What to do if a water pipe is frozen. How to quickly defrost plastic water pipes underground. In any case, there are some universal tips

plastic pipes in last years became a very common material. To date, they are used both for laying pipelines in apartments, and for arranging risers and long highways.

Plastic pipes owe their popularity to a considerable number of advantages, among which it is worth noting:

• Good visual qualities;
• Complete resistance to corrosion;
• simple and enough quick installation;
• non-conductivity electric current.

Despite good performance, plastic pipes can freeze just like any other. A pipeline that has stopped its work due to frost is always a serious problem that needs to be addressed promptly. This article will discuss how to warm water in a plastic pipe.

Causes of pipes freezing

The main reason for the freezing of water pipes located in the ground is the too small depth of the pipeline. When installing pipes on the street, it is necessary to calculate the depth of their occurrence so that they are below the freezing level of the soil. If this condition is not met, then the pipes will freeze annually.

An exception to this rule is any large-diameter main water supply: in such systems, the movement of water is constant, so it cannot freeze. However, such pipes are usually used for laying industrial routes, and in private construction, pipes with a diameter of 20 to 32 mm are used, which must be laid at a greater depth.

In some cases, installation of pipes at a sufficient depth is not possible. To avoid freezing, you will have to use active or passive insulation, which will protect the system from exposure to low temperatures.

If the pipeline freezes with noticeable regularity, then to prevent this factor, it is worth leaving the system running even at night. Highly important nuance- the increase in pressure in the system is inversely proportional to the probability of its freezing. The desire to save money, for the sake of which the pressure in the system is deliberately reduced, can also lead to its freezing, so you should avoid such situations.

Methods for heating pipes

If the water in the plastic pipe is frozen, there are several ways to warm it up:

1. Heating with hot water. To warm the pipes in this way, they must first be wrapped with a material like foam rubber or rags. After that, the pipes should be regularly watered with water heated to a state of boiling water. This method of heating pipes is very simple, but it can only be implemented in a building - plastic pipes located underground will have to be heated for at least ten hours.
2. Heating with hot air. To warm the pipes with hot air, you need a building hair dryer or some kind of good heater. It will take from 2 to 10 hours to warm up the pipe, and there are some risks: firstly, uncontrolled heating can lead to softening and deformation of the pipes, and secondly, the efficiency of such heating is too low due to the large dissipation of thermal energy. See also: "".
3. Heating by conduction. The pipe is wrapped with cables that are used in warm floors. The cables are connected to power and begin to warm the pipe, which can take about three hours. This method of heating does not allow pipes laid underground to be brought into working condition. In addition, heating cables are quite expensive, so buying them for a one-time use is unprofitable.
4. Warming from the inside. Heating the pipe from the inside allows you to completely melt the ice plug formed in the pipe. The main requirement for this method is good access to the pipe so that hot water can be poured there. The water supply is carried out either under pressure, or using devices similar to a boiler. It takes a lot of time for such heating of pipes (up to three days), and there is a limitation - internal heating is suitable only for horizontal sections of the pipeline.

Do-it-yourself heating of plastic pipes

If the pipe to be heated is underground, and the pipeline itself has turns or a bend, then the methods of heating the structure described above will not help. In this case, it will not be possible to break through the ice plug with the help of a wire, because the length of the frozen pipe section is unknown.

One way to deal with such a problem is folk remedy: welding machine connects to the two ends of the pipe and starts. There is another effective way to heat pipes, which is to supply hot water directly to the area where it cannot get on its own.

The sequence of actions required to heat the pipe hot water, as follows:

• First you need to take a high stiffness hose or metal plastic pipe with smaller diameter
• The hose or pipe is pushed into the frozen pipeline until it hits resistance in the form of an ice plug;
• It is poured into the pipe hot water or strong brine;
• Melting water will gradually flow out of the pipe, so you need to take care of the container in which it will be collected in advance;
• When the ice plug resolves, it is necessary to run running hot water in order to completely eliminate the effects of freezing.

Heating of metal-plastic pipes

Before you warm up a plastic pipe, you need to study well the algorithm for performing this work, which includes several stages:

1. The first step is to localize the frozen part of the pipeline. To do this, you need to carefully examine the pipes located right next to the house. As a rule, the problem area is tactile - it is usually much colder to the touch than the functioning part of the pipe.
2. After the localization of the ice plug, the pipe is wrapped with a rag. Next, you need to open all the taps of the water supply, having a supply of hot water with you. If not, you can melt the snow.
3. The pipe is poured with water in two stages: first it is cold, and after it - hot. A gradual increase in water temperature is necessary so that the pipe is not damaged due to sudden temperature changes.
4. Water that has changed from solid to liquid will exit through open taps.

So that the thawed pipe does not freeze in the future, it is better to immediately take measures to insulate it - then in the future you will not have to think about how to warm the pipe with water.

If the water is frozen in plastic pipes located under a layer of soil or foundation, then to warm them up you will need a barrel, a pump and an oxygen hose, with which you need to carry out the following steps:

1. The barrel is filled with hot water, the temperature of which is constantly rising.
2. The hose is inserted into the pipeline exactly until it hits the ice crust.
3. The tap opens and connects to the hose, which must be brought into the barrel. If the barrel itself or the possibility of installing it near the tap is not available, then an ordinary bucket will do.
4. The pump starts, after which the water heated in the barrel is pumped plastic pipeline. The hose must be constantly pushed inside the pipe so that it defrosts all the ice in the system. The pump periodically turns off to drain excess water.
5. When the blockage has resolved, the hose is removed and the water is drained from the pipeline.

Heating a plastic pipe can be done in other ways. For example, a hydrodynamic machine can always be used for these purposes. Her hose is launched into the pipe, after which the device starts. Ice in this case shatter with pressure.

A safer option for plastic pipes is a steam generator, which eliminates ice by turning it into a gaseous state. A pressure gauge and a valve designed for a pressure of 3 atm are attached to the thick-walled pipe of the device. When working with a steam generator, you must strictly follow the instructions in order to avoid possible troubles.

Conclusion

Questions like “a pipe froze underground - what to do?” quite common among owners of private houses. Solving the problem with a frozen pipeline is not so difficult, but the task itself is quite troublesome and time-consuming. It would be much better to design the pipeline in advance so that the water in it does not freeze even in the coldest times.

When not correct installation plumbing in a private house, you may encounter the fact that in the frosty season the pipes will freeze. And if this happens in the outer part of the pipe, it is not difficult to eliminate it. But if the pipe is frozen underground, then much more effort will be required. In the following, only effective ways combat this problem.

Classic method

Can't imagine various ways and go to classical way. That is, take a shovel and dig out the pipe. After that, you should warm it up and you're done. There are several ways to melt the ice: you can use a hair dryer (preferably a building one), a blowtorch or boiling water. When using hot water, the pipe should be wrapped with rags.

Despite the fact that the method is quite simple, only a few use it. The fact is that this method of removing ice in the pipe is extremely inconvenient and has the following disadvantages:

1. If the pipe is deep enough (but, unfortunately, not so deep that it does not freeze), it will take a lot of time to excavate it, since the frozen soil will not give up just like that in front of an ordinary shovel.
2. If you do not know the exact place of freezing, you will have to dig out the entire pipe, which, of course, does not inspire optimism.

Those who do not want to spend the whole day (or even more) in the cold and with a shovel in their hands can use the following methods, which are more efficient and effective.

Option for metal pipes

If the water pipes are made of metal, the ice plug can be removed using a copper two-core cable. However, the most important rule in the performance of such work is the observance of safety regulations. In addition, if there is no such experience with electricity, it is better to entrust the matter to a more qualified master.

So. First you need to strip the veins. Each of them should be wrapped around the axis and make 2-3 turns. It is important that the parts of the wire do not touch each other. After that, this side of the wire is introduced into the pipeline. Move to the point of freezing. Accordingly, you should stock up on a long cable.

When the plug has been detected, an electrical current is applied to the outer end of the wire. After that, the cable starts to warm up. Thus, the ice inside the pipe also begins to melt. However, the further away the plug is, the longer it will take to remove it.

It is also equally important to pump out melt water. Otherwise, it will certainly freeze again.

This method is effective only for the owner of metal pipes. Idea to melt like this plastic plumbing, unfortunately, is doomed to failure. However, there is a way out, and it will be described below.

essence this method It consists in supplying hot water directly to the place where the pipe freezes. However, if you just pour boiling water, the cork will not go away, and the time and effort spent will be in vain.

In order for the procedure to be carried out positive result, you will need:

1. Hose and large hot water tank. The traffic jam can be quite far, so stock up large quantity liquids.
2. Compressor. This tool is a must. It is thanks to him that water will flow into the pipe quickly enough, which will not allow it to cool. In addition, a strong pressure will act more effectively on the ice plug. This, in turn, will help to quickly deal with the elimination of the problem.

The principle of operation of such a device is quite simple. The hose is led through the pipe until it stops to the frozen place. Then water is supplied through the compressor. Once again, it is worth noting that you should not spare water. It is worth preparing a large container with liquid in advance.

How to avoid freezing

To avoid repeating the above procedures, you should take care of the correct installation of the water supply. After all, it is better to dig it out and fix all the shortcomings than to remove plugs from frozen water year after year. It's even better if you stumbled upon this article before you even started plumbing.

So, first of all, you should take care of correct gasket pipes. Ordinary plastic household pipes cannot be compared with main pipes, through which large volumes of liquid continuously pass. Therefore, they should be buried below the freezing level of the soil. Even better, do not spare money, and entrust the procedure to professionals who will take into account all the nuances during work.

You should also take care of insulation. Underground thermal insulation can be provided in the following ways:

1. The pipe can be wrapped with basalt and fixed with tape. Above, as thermal insulation material ruberoid should be laid out.
2. You can also use regular foam with cut edges for seams. Wrap it with adhesive tape with glued waterproof glue.
3. The most reliable, but at the same time the most expensive way insulation of the water supply system is considered to be winding with a heating cable. If this method of insulation is used in country house where no one lives permanently, the depth of the trench should be at least 2 meters. If the house is permanently inhabited, a half-meter pit will be enough.

It is worth noting that the latter method is best used in areas with a small water supply. Then the amount that the installation of the cable will cost will be much lower than laying it through a multi-meter section. In addition, the amount of energy consumed will be no more than 20 watts.

The above tips, if used correctly, will definitely cope with the task. However, it is better to take care of the correct installation of water pipes. Especially underground, since on the surface (in a house or basement) it is much easier to deal with an ice jam.

No one is immune from minor communal problems. Plumbing can become clogged with rust or welding scale, leak, or, under certain circumstances, even freeze. Today we have to find out how and with what to defrost water pipes inside the house and on the street.

Reasons for freezing

Three scenarios can lead to freezing of the water supply system:

• A residential building left without heating or utility room (summer cuisine, bath, etc.). Usually in such cases, the water is turned off and dumped; however, in the case when all the taps are closed and only the vent in the lower part of the water supply circuit is open, the water often hangs in the pipes and forms an ice plug when the temperature drops below zero;

• Incorrectly calculated depth of soil freezing;

Recall: water supply lines and water inlets to private and apartment buildings are laid below the freezing level, where the soil temperature is always above zero and only slightly changes during the year. However, the actual depth of freezing strongly depends on the type and density of the soil. Within one locality it can vary by half a meter or more.

• Frosts in combination with open laying of street water supply. This situation is typical for Crimea, where the author lives. Since negative temperatures are extremely rare here, water pipes are often laid along the facades of houses or simply along the ground. However, in rare frosts, the water still freezes.

Who is to blame - we found out. It remains to find answers to the second part of the age-old question: what to do.

To learn more about how water supply pipes can be defrosted, the video in this article will help you.

defrosting

First - a few simple ways to thaw frozen pipes.

How to defrost water pipes inside the house:

• Very simple: heat the whole house or its separate room. To do this, it is not at all necessary to melt the stove or start the boiler: to warm up small kitchen or a bathroom, a fan heater is sufficient, oil cooler Or even a gas stove.

• With hidden pipe laying in walls or screed perfect tool for their defrosting - infrared heater. If it is equipped with a reflector, direct the heat flow to the surface under which the water supply is hidden. wall panel or a flexible heater-picture is enough to hang on a nail driven into the wall.

How to thaw a frozen plastic (polyethylene or polypropylene) water supply inlet, laid at a shallow depth underground:

• The simplest instruction: build a fire directly above the entrance.

• This is how the soil was warmed up for decades for the repair of underground highways in the conditions of Siberia and Far East. It is better to use firewood for kindling, but coal is the main fuel: it can smolder for hours, releasing a large number of heat.

How to defrost steel pipe laid in the ground:

• The easiest way to use it to defrost is ... a welding inverter.

• Install a grounding crocodile at the input in the water meter well or at any other water supply point outside the house;

• Close the electrode holder with the water supply in the house (for example, by winding it with a wire to a pipe stripped of paint);
• Turn on the welder and set the current to 20 amps;
• If the ice does not melt within 20-30 minutes, step by step increase the current by 10 amperes with an interval of at least 15 minutes until the water supply warms up.

How to defrost an openly laid steel water pipe with your own hands?

This is done using the simplest heating tools:

• Blowtorch;

• Improvised gas burner from a spray can with a nozzle;
• Building hair dryer.

The algorithm of actions is simple and clear:

1. Open any water supply faucet in the house;
2. Heat the pipe in sections of half a meter to a temperature of at least 50-60 degrees, until water begins to flow to the mixer.

What to do if during the defrost process your cold water pipe burst:

• Water expands when it turns into ice, and the volume of ice decreases when it melts. However, until the moment of melting, ice behaves in the same way as any other physical body - it expands when heated. Therefore, frozen pipes most often break during thawing.

• Use the gust to blow off the water and dry the plumbing completely. Heat the pipe along its entire length, making sure that there is no ice left in it. And only after that proceed to repair - welding a broken seam or replacing a section of the water supply.

How to warm up a plastic pipe laid along the street:

• The most reasonable solution is to use a heating cable section to warm it up. Best of all - self-regulating: its device completely eliminates overheating and damage to the insulation of the cable or the water supply itself. The heating cable is wound around the pipe in a spiral and connected to the network; defrosting takes from 15 minutes to an hour, depending on the diameter of the water pipe.

Prevention

What can be done to ensure that you never need to defrost the pipes of the water supply system?

At underground laying insulate the water supply entry from above. It is from above - because in cold weather the soil freezes from top to bottom. The deep layers of the soil will become a source of heat for the pipes, and it is not necessary to isolate the input from them.

In case of forced laying of pipes above the freezing depth (for example, on rocky soils) or in case of open laying, provide them with a cable heating system. Passive insulation is unable to prevent freezing of water in pipes: it will only delay it. In the absence of water intake, the water supply input will still freeze, but only a little later.

The heating cable can be installed in two ways:

Which cable should be preferred? From the point of view of the author - again, self-regulating.

Here are its advantages over a somewhat cheaper resistive one:

• Energy saving- power consumption decreases as the temperature rises;

• Safety- cable overlap cannot lead to overheating and damage to the insulation and pipes, since with an increase in temperature, the specific power of the heating sections will decrease;
• Arbitrary cut to length: a cable of any length, equipped with an end sleeve, is a ready-made heating section.

For comparison: section length resistive cable fixed resistivity unchanged. If a conductor is shortened, its impedance will decrease and the current flowing through it will increase, which will lead to overheating.

Conclusion

As you can see, preventing a problem is much easier than fixing its consequences. To learn more about how water supply pipes can be defrosted, the video in this article will help you. Good luck!

Almost every private house has drainpipes and sewer pipes through which water and sewage are supplied and discharged. Since this system is the property of the residents, in the event of any breakdowns or problems, they often have to deal with everything on their own. One of the most urgent and unpleasant situations that one has to face is the freezing of water in pipes in winter period. It is very important to be able to properly defrost pipes so that the ice does not break them during melting, violating the integrity of the entire water supply.

Peculiarities

For plumbing in a private house, both metal and plastic pipes can be used, but that one and the other are not protected from freezing in winter if the process of laying them was done incorrectly. The most main reason the fact that water freezes in a pipe underground in frost is an insufficient deepening of the water supply. If the laying technology is performed correctly, then the entire system is located at a level where frost does not reach.

Thanks to main pipelines have large diameter, even in winter they do not freeze, because there is a movement of water in them all the time. Home systems are laid using pipes with a diameter of 20 mm or more - 32 mm. It is important to deepen such thin elements well so that frost does not reach them, but this is not always possible, therefore you need to know how pipes can be insulated to protect them from the cold.

In the event that all the recommendations have been met, and the water is still freezing, then in this case it is necessary to keep the system turned on all the time so that the water always flows through the pipes at least in a thin stream. This is quite expensive, given the cost of water, but it will not be necessary to spend time, effort and money on defrosting the entire system.

In order not to have to carry out work on heating pipes with water annually, it is important to prevent all possible problems still at the stage of laying the entire network.

During installation, it is important to observe the following rules:

• The depth of the trench should be greater than the level of soil freezing, which is typical for this region. There are relevant SNiP standards that will help to properly design a water supply system.
• When choosing the location of the pipes, it is important not to lay them next to reinforced concrete products, because their thermal conductivity is greater than that of the soil.
• If the laying is carried out under the foundation, then the pipes are isolated from reinforced concrete using a large layer of thermal insulation, which is best used as mineral wool.
• When planning a water supply system underground and on its surface, it is best to use pipes with a diameter of 50 mm, because thinner products freeze much faster.
• When choosing a material for pipes, it is worth giving preference polymer products, which can increase the size by several millimeters, which saves them from cracking during freezing and freezing.
• In order to ensure a calm winter for yourself, it is worth laying a heating cable near the pipes, which will support optimal temperature and keep the system from freezing.
• If the house is used only in summer and is empty in winter, then it is important to drain all the water from the system so that there is nothing in the pipes in frosts. This will keep them from freezing.

What will be required?

If in a private house a pipe that supplies water or drains is frozen, the first step is to determine the location of the plug in order to eliminate it and not aggravate the situation. by the most simple option the search will be the use of an iron cable that is inserted into the water supply, which was previously blocked and immediately untwisted under the tap at the junction of the structure. It is important to choose the longest cable, because the problem area can be both at the beginning of the system and at its end.

Once the plug has been found, the affected area of ​​the pipeline can be excavated. and accept everything necessary measures for defrosting. If the structure is old and the pipes are metal, then the easiest way to heat the water inside is current, for which a welding machine is used. But for a HDPE pipeline, this method is no longer suitable. For them use external funds brings little result, you need to take a different approach.

The most efficient, but expensive, would be to use a hydrodynamic machine that can jet water at such a speed that ice and some other substances melt from such an impact. Only a professional can work with the device, because it is important to know the technology and follow the work algorithm. If you need to quickly fix the problem, but you don’t have the necessary skills and equipment, you can simply call the master, who will easily do everything necessary to restore the water supply.

Another way to heat the pipe includes a steam generator, which looks like this:

• pour 2-3 liters of water into the container;
• connect the heat-resistant sleeve to the place where the safety valve is located;
• lead the hose into the pipe to the point where the plug has formed;
• turn on the device and wait for the result.

Work should only be carried out in correct sequence and it is better to have assistants with you, because after removing the hose from the pipe where the ice was, it will simply beat the fountain. This water must be collected in buckets, which must be prepared in advance. You can make more rags.

If there is no steam generator, it does not matter, a boiler will also work to defrost pipes. To use this option, you need to prepare a wire, it must be copper, two-wire and have a cross section of 0.5 mm, and its length must be equal to the pipe. In addition, a steel wire is also needed, the diameter of which is 3 mm. Copper wires are stripped 60 cm, and the second - 1 cm from the cut. Separate turns are made on each wire so that there is no contact, otherwise a short circuit will occur.

tape copper wires screwed to the steel and all this is immersed in the pipe. In such a simple way it turns out to build a homemade boiler. It must be connected to the network in order to warm up the pipe, which will push the plug out of the heat. As soon as the problem is solved, the boiler is turned off and pulled out, and the pipe is blocked. When the system starts up again, everything works as it should.

Pipe defrosting can be done welding inverter. This is a wire that connects to the pipe at the place of icing and heats it. It is important to work correctly with the device and not overheat it, giving different voltages. After ten minutes of such exposure, the ice turns into a liquid and the cork dissolves.

Heating water pipes in case of ice blockage is one of the most viable option. For iron pipe the method of external influence is suitable, and for plastic - internal. The means by which it is convenient to deal with icing can be anything, and everyone chooses what he likes and can afford, the main thing is that there is a result, but it is best not to lead to such situations by properly laying the water supply and warming it well.

How to warm up?

In order to warm a metal-plastic water pipe in which water has frozen, Several methods can be used, including:

• Exposure to hot water, for which the structure is wrapped with foam rubber or rags and very hot water is poured inside, almost boiling water. This option is quite simple, but it is effective for pipes inside the house. In the case of underground ice plugs, this method can break through an obstacle up to ten hours.
• The use of hot air, for which you need to have a building hair dryer or heating device. The place of icing is heated by any of the devices for two or more hours, it all depends on the degree of freezing of the water inside. It is not difficult to do such work, but it is important to carry out all activities carefully, because pipes can be deformed from high temperature, which will further aggravate the problem. The efficiency of this method is not too great, because with large energy and heat losses real result does not come soon.

• Heating by conduction. It is a winding of pipes with a cable that is used in the underfloor heating system. When everything is ready, the resulting structure is connected to electricity and begins to heat the pipe itself. The workflow lasts approximately three hours and allows you to alert only those pipes that are above the ground and in the house. Wires for underfloor heating are quite expensive, so buying them in order to defrost the system once is unprofitable due to the high cost.
• The process of heating the pipes inside allows you to solve the problem quite effectively. For work, it is important to have access to the problem area in order to pour hot water into it using a special device that drives liquid under high pressure, but you can also use an apparatus that looks like a boiler. The work is slow, the problem is completely solved in at least three days. It is forbidden to use this option for those sections where the pipes run vertically. The system must be in a horizontal position to ensure operability.

If you have to deal with plastic pipes, then you can handle defrosting them with your own hands, the main thing is to know what exactly needs to be done. For those pipelines that are located underground and the system is a network of turns and various bends, then all the previously listed options will not be able to help. by the most the best option in this case, there will be a welding machine that needs to be connected to different ends of the pipes and turned on. If there is no suitable equipment, you can use just hot water.

To do effective remedy to defrost pipes, you need:

• find a hard hose or small diameter plastic pipe;
• place the hose or pipe in the water supply and move until it rests on the ice;
• pour hot water or brine;
• for the water that will be formed from the ice plug, you need to put a container;
• as soon as the problem area is completely eliminated, you need to turn on the hot water in the tap and thoroughly clean the system.

If they were laid metal-plastic structures, then to defrost them you need to do a number of actions:

1. Find a problematic place, for which it is enough just to probe all the pipes. The freezing point will be much colder than the rest of the surface.
2. The place of icing is wrapped up with rags and all the taps of the water supply are opened. Make sure you have a supply of hot water.
3. Pipe surface treatment is gradual, immediately used cold water so it's hot. This is important in order not to damage the structure with a sharp jump in temperature.
4. The melted water will begin to exit the pipes through those taps that were opened earlier.

If there is no desire to carry out such operations annually, or even several times during the winter, it is worth quickly organizing the warming of the area, which is especially prone to freezing.

In cases where water freezing has occurred in areas inaccessible to humans, for example, under a foundation, then to fight with problem situations can be done through a number of activities:

1. You need to purchase a barrel, a pump and a hose with oxygen. It is necessary to draw hot water into the barrel, the temperature of which will constantly increase.
2. Insert the hose into the pipe and push until it rests on the ice.
3. You need to open the tap and connect it to the hose that goes into the barrel. If there is none, you can use a simple bucket.
4. The pump starts, with the help of which hot water is supplied to the pipes for defrosting ice. From time to time, the pump must be turned off to drain the resulting water.
5. As soon as the problem goes away, the hose must be removed and the water in the pipeline drained.

If the problem has touched the sewer, then you can deal with it if you know how. Usually, sewer pipes do not freeze, because the used water is usually warmer, but in very severe frosts this is possible.

To combat ice blockages in the sewer, you can:

1. Build a fire in the place where the collector is located. This option will be effective if the pipes are not far from the surface. The flame must be maintained as long as possible in order to be able to warm the earth, and with it the sewer.
2. The use of table salt. A home-made, but very effective method is to place a large amount of concentrated salt solution in the sewer pipes, which will not freeze even in severe frost, and the salt will begin to dissolve it upon contact with ice.
3. You can use an electrical cable that you can lead until the moment of icing through the toilet or inspection hatch. Once the device is installed, plug it into the network.
4. You can use the inspection hatch of the septic tank, where a hose for irrigation is inserted through the outlet garden plants. It must be advanced to the place where the presence of ice is expected, and then pour hot water from the water supply inside. Continue the process until the ice is completely gone.

When severe frosts in winter time and freezing water in the pipes you need to know how you can deal with the situation. First of all, it is important to understand what material the pipes that you have to work with consist of, how deep they are laid and a number of other nuances, after which it will be much easier to choose correct option dealing with ice blockages.

In the event that problems with pipes were discovered in a private house, namely, their freezing in the winter, then you need to know some secrets in order to prevent such phenomena or skillfully deal with them.

To prevent similar phenomena, follows:

• Install water and sewer pipes lower than the frost droops, and this is at least a depth of 120-140 cm. In case of problems with such a deepening, the pipes are carefully insulated.
• Using pipes that are large enough in diameter, you can avoid their rapid freezing. The optimal size would be 50 mm.
• In order to avoid stagnation of water in the system, when arranging it, it is necessary to provide for an angle of inclination so that it flows faster into the source.
• When laying pipes, it is worth staying away from beams, foundations, the thermal conductivity of which is higher than that of the ground, which is a danger to pipes. If possible, it is worth making good insulation if there is reinforced concrete nearby.
• If the water supply is located in a non-residential area where there is no heating, then it is important to additionally insulate it, for which you can use mineral wool, glass wool and foam.
• Living in regions with very severe winters, when arranging a water supply system, it is better to lay a cable nearby that will heat the pipes. Its advantage is that it itself determines the moment when it needs to be turned on and off, but there are also manual models.
• When choosing a pipe, it is worth giving preference to polyethylene rather than polypropylene, because they withstand the process of freezing and thawing ice well.

There are a number of other tips that will help protect the system from freezing or deal with it more effectively:

• To protect the pipeline from freezing, it is worth studying temperature regime region and lower the structure a meter below the mark where frost usually falls. This will allow you to forget about any problems with water in cold weather.
• If the pipes freeze at the intersection of the ground with open space, then an ordinary hair dryer can help, and in particular difficult cases- construction.
• If problems with pipes occur annually, then it is worth setting a goal to redo the system than constantly dealing with the consequences.
• When freezing is very serious or difficult to solve on your own, it is best to call a professional who will remove the ice plug without any problems.
• If you manage to deal with ice on your own, but you have to constantly clean the system by running water, it can be collected in special containers and then used for household needs.

Those who still use metal water or sewer pipes can deal with ice plugs with the help of terminals that are attached to the problem area, after which the current begins to flow, which heats up the pipe and the ice inside begins to melt. If freezing occurred in a pipe leading directly from the toilet, then one of the options may be to heat the water directly in the plumbing, for which you need a heating element or a boiler. metal pipes warm up with blowtorch, for which you need to make a trench at the location of the sewer and heat the pipe with a lamp, going from bottom to top. Work is being done from cesspool or a septic tank, if there is one, to allow the unhindered exit of water after thawing.

Low temperatures in winter become the causes of unpleasant moments associated with the water supply at home. If you approach the laying of water pipes illiterately, then in winter the question is, the water has frozen in a private house - what to do will occur quite often. Moreover, there are always situations related to track accidents. This is a pipe rupture, if it is steel, a rupture of valves. And if this problem in the summer can be dealt with quickly with minimal cost, then in the winter everything becomes more complicated. Therefore, it is very important to first correct installation. And there is only one condition here - to insulate the pipelines or lay it below the freezing level of the soil.

Frozen home plumbing

How to defrost pipes

It should be noted that water supply network consists of two sections: external (external), it is also most often underground and internal. As for the latter, the main part of the route is laid inside heated premises, so the question of whether the water has frozen in a private house - what to do, is not appropriate here. But partially internal plumbing goes through unheated premises. For example, in the basement and in the attic. This is where pipes can freeze. How to defrost them?

There are several options. We will take into account that plastic pipes were laid inside the house.

• You can use hot water to defrost. To do this, first wrap the pipe with a rag, and only then pour boiling water on it. The process can take several hours, everything will depend on the length of the frozen area.
  
  Hot water defrosting
• You can use a hair dryer (construction or household). Highly effective option, but requiring a certain approach to the process itself. It's all about, especially building hair dryer that the air from the appliance comes out with enough high temperature which can melt plastic. Therefore, it is necessary to accurately set the distance from the nozzle of the hair dryer to the surface of the pipe.
  We use a hair dryer
• Can be used for defrosting heating cable, which fits into the electric floor heating system or a special cable for plumbing systems. They are wrapped around a frozen section of the track and plugged into an outlet. This is the most fast option. Usually in this way it is possible to defrost a sufficiently long water supply in 2-3 hours.

Attention! Before defrosting water in a private house, it is recommended that all stop valves fully open on the highway. Water from defrosting must move freely through the pipeline and flow out of the taps.

Unfreezing pipes underground

It is clear that water pipes located in the ground are more difficult to defrost. The easiest of all options is to dig out the place where they were laid, get to the track and apply one of the methods described above. But there are several problems here.

1. Digging frozen ground is not easy. It will take a lot of time, effort and labor. In any case, the owner of the house cannot do this on his own.
2. There is always a chance that when digging a trench, you can damage the plastic pipe. And this is another problem that will have to be solved immediately.

Therefore, it is better to use alternative options. One of effective methods defrosting is the use of hot water. True, for this you have to prepare. First, you need a supply of the water itself, which must be heated. The easiest way to do it without high costs- install a barrel under which to make a fire. Secondly, it is necessary to somehow organize the supply of water inside plumbing system. To do this, it is best to install a small electric pump. It is even better if hot water is poured into a hose of a smaller diameter than the route, which will need to be pushed into the pipeline.

Defrosting a water pipe with hot water

That is, the hose is pushed to the ice plug, then hot water is pumped into it. It quickly melts the ice, and the hose must be moved further as the track thaws. As soon as water flows out of the tap with great pressure, that's it - the ice plug has melted. It should be noted that this option for defrosting the water supply is one of the most effective. True, you prepare for it longer than you produce the process itself.

Applying electricity

Another option that answers the question of how to heat water in a private house. For this, electricity is used. It is necessary to immediately make a reservation that the use of electric current is always a dangerous business. Therefore, it is not recommended to use this option for defrosting the water supply. But, as an alternative, you need to know it.

For this, a conventional two-wire wire is used, the cores of which must be disconnected and stripped for a length of 20 cm, that is, freed from insulation. The bare wire is twisted to a size of 8-10 cm.

Attention! It is impossible to allow both bare wires to be connected to each other. This will lead to short circuit, so between them it is necessary to install a jumper, preferably a wooden one. Its size should be less than the diameter of the water pipe.

Now the prepared two-wire wire is pushed into the pipeline to the ice plug. After that, it is connected to a 220 volt supply network. The water inside the pipe begins to boil and defrost the ice. In fact, the bifurcated wire performs the functions heating element. As it thaws, it will need to be moved inward.

We use steam

And a few more alternative options that use steam. It should be noted that they are used infrequently only because installations that produce steam are not cheap pleasure.

steam generator

• Use of a steam generator. His hose is inserted into the pipeline, where steam is pumped.
• Using an autoclave. This is an installation that works on the basis of boiling water. The process itself is exactly the same as in the case of the steam generator. That is, a hose connected to an autoclave is inserted into the water pipe, through which steam from boiling water enters the route.
• The use of a hydrodynamic machine. it professional equipment, which is based on the process of heating water and supplying it under pressure inside the water line.

All three options are very effective. If the water inlet to the house or the entire route is frozen, then with their help it is possible to warm the pipes in a few minutes.

So, the answer to the question was given, the water in the house froze - what to do? The proposed technologies have very simple ways, which do not require large expenditures, there are quite serious options based on the use of special equipment. If the problem is not very big, then you can get by with small funds. If everything is very difficult, then it is better to call specialists. They will not only solve the problem of defrosting, but also help prevent subsequent troubles.

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