoclave fitting.
3. We push the other end into the water pipe to the freezing point.
4. Turn on the heating device and wait for the result.
5. We monitor the water level in the autoclave.

Submersible pump and barrel to help

Will need metal barrel, bucket, pump and hose.

Advice. Propylene pipes are connected with fittings that do not narrow the internal diameter of the pipe at the joints, so the process of removing ice plugs is greatly simplified compared to pipes made of other materials.

Internal defrosting using improvised means

This method is similar to the one we described above. But not everyone has it iron barrel with a pump and the ability to make a fire, but Esmarch’s mug (popularly known as an enema) will probably be found in every home. So, for work you will need:

• enema;
• wire;
• tube.

Scheme: defrosting a water supply using an Esmarch mug

The tube and wire are connected with electrical tape so that the end of the wire is shorter than the end of the tube. Push the tube all the way into the ice. Open the tap on Esmarch's mug, which is pre-filled with hot water. The water flows to the ice plug, and the melted water will pour out into the substituted bucket. As the ice decreases, the wire is pushed further. It should be noted that this method will require a lot of patience and time.

External heating of propylene water supply

External heating of the water supply is quite simple. There are several ways to do this. But first they open the taps so that the melted water and ice can come out.

• Hot water. Any rag that absorbs and retains water well is wound onto the pipe over the freezing area. To avoid damaging the pipe, the water temperature is increased gradually. Any container to collect water is installed under the pipe. It will take more than one cycle of squeezing out the rag and pouring hot water over it again.

If defrosting is necessary small area, you can use a hairdryer

• Hairdryer. Can be used as a heat source construction hair dryer. This requires great care and skill in working with this power tool, since the propylene pipe can be melted by negligence. Fan heaters and other electric heaters are used, but this method is not effective enough, since large number the heat generated is wasted. For absolutely small plot freezing, a regular hair dryer will do. Additionally, build a small casing to trap warm air.
• Self-heating electrical cable, it is also used when installing heated floors. The cable is wrapped around the pipe and plugged into the network.

Advice. Do not use a blowtorch wax candles or a fire for warming up propylene pipes- they will melt. Such methods can be used for frozen metal water pipes.

• Hydrodynamic machine. If all the methods have been tried, but there is no result, call a specialist. In a matter of minutes, they can remove ice blockages using a hydrodynamic machine, the main application of which is cleaning water and sewer pipes with water. The water equipment of the unit runs on diesel fuel, and the installation itself is powered by the network. The machine creates high blood pressure hot water and can break harder materials than ice, so the use of such equipment requires qualifications and knowledge of safety precautions.

Measures to prevent pipeline freezing

At the first opportunity, when warm weather sets in, it is necessary to take measures to insulate the water supply in order to avoid such a nuisance in the future. Deformed areas will need to be replaced.

But while the frost is crackling outside, not all insulation methods can be used, and it makes no sense to chisel the frozen ground. We can recommend one effective action - although this is a violation of safety rules: keep the tap slightly open so that the water flows in a small thin stream, and then the moving water stream will not allow ice to form.

How to warm up a frozen water supply: video

Methods for defrosting water supply: photo

The lack of water in the water supply in a private home can be due to various reasons. One of them is the formation of an ice plug in the pipe. Such a nuisance occurs if the temperature outside is very low, and the rules were violated when laying the water supply. You can try to fix the problem yourself, but it requires considerable effort. Let's consider the answer to the question: water in a pipe underground has frozen - what to do in this situation?

Before we figure out what to do if the water in the water pipes freezes, let's figure out why this might happen. Main reasons:

• laying pipes at insufficient depth;
• a small layer of insulation, it low quality or complete absence;
• insignificant or zero water consumption in severe frosts;
• abnormal weather conditions.

As a rule, pipes running outside freeze, either outside or underground. But in the absence of heating and significant sub-zero temperatures over a long period of time, the problem may occur indoors or at the point where the pipe enters the wall.

Finding a traffic jam

Before deciding how to thaw a frozen water supply, you should first find where the ice blockage has formed in the pipe. Most often they form at the joints of elements, but sometimes the structure freezes along its entire length. Search methods:

1. Visual inspection of external pipes. Because water expands in volume when it freezes, ice plugs cause expansion. plastic elements. In addition, these areas feel cooler to the touch than others.
2. Internal check. If it is not possible to inspect the pipeline, you should partially disassemble it and insert a flexible cable into the hole. As soon as an obstacle arises in the way of its progress, a traffic jam is detected. To determine its location, you should measure the length of the inserted cable.

The solution to the problem of how to warm up a frozen water pipe depends on whether there is open access to the problem area, or whether it needs to be warmed up from inside the water supply system.

External heating of the pipe

If the water in the pipe is frozen, how can you warm it up from the outside? Subject to availability open access to the area where the ice jam has formed, it is not difficult to solve the problem. Before heating, be sure to open the taps so that the melted liquid can come out freely. The main methods involve the use of:

• hot water;
• warm air;
• elements of the “warm floor” system (heating cable).

Hot water

This method is suitable for any pipes: polypropylene, metal-plastic, metal, and others. But the water temperature should be increased gradually so that the structure does not crack.

1. Wrap the cloth around the frozen area. This is necessary to protect the pipe and distribute heat more evenly.
2. Place a container under the pipe to collect water.
3. Run hot water over the area for several minutes.
4. Periodically wring out the fabric and repeat until the water supply is restored.

Warm air

It is best to use a hair dryer as a source of warm air. It should be aimed at the area with the ice plug and held for a while.

If the freezing area is small and the pipe is thin, then you can use a regular hair dryer, but it should not work for more than 15 minutes at a time. It is advisable to wrap the pipe heat-insulating material and blow hot air under it. This “casing” will speed up warming up.

It is useless to use a fan heater or an electric radiator, since they cannot be used to create a concentrated air flow. You can easily defrost it with a hair dryer metal pipes. Plastic structures If used carelessly, it can cause damage.

Heating cable

To heat a plastic pipe, you will need an electric cable, which is used when installing a “warm floor” or a special cable for heating pipes. Algorithm of actions:

1. Wrap a section of pipe with foil. Place the electrical cable on top.
2. After the cable, put a layer of insulation. Secure everything with tape.
3. Connect the cable to the network for 2-4 hours.

Note: Metal structures can be warmed up using a welding machine by attaching it to a frozen section of the pipe. It is also allowed to use open sources of fire - a fire, a blowtorch. Such methods are not suitable for propylene and other plastic pipes.

Internal heating of pipes

Let's consider what to do when the water in a pipe underground freezes. If the soil depth is shallow and the soil is not very hard, it is worth digging a trench and using only the methods described above. If this is not possible, internal heating should be carried out. The main methods are based on the application:

• steam generator;
• homemade boiler;
• hot water.

All methods require the possibility of penetration into the pipeline. If it is missing, you should disassemble or cut out part of the structure, first turning off the water supply.

Steam generator

To defrost the pipe, you will need a steam generator - a device that produces hot water vapor under pressure. Stages:

1. Fill the reservoir with water.
2. Connect a heat-resistant hose to the steam generator with small diameter.
3. Insert the hose as far as it will go (until the ice plug) into the water pipe. At the same time, there should be free space in it for melt water to drain.
4. Turn on the steam generator. Wait until the ice begins to defrost. This usually takes 5-15 minutes. It is necessary to monitor the amount of water in the steam generator tank.

When solving the problem of how to heat water in a plastic pipe underground, if there is no steam generator, you can use an autoclave. The heat-resistant hose should be connected to the fitting of the device.

Homemade boiler

You can warm up a plastic water supply using a homemade electric boiler. This method not suitable for metal structures. It involves working with high voltage, so care must be taken.

Algorithm of actions:

1. Take a copper wire with two insulated cores (cross section - 2.5-3 mm).
2. Separate the wires and move them apart.
3. Remove the winding from one wire. Bend the second core in the opposite direction along the wire.
4. Wrap the “bare” part tightly 3-5 times around the fold. Trim off the rest.
5. Depart from the turns 2-3 mm. Expose the end of the bent wire. Wrap it around the insulated wire 3-5 times. Trim off the excess part. The turns of the first and second wire should not touch.
6. Attach a plug to the other end of the wire.
7. Insert the “boiler” into the water supply until it stops.
8. Plug the plug into the socket. When exposed to heat, the ice should begin to melt.
9. As the plug decreases, the “boiler” should be moved deeper.

Tip: When using a steam generator or “boiler”, you should ensure the outflow of melt water. It is necessary to periodically turn off the device and use a thin hose and compressor to pump it out of the pipe.

Hot water

The essence of this method comes down to exposing the ice in the pipe to hot water. To “deliver” it to the plug you can use:

• Esmarch's water level and mug;
• pump.

The first option is suitable if the question arises of how to warm up a frozen pipe underground, when the plug is far from the house, and the system has turns and bends. Required:

• construction hydraulic level;
• Esmarch's mug (device for enemas);
• hardened steel wire.

1. Connect the length of the hydraulic level tube and the wire, making a loop at its end for greater rigidity. The edge of the tube should protrude 1 cm beyond the end of the wire.
2. Attach the second end of the hydraulic level to Esmarch's mug.
3. Push the device all the way into the water supply.
4. Place a bucket under the pipe hole.
5. Pouring into a mug hot water. It should flow through the hydraulic level tube to the ice and heat it. In this case, thawed water will pour out of the pipe hole.

This heating method requires a lot of time and effort. To thaw 5-10 cm of ice, up to 5 liters of hot water are needed. The entire process can take 5-7 hours depending on the length of the cork.

If there is a pump, then it should be installed in a container in which water is constantly heated, and a heat-resistant hose, insert it into the water supply and supply hot water under pressure. The diameter of the hose must be such that there is a gap for melt water to exit the pipe. It can be reused for heating.

Note: In the warm season, it is worth inspecting the water supply system that has been defrosted. Deformed elements may need to be replaced. It is also worth taking measures to prevent pipes from freezing.

Prevention

Freezing of the water supply is a problem that owners of private houses periodically face during cold winters. You can remove the ice jam yourself. The easiest way is to restore the patency of a pipe that has external access. If the structure is in the ground, then certain devices will be required. In difficult cases, it is better to seek the help of specialists who have a powerful apparatus for breaking ice - a hydrodynamic machine.

Winter frosts are a test that not only living beings, but also engineering communications have to withstand.

If the rules for laying pipelines are violated in winter, they often freeze and then full height The problem will arise, how to defrost a water pipe?

Causes of water freezing in pipes

As a rule, the cause of water freezing in pipes is a simple violation of the water supply installation technology. For example, if the pipes were laid without taking into account the depth of soil freezing in a given area.

Or the requirement to insulate the pipes was ignored. It happens that pipes freeze not only in external networks, but also indoors if there is no heating.

How to avoid freezing of pipes?

To avoid the need to defrost water pipes, care should be taken to ensure that the following requirements are met when installing the pipeline:

• At underground installation pipeline, ditches should be dug to a depth that exceeds the soil freezing level in the area.
• Do not lay the water supply pipeline close to reinforced concrete structures. The fact is that the thermal conductivity coefficient of concrete exceeds that of soil, that is, when laying pipes in close proximity to reinforced concrete elements, the likelihood of water freezing in the pipes increases.
• It is advisable to install the pipelines complete with a heating cable.
  This, of course, will lead to higher installation costs, but it will eliminate the problem of freezing forever.
• In places where the pipeline passes through the wall of a building, glass wool insulation should be used to avoid direct contact of the pipe with the wall.
• In pipes of small diameter, water freezes more often, so for water supply it is advisable to use pipes with a diameter of 50 mm or more.
• When laying pipelines in unheated rooms and on streets, it is best to use polyethylene pipes. Such pipes withstand freezing and defrosting well, unlike polypropylene pipes, which can become unusable if they freeze once or twice.
• If the water supply or sewerage system is intended to be used only periodically (for example, at a dacha), then during downtime, it is advisable to completely empty the system of water so that there is nothing to freeze over.

Methods for defrosting metal pipes

There are several ways. They will be described below.

But when choosing any of them, you should adhere to the following general rules:

• When heating the pipes, keep the water tap open so that the thawed water can escape.
• It is forbidden to suddenly heat a frozen section of pipe, starting from its middle.
• Warming is carried out from water tap towards the riser. But if you need to warm up the sewer pipes, then you need to move in the opposite direction, that is, from the riser to the water intake point.
• Warming of the pipe should begin after the location of the frozen area has been assessed. This will help you choose the right defrosting method.

All methods can be divided into two large groups, these are:

• Methods based on external influence on the pipe.
• Methods with internal way defrosting.

Let's look at how to defrost water pipes using external influence.

This will require the use of some kind of heating device, it could be:

• Blowtorch;
• Construction hair dryer;
• Electric heating device.

When using a blowtorch indoors, fire safety precautions should be taken.

In particular, a metal screen should be installed behind the pipe to protect the walls.

Using any of the listed devices, you should methodically influence the pipe. The success of the measures taken will be indicated by the water that appears from the faucet.

We should not forget that when water freezes, it expands in volume, so there is a high probability that steel pipes will be damaged after freezing.

After the water has been heated, you should carefully inspect the pipeline for leaks.

The safest and most effective way to defrost pipes externally is to use an electric heating tape or heating cable.

In this case, you just need to wind the tape around the frozen area and plug it into the network.

For defrosting steel pipes You can also use this method: take welding machine, and connects to different ends of the frozen area.

As a result, the pipe heats up. When using a welding machine, the entire process takes 2-4 hours, depending on the length of the frozen section.

How to defrost a plastic pipe?

Recently, steel pipes for water supply installations have been used less and less; they have been replaced by plastic pipes. Such pipes are not subject to corrosion and do not collapse if the water in them freezes.

However, if an ice jam occurs in them, almost all methods of external influence cannot be applied to them. Naturally, the use open fire heating the plastic will lead to destruction of the pipe, and the use of a hair dryer is often ineffective, since plastic does not conduct heat well.

Connecting a welding machine to such pipes is also completely useless, since the pipes do not conduct electric current.

The mechanical method of influence, that is, removing the ice plug by inserting a steel rod inside, can be effective with a small freezing area, however, its use creates a serious risk of damaging the pipe.

Thus, if it is necessary to defrost plastic pipes, the only way left is to use hot water poured inside.

Below are several ways to defrost plastic pipes. All of them are quite effective, however, it is advisable to use them only on small-diameter pipelines.

The first defrosting method is to organize the supply of hot water to the freezing point.

This is done like this:

• To defrost a plastic pipe, prepare a high-rigidity pipe or hose of smaller diameter.

To remove an ice plug in a pipe with a diameter of 20-30 mm, use a pipe or hose with a diameter of 16 mm.

• If the damaged section of the pipeline is straight, then it is more convenient to use metal plastic pipe. If the frozen pipeline has bends, the use of a hose is required.

Regular watering hoses are not suitable for this operation. The fact is that they soften greatly under the influence of hot water, so pushing them further will be problematic.

Gas or oxygen hoses should be used for defrosting.

• Metal-plastic pipes are usually sold rolled into coils. Therefore, the pipe should first be bent, and then begin to move along the pipeline, pushing the ice plug all the way.
• Now you can pour hot water into the pipe, trying to maintain the highest possible temperature.
• Thawed water will flow out at the pipe connection point, so a collection container should be placed there.
• As the ice melts, the plastic pipe will need to be pushed further and further until the problem is completely eliminated.

This defrosting method is good if an ice plug has formed in an area located near the entrance to the pipe. If the pipe is frozen far from the house and there are turns and bends in the pipeline section, then it will not be possible to push the pipe inside the pipeline.

• To carry out the work, you will need a hydraulic level, a coil of steel wire with a diameter of 2-4 mm, and an Esmarch mug, that is, a device that is used in medicine for performing cleansing enemas.
• We take the hydraulic level tube and wrap it with wire or attach the wire to the tube using tape or tape. This must be done so that the wire does not stick out in different sides, in this case, the tip of the tube should protrude one centimeter.
• Now we connect the second end of the hydraulic level tube to the outlet pipe of the Esmarch mug and begin to push our structure into the pipe.
• Since the hydraulic level tube has a small diameter and weight, there are no difficulties when pushing, even if there are turns along the route.
• Push the tube until the tube hits the ice plug.
• Now pour hot water into Esmarch’s mug and open the supply valve.
• As the ice plug decreases, you should push the tube further.
• To collect the leaking water, a suitable container should be installed at the pipe junction.

This defrosting method is quite effective, but takes time. In one hour of work, you can manage to clear approximately 0.8-1.0 m of pipe from ice.

So there are quite a few effective ways that help solve the problem of how to defrost water pipes. However, all of them are labor-intensive, so it is more correct to take necessary measures, for example, when and prevent water from freezing in the pipeline.

July 22, 2016
Specialization: Capital construction work(laying a foundation, erecting walls, constructing a roof, etc.). Internal construction work (laying internal communications, rough and fine finishing). Hobby: mobile communications, high technology, computer equipment, programming.

I have told many people about manufacturing technologies many times engineering systems in private homes. And all the time I drew attention to the fact that pipelines must be laid below the freezing point or carefully insulated. However, from time to time people contact me with questions about how to defrost a plastic water pipe.

I remember a time when a neighbor in the country called me in mid-January and tearfully asked me to fix the water supply. As it turned out, he planned to spend his anniversary outside the city, and upon arriving at the site after a long stay in warm countries, he was faced with the fact that water was not flowing from the taps. And all the complex electronics that provide water to the cottage don’t work either.

As it turned out, the culprit was an ice plug that clogged metal-plastic pipe, laid underground. And since with his own hands he could only sign business papers, they had to call me for help.

Of course, we dealt with the problem, and I turned out to be the most honored guest at his holiday. I decided to tell you about how to defrost plastic water and sewerage pipes. Perhaps the instructions below will provide you with invaluable help. Especially when a reliable plumber friend is not nearby.

Causes of pipeline freezing

In my practice, I have very rarely met people who make or order modern utility networks (water supply, sewerage) from steel pipes. Plastic is more common.

And I think this is correct, because the price of polymer pipes is decreasing all the time, and operational properties such solutions have always been at their best:

• plastic pipelines have an attractive appearance;
• pipes are not subject to corrosion throughout their entire service life;
• mount utility network as simple as possible without the use of electric welding (maximum - a soldering iron);
• pipes do not conduct electricity and do not accumulate static electricity.

The only thing that cannot be avoided under any circumstances is the danger of the liquid in them freezing. However, I know for sure that people encounter this problem only in cases where they entrusted the installation to an illiterate engineer.

Only such a person can lay a water supply system at insufficient depth in the ground or fail to insulate the engineering system. As a result, you arrive at your dacha to celebrate your birthday, and nothing flows from the tap. Sadness.

To prevent this from happening, it is necessary to dig a sufficiently deep trench for the water supply and sewerage pipes. Average depth Soil freezing in the Moscow area is 1.4 meters. However, this indicator depends on many other factors, so to determine the exact value it is better to contact specialists or use special maps with tables.

By the way, many people ask why central water pipes in cities don’t freeze. I will answer without reserve. There, the flow of water does not stop around the clock, so the liquid is in motion and does not turn into ice.

And at the dacha pumping equipment It turns on only from time to time. Therefore, it is imperative to take measures to insulate water transport pipes.

Pay special attention to insulation and deepening drainage systems where water flows at low speed. Otherwise, a traffic jam will form and you will have to decide how to defrost the plastic sewer pipe. This activity is difficult and far from pleasant.

If for some reason it is not possible to dig a ditch of a suitable depth, it is necessary to wrap the pipes in heat-insulating materials or come up with systems for heating them. Or use both options.

If you know that your pipes are poorly insulated, but at night they promise very good severe frost, leave the water running overnight to ensure flow in the pipe.
In this case, the likelihood of ice appearing is significantly reduced.

But it often happens that people return to issues of pipe insulation only when they are already faced with freezing water. There’s nothing left to do here; we’ll have to melt the ice. I’ll tell you about this now.

Defrosting water transport communications made of plastic

underground

First, let's look at how to defrost a plastic water pipe underground. This, in my opinion, is the most labor-intensive and time-consuming process. Especially in winter, when not only the water in the pipes froze, but also the ground itself where they were laid.

The simplest scheme is as follows:

1. It is necessary to light a fire over the place where the plastic pipe passes. You can use wood or coal, and also light car tire. The latter will burn for a long time, but will emit black, smoky smoke. Take this into account.

The advantage of this method is that not only the water in the pipe must heat up, but also the earth itself must thaw. And we need this in order to move on to the next point of our work.

1. I then suggest digging up the pipe to check if it is damaged. This will be easy to do, since the fire will soften the ground and it will be easier to swing the shovel.
   Usually, high-quality plastic pipes are not broken by ice, so there is no need to repair anything. The main thing is not to break the pipe during excavation.
2. After making sure that the communications are intact, I recommend insulating the pipeline thermal insulation materials or pave . If this is not done, then I personally will not give a guarantee that after filling the trench with earth, the water in the pipe will not freeze again.

If you ever encounter water freezing, I recommend redoing the engineering system in the summer. After all, your friend will not always come to the rescue in time and dig up this pipe. It will be necessary to either deepen the trenches or insulate the water transport system along its entire length.

By the way, someone once told me that they insulated pipes with empty plastic bottles. The scheme is like this:

• you dig a pit and check the pipe;
• take more plastic bottles, you wrap the plugs so that there is air inside;
• you line the pipe with them;
• you cover everything with earth.

The point here is that the air inside has a low thermal conductivity coefficient and will prevent the water in the pipes from freezing.

What can I say? In my opinion, you will spend more time collecting bottles than working. Better go to the store and buy basalt shells. It will be clean, neat, efficient and not very expensive.

And to everyone folk recipes I've been coming here less and less lately. Unless he himself is confident in their effectiveness.

Another way to remove ice blockage is to use hot water. I see several disadvantages here:

• you will have to disassemble the plumbing system somewhere in order to fill it with water;
• the pipe will remain uninsulated and the liquid may freeze again at any time;
• the method will not work if the ice is on long distance from the place where you are going to pour boiling water.

Nevertheless, sometimes I resorted to this method. To make it more effective, I'll give you a few own advice, which were formed during the work:

1. If your dacha is connected to a central water supply, do not turn off the taps. Extra pressure from the central water supply can help break the plug.
2. If water comes from pumping station(i.e. well or well), the equipment must be turned off. Otherwise, you will ruin expensive electronics as the water will drain from the pipes.
3. You can tell that the blockage has been removed by the fact that the water poured into the pipe will all flow out.

Another proven method that I have sometimes used to defrost pipes. It must be implemented carefully, as you may get hit electric shock. Nevertheless, I will describe the technology, in case you have no other way to fix the problem.

The scheme is like this:

1. I'll take it electrical wire, I separate one core from the other and remove part of the insulation. Then I roll one wire into a spiral. I do the same with the second core, but the twist needs to be placed a little behind, about two centimeters.
   It is very important here to ensure that these twists do not move during the work and do not touch each other. This may cause a short circuit and electric shock. So be very careful to secure the ends of the wire.
2. I insert the tool prepared in this way into the pipe until it hits the ice plug.
3. After this, the wire must be connected to electrical outlet. Heating of the liquid inside the pipe will occur due to the potential difference across the twists. The walls of the pipe will not melt; the water temperature will not rise to this level in any case.
4. As it thaws, you need to move your device deeper until the patency of the engineering system is completely restored.

Remember that thawed water must be drained at all times, otherwise it may freeze again.

There are also special devices for thawing pipes. It's about about steam generators, autoclaves and hydrodynamic devices. It is not necessary to buy them; it is enough to rent the necessary unit from a specialized construction supermarket.

The work proceeds as follows:

1. Steam generator. It is necessary to place the device hose inside the pipe and release steam under pressure. Considering that the temperature of the environment is much higher than the boiling point of the liquid, the defrosting process will occur very quickly, and the plastic will not be damaged.
2. Autoclave. Steam is also used here, but the operating principle is somewhat different. First, water is heated in a container until steam is formed from it. Then a hose is inserted into the water pipe (up to the ice plug), the second end of which is connected to the autoclave.
   As the ice thaws, the hose must be moved along the pipe until the water flows in the direction you want.
3. Hydrodynamic machine. It destroys ice not by temperature, but by a jet of liquid pumped under high pressure. As a result, the traffic jam can be removed very quickly and efficiently.

And if someone advises you to just bend the wire and break through the ice, you don’t need to do it. So, with a high degree of probability, you will damage the plastic shell of the pipeline itself, but not the ice plug.

Overhead

As you understand, defrosting plastic pipes laid openly (for example, in a basement, pantry or other unheated room), is much easier to do. Here you will not need the help of a specialist at all. Especially if you follow my advice.

The easiest heating method is a hair dryer or other similar heat source. By directing the air flow to the engineering system, you gradually heat the walls of the pipes, which give off their thermal energy water. And the ice melts.

By the way, the hairdryer can be replaced with a regular heater, which is placed near the pipe.

You've probably seen how metal pipelines heat up blowtorches. So, this heating method is absolutely not suitable for plastic. The polymer has very low temperature melting (about 140 degrees), so a flame from a gas or gasoline burner will melt not only the ice, but also the pipe along with it.

Naturally, an obligatory stage of any defrosting is the insulation of pipes or the installation of heating elements that maintain the required temperature of the liquid. I offer several options to choose from:

1. Take mineral mats and wrap them around the pipes. It is imperative to protect all this from above waterproofing material to avoid moisture and some kind of protective cocoon. A roofing material that will cope with both tasks is suitable.

1. Buy and attach special shells made of polystyrene foam, basalt fiber, foamed polyethylene and so on to the pipes. The simplest option. They are installed quickly and easily, without the use of special tools.

1. Wrap the pipe with heating electric cable. This method is suitable for both heating ice and preventing its further formation. You just need to make sure that the cable is constantly connected to the electrical network.

It’s best to wrap the pipes with cable and then with insulation. A combination of these methods will provide you drinking water at any time of the year, regardless of the outside temperature.

Defrosting a sewer pipe

I’ll tell you separately about the method of removing a cork from drain pipe external sewer system of a private house. This is the problem that most residents of private country houses face.

So, to fix the problem you will need:

• rigid steel wire;
• hydraulic level (dense polymer flexible tube);
• Esmarch's mug;
• a bucket for collecting dirty liquid;
• hot water.

I fixed a similar problem like this:

1. He removed a piece of sewer pipe, opening access to the pipe connecting the internal and external sewer systems Houses.
2. Leveled steel wire and attached a hydraulic level to it with electrical tape, through which hot water will flow into the pipe.
3. Then he put this entire device into a sewer pipe, and attached Esmarch’s mug to the opposite end of the pipe.
4. After that, using an improvised pump, he began to pump hot water inside, gradually moving the device inside the pipe.
5. Excess water and thawed sewage poured out through the neck. I collected them in a pre-set bucket.
6. As soon as the water stops flowing out, it means the plug has thawed and you can assemble the engineering system.

As in the case of plumbing, to avoid freezing of the drain, you need to lay pipes at the required depth or insulate them with heat-insulating materials. It’s better to spend time and money on this in the summer than digging through waste in the winter, on the eve of your birthday.

Regardless of the chosen defrosting method and the method of laying pipes, I will give a few more tips that must be followed when thawing pipes:

• if you know exactly where the ice plug is located, you do not need to heat this particular section of pipes from the middle;
• to ensure the outflow of melted water, it is necessary to open the water tap;
• I recommend starting the defrosting procedure from the consumer (supply tap) to the source of water intake (vertical riser).

Conclusion

There are a lot of ways to defrost pipes, and everyone who has encountered a similar problem knows their own way to defrost ice. I would be glad if you would share it with our readers by describing it in the comments to this article.

And I suggest everyone to watch the video in this article, where you can find many other tips regarding the operation of the engineering systems of a residential building.

July 22, 2016

If you want to express gratitude, add a clarification or objection, or ask the author something - add a comment or say thank you!