It is carried out with violations, that in winter time leads to freezing of pipes and inability to use water.

Leads to disruptions in the water supply:

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

Note! Before defrosting a 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 of defrosting the pipe and, accordingly, the tools used will vary.

plastic plumbing

To defrost a water pipe from plastic pipes, you must proceed with extreme caution. Methods for thawing pipes may vary depending on the location of the frozen section.

Note! The defrosting of the ice plug must be started from the side of the tap.

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

Note! Warming up must first be started with cold water, to avoid cracking the plastic pipe.

When defrosting the water supply at home, it is necessary to exclude 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 out of it.

Defrosting plastic pipes outside the home depends on where they are laid - above ground or in the ground. In the latter case, you need to give them full access. Defrosting can be carried out in the same way as indoors - using hot water and electrical appliances.

A special heating cable can be used to thaw pipes from the outside. To do this, wrap it with foil, wind the 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 injecting hot water. To do 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 introduce it into the water supply and break through the ice plug.

metal pipes

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

1. Defrosting with rags and hot water;
2. Defrosting with a building hair dryer;
3. Defrosting with 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 defrost apparatus.

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

For metal pipes it is suitable to use an apparatus with which a current is supplied that can break through and remove the ice plug.

Note! Each of the methods for defrosting a water pipe is quite laborious, therefore, even during installation, you need to take care of the timely insulation of the water pipe both indoors and out.

Video

Instructions for defrosting a water pipe with hot water, see below:

The situation when modern plastic water pipes freeze happens quite often. Naturally, such a problem should be eliminated as soon as possible, because otherwise the freezing area will gradually expand. In addition, in any case, there is a risk of "rupture" of the highway.

So defrosting plastic pipes is a very important and urgent task. And, in the end, except purely technical nuances, without water, sitting is also uncomfortable, you see.

In this article, we will look at all the most popular and effective ways to solve such a problem. Moreover, we will even figure out how to defrost a metal-plastic pipe underground, and not just the one that is on the surface.

Let's start by reviewing the most important point.

Why does this problem occur at all?

In fact, everything here is quite simple to understand. The causes of freezing are discussed in the table below.

As you can see, the reasons are quite logical and understandable. And if so, then before reviewing how to defrost a plastic water pipe, it is worth talking about preventive measures.

How to prevent freezing

For outdoor plumbing, measures can be as follows:

1. Insulating plastic with mineral wool . Such work is done very simply - plastic turns into mineral wool. From above, the insulation is wrapped with a rope or wire.

Tip: if communications take place in places with high humidity, then the mineral wool on top must also be wrapped with a film, foil, or even better - with a hydrobarrier.
Then the heater will last a really long time.

1. "Packing" the line in a special box. In fact, communications are simply sheathed on the outside with panels of wood, plastic or drywall (depending on where the communications go). And the entire space between the plane of the box and the water supply is filled mounting foam or a piece of styrofoam.

Such are the technologies.

Note!
You can not "foam" those points where important connections are located.
Such areas include, for example, taps, brass adapters, threaded fittings, etc.
If they are sealed with foam, it turns out that in the case emergency access to such important elements will be blocked.

As for communications that are laid in the ground, then the recommendations are very simple. It is necessary to mount everything below the depth of the freezing point of the soil. At the same time, one should adhere to simple rule- if it is not possible to lay the system at the desired depth, then it should be very well insulated.

However, do-it-yourself insulation is still not a 100% guarantee that the water will not freeze. Perfect option in this case, it is to organize at least some kind of heating system for communications.

And now let's look at how to defrost plastic water pipes, that is, we'll figure out how to fix the situation when ice has already formed.

Ways of heating the line

It is worth noting one important point- as good examples we will analyze the most available solutions that do not require the purchase of expensive equipment.

In addition, these methods differ in that they have repeatedly proven their effectiveness in practice. Let's start reviewing the simple option.

With the help of boiling water

Heating instructions outdoor system hot water is quite simple.

In principle, in this way, communications can be warmed up quite quickly - in just a couple of hours. Here the main thing is to warm not even the entire diameter of the ice, but only a small part of it. Because even if a small “loophole” appears for the passage of water along the highway, then the rest of the ice will gradually melt by itself.

As for systems that are located underground, in principle it is possible to influence them in this way, but only the heating time will be much longer. Yes, and you still need to get to the plane of such communications. Therefore, this method is not the most the best solution for defrosting underground lines.

And if we talk about how to defrost a plastic water pipe underground, then it's best to do it a little differently. The bottom line is that you need to deliver boiling water directly to the ice plug - that is, as if inside the pipe itself. If simply pouring hot water into the line does not work, then you can try to do this with an ordinary flexible hose.

This is done like this:

1. Insert one end of the rubber hose into the line and push the hose until it meets the ice plug.
2. The second end of the product is put on a hot water tap. At the same time, it is important that the pressure force in the tap is sufficient to deliver water to the desired point.

1. The supply of boiling water is turned on and the heating process begins. As for the exposure time, it all depends on how many meters the ice has spread.

Please note that you will need to prepare some kind of container to collect water!
The fact is that boiling water will rest against the cork and, under the influence of pressure, the water will return “back” - that is, it will begin to flow out of the cracks between the hose and the pipe.

Consider another defrosting method that is suitable for both underground and elevated water pipes.

Steam

This option in a good way requires a special device - a steam generator. However, the price of the device is too high to purchase it for a one-time operation, so it is easier and more expedient to rent a steam generator.

The principle of operation here is quite simple - the device generates steam, which can be launched under pressure to any desired place.

The flow is usually directed with a hose.

1. Insert the sleeve into the pipe.
2. We turn on the device and begin to pump hot air in the direction of the ice plug.

Here the efficiency and speed of defrosting are very high level because the temperature of the steam is higher than the degree of hot water. In a good way, even in very difficult cases, warming up can occur within literally an hour.

You can also defrost ice with the help of "artisanal" steam injection.

It's done like this:

1. The autoclave heats up water.
2. Take the hose. One of its ends is connected to the autoclave, and the other is launched into the pipe.

It turns out that hot air will, as it were, exit the autoclave through a hose and, accordingly, “rest” against an ice plug.

In principle, any analogue of an autoclave, even an ordinary double boiler, is suitable for small pipelines. The main thing is that the pressure of the steam is strong enough to get to the point where the ice begins.

But this method is only suitable when there is no risk of deformation of the line itself. So whether it is worth using such machines for plastic communications is a big question.

Well, now let's figure out how to defrost a plastic sewer pipe with more "folk" methods.

With hair dryer and fan heater

In fact, this technology implies impact warm air on the plastic plane. That is, we take a hair dryer or a fan heater, turn on these devices and begin to pump a hot stream towards the problem point in communications. As you yourself understand, the method is only suitable for those that pass in open areas.

Output

As you already understood, defrosting a line made of plastic pipes is a very real thing. Of course, situations are different, and therefore universal way there can be no warming, but still the methods that we talked about above can “work”. We hope that this is exactly what will happen.

By the way, if you want to see more visual instructions, then watch the video in this article.

IN winter period a common problem is freezing plumbing and heating pipes. This can happen if the required standards were not met during the laying of the pipeline and technological standards were violated. Regardless of the root cause of the problem, the question arises: how to defrost a water pipe?

Consider some of the causes of ice plugs in the water supply:

• the water supply was laid at insufficient depth;
• incorrectly performed work on thermal insulation of pipes;
• pipe diameter is incorrectly selected;
• worn pipes.

How to prevent plumbing from freezing

• when laying water pipes, it is necessary to take into account the depth of soil freezing in a given area and dig a trench below this level;
• the pipeline should be located away from concrete and reinforced concrete structures, since they are subject to freezing stronger than the soil;
• in places where pipes enter the building should be done good thermal insulation, most often, mineral and glass wool is used;
• it is better if the diameter of the outer pipes is more than 50 mm - the more water in the pipe, the longer it will freeze;
• piping can be done with electric cable, which will heat pipes at dangerously low temperatures.

If it was not possible to prevent freezing, you should start defrosting the water supply.

This can be done in several ways, all of which can be divided into two categories:

1. Impact outside.
2. Warming up from the inside.

Regardless of the choice of pipe defrosting method, several rules must be observed:

• it is necessary to determine as accurately as possible the frozen section of the pipe and its length;
• all shut-off valves must be open so that the thawed water has an outlet;
• it is necessary to start warming the pipe from an open tap and further to the riser;
• sewer pipes, on the contrary, are heated from the riser in the direction of the septic tank.

Methods for defrosting water pipes through exposure to the outside

In such cases, prolonged heating of the pipe surface and further heat exchange between the pipe itself and the ice inside are carried out.

Boiling water or just hot water. The frozen section of the pipe is wrapped with foam rubber or rags that absorb water, and poured with boiling water, constantly maintaining high temperature rags or foam rubber, and, accordingly, pipes. This method is used in open sections of the pipeline: in basements, at the entrance to a building, etc. Well suited for metal pipes, as metal is an excellent heat conductor.

Building hair dryer. The pipe heats up under the influence of hot air. It is necessary to blow the pipe from all sides. In order not to lose heat, you can make something like a pavilion around the pipe, for example, from polyethylene film. When heating a plastic pipe in this way, it is important to carefully monitor the heating process so that the pipeline does not melt. If the pipe freezing area is small, a conventional fan heater or a household hair dryer will do. If the pipe has bends, narrowings, entrances to the fittings, they also need to be heated.

Blowtorch or gas-burner . This method requires special attention due to the high risk of fire.

Electrical heating cable or electrical heating tape. The safest and no less effective method defrosting pipes. The cable must be wound around the pipe in a spiral and connected to a power source. This method is only suitable for open pipes.

Defrost unit or welding transformer. Two wires, positive and negative, are connected to different ends of a frozen section of a metal pipe, an electric current heats the water and the ice plug melts. The time spent on heating metal water pipes using a welding transformer is minimal.

Methods for defrosting water pipes through exposure from the inside

All the methods described above are good for metal pipes, but are not suitable for plastic. Therefore, there are methods "from the inside". The most important thing is to find the nearest detachable connection in order to disconnect the frozen section from the remaining highway.

Two-core copper wire . The principle of operation is similar to a boiler. The cores of the wire are separated and exposed. Then each must be twisted into a small spiral (from 3 to 5 turns), it is better to make one core a little shorter so that the spirals do not touch and there is no short circuit. Next, the wire must be brought into the pipe and plugged into the outlet. Electricity, passing through the water, warms it up well.

Hot water. A laborious process that requires patience, but with minimal cost. The hose must be thinner than the pipe. It is inserted into the disconnected pipe until it stops in the ice plug and filled with hot water. As the ice melts, the hose moves forward. Be sure to need a container for thawed water. On straight sections of the pipeline, it is better to use a metal-plastic tube; for bends, a flexible hose is more suitable: gas or oxygen.

"Mug of Esmarch" - in a popular way an enema. In addition to it, a rigid wire and a hose from the hydraulic level. The wire is attached to the tube (with adhesive tape, electrical tape, whatever), the Esmarch mug is connected to the hydraulic level tube on one side, and the other is pushed into the water pipe to the ice plug. Next, the mug is raised higher and hot water is poured into it. As the ice thaws, the hydraulic level hose must be advanced further until it is completely defrosted. This method is suitable for underground pipes.

Special equipment for preventive flushing of water and sewer pipes. Utilities have it, you can call specialists at home.

All methods of defrosting pipes have their own advantages and disadvantages and take a lot of time. To avoid possible problems with plumbing, it's best to stick to everyone in advance technological standards pipe laying.

Video

This video shows how pipes are defrosted with a burner:

See how you can defrost a water pipe with steam:

The situation when negative temperature on the street, the water supply from the tap stops, do you know? Such a problem occurs in your home with the onset of a cold season, and you do not know how to quickly fix it? To fight you need to pick up effective method restoration of the water supply network. Do you agree?

We will tell you how to thaw a frozen pipeline and how to prevent a problem situation in the future. Let's talk about effective ways, allowing you to quickly restore the water supply on a cold winter day for sanitary purposes and cooking.

Our article contains a selection better ways which will help to cope with this trouble on their own. Methods for pipelines from various materials. So that you can better understand the nuances of warming, we have selected visual photos and feature videos detailing recommendations for rescuing water lines from ice captivity.

With a sharp onset of frost, supplemented strong winds, cases of freezing with the formation of ice plugs inside them are not uncommon.

Frozen water as a result of improper laying or operation of the pipeline will, at best, make it impossible to use the system, and at worst, force the breakthrough to be repaired.

The problem of pipe freezing is more relevant for owners of summer cottages and private sector houses, whose water supply inlets pass along the street

There can be several reasons for freezing water in the plumbing.

The most basic among them:

• extremely low temperatures outside;
• laying pipes to a shallower depth than the level of soil freezing;
• insufficient insulation of the pipeline;
• low or even zero water consumption.

At night or for a longer period when the owners do not use the water supply, the water in the pipes remains still. At sub-zero temperatures she freezes quickly.

Not only pipelines can freeze, but also taps that are not shut off in a timely manner, which supply water, both to an unheated basement and to the yard

The pipe, located in the frozen ground, after the passage of warm streams, begins to cool, and after a short period it acquires low temperature. Small portions of water, as they advance, begin to freeze and crystallize, at some point completely clogging the entire section of the pipe.

How to find a problem area?

The most difficult moment in this matter is to determine the place of freezing in an open area. Experienced craftsmen when examining and probing the accessible part of the route, it is advised to focus on temperature sensations.

It is not difficult to determine the location of the ice plug in a plastic pipeline when probing: within the blocked area, when trying to slightly bend the pipe, a characteristic crunch is heard

Water pipes usually freeze in areas where the pipes come close to the ground. Vulnerable to frost are also technical wells, unheated basements.

It is noticed that concrete freezes faster than soil layers. Therefore, if the basement was unreliably insulated or ajar during severe frosts, it is quite natural that the pipeline lying in it froze.

If the freezing area cannot be determined, it is better to immediately abandon the idea of ​​\u200b\u200bbreaking through the ice jam by mechanical means

If it is not possible to "calculate" a specific area, use available ways at once on several most probable places of freezing.

Effective solutions to the problem

The water supply can be defrosted by external thermal exposure, or by defrosting from the inside. Each specific case depends on the length of the frozen area and the material from which they are made, and therefore requires the use of different means.

Despite the fact that ice with the same mass is more voluminous than water, within its state of aggregation, obeying the laws of physics, it expands before melting.

To reduce the risk of pipe rupture during the period of thawing ice plugs, it is necessary to reduce the pressure on the walls of the structure by prudently opening the taps

Before starting work, it is imperative to open water faucet or a “reset” after the inlet valve in order to determine the effectiveness of the actions performed by the water flowing from it.

Method #1 - Using Hot Water

If the system is frozen in an open area at, or inside an unheated basement, the easiest way to warm up a section of the water supply is to treat it outside with boiling water. Hot water has saved water pipes from freezing at all times.

To do this, the pipe is wrapped in several layers with rags and cuts of old rags that absorb moisture well. A wet rag will prolong the contact time of the pipe walls with water.

The area wrapped with a rag is poured with hot water in several approaches until the cloth gets wet and the ice under it begins to melt

When warming up a frozen section of the pipeline, it is important not to damage it. Areas of the structure that do not require heating must be covered with heat-insulating material. This will prevent the accumulation of pieces of ice moving along the pipeline along with water.

This method is used only in enclosed spaces and at open method pipeline laying. And this technology is suitable only for steel pipes wires. The system located underground will have to be heated with boiling water for at least 12 hours.

Method # 2 - heating with a building hair dryer

You can also achieve the desired effect with the help of hot air created by a powerful building hair dryer. The method is used to heat frozen sections of the pipeline in places where it is quite easy to get to them, for example, when the system is laid inside the building.

In order to melt the water along the pipeline shell, the surface of the structure is blown from all sides with a stream of hot air directed by the nozzle.

In order to create conditions for the movement of ice accumulation through the pipe, it is necessary to evenly distribute the flow of hot air, without forgetting to open all the valves first.

Keep in mind that a building hair dryer produces a temperature range that can reach from 100 to 650 ° C. Therefore, it cannot be used for pipes made of polymer materials.

Enhance the effect while reducing heat loss, the construction of an improvised protective casing around the heated area helps. It will reflect heat, evenly distributing it over the entire surface of the insulated area.

To do this, a small pavilion is temporarily built, the walls of which are made of the same film or metal shields.

Image Gallery

There are both external and internal methods of influencing a frozen area. Naturally, the efficiency and laboriousness of each of the methods is different, as well as the time to achieve positive result. When preparing for defrosting plastic pipes, one should be prepared for the fact that the length of the frozen area inside the building, as a rule, is no more than 3-5 m, and underground can reach more than 20-30 m.

How to defrost a plastic water pipe underground? You can also use the hot water method to defrost underground plumbing. Only for its implementation in the field, a tube of greater length is likely to be required.

More effective option How to thaw a plastic pipe in the ground is to heat water to a state of steam and supply it under pressure to the place of freezing. To heat the liquid, you need to use a sealed vessel with a nozzle at the top. A flexible and durable oxygen hose or a hydraulic level tube is suitable as a supply tube.

How to warm up a plastic pipe of an internal polymeric water supply system? From the outside, it may seem surprising that the pipes inside the room froze. The situation might look like this. A branch of a water pipe without sufficient thermal insulation passes inside unheated premises and with a sharp, significant drop in temperature - it froze. It can also happen at the entrance of the pipeline to the house if the pipeline is not insulated and comes into contact with concrete or brick structures foundation or walls.

We note right away that most of the methods for heating steel pipes cannot be used. Below we will show you how to defrost water in plastic pipe without traditional torches and welding machine.
In our arsenal of tools, there are several answers to how to defrost a plastic water pipe. But first you need to determine the place with the formed ice plug and, preferably, its length.

If the frozen area does not have a collapsible junction, a tap, or it is far away, you can try to apply the external exposure method by pouring hot water on the pipe. In general, this method of defrosting plastic water pipes is ineffective due to the low thermal conductivity of the pipeline itself, but can help with its small diameter and a small frozen area.

The other method will also require hot water. Its essence is to supply the coolant inside, directly to the place of freezing. Implementation will require flexible pipes of small diameter, a funnel and a container for collecting thawed water. If the area to be defrosted is without bends, a metal-plastic pipe can be used. The step-by-step process of how to defrost a plastic pipe in the ground is as follows:

• to enter the pipeline, you can use a crane, if it is not there, we disassemble the nearest junction;
• next to it we put a container for collecting water;
• we place the tube inside the frozen pipeline;
• we move it to the place of the ice plug;
• pour hot water through the funnel;
• as it thaws, the water will come out, and the pipe must be pushed further.

This method is more efficient than the previous one, but for its successful implementation You need to have constant access to hot water.
If water froze in a plastic pipe, what should I do? You can try to warm it up with a self-heating cable. With any pipe diameter, spiral winding will give the desired effect over time. And taking into account the fact that this material can be purchased both in the bay and finished product with a fork, the complexity of the process is minimal.

Heating plastic pipe for sewerage

How to defrost sewer plastic pipe? There is an opinion that installed pipe gravity sewer, even without thermal insulation, cannot freeze due to its slope, large diameter And elevated temperature drains. And if this happens, it should be checked for blockages, damage due to subsidence of the soil, etc.

Fundamentally, how to warm up a frozen plastic sewer pipe is not much different from defrosting a water pipe. Here, external heating is used with the opening of the trench, electric heating pipes and subsequent laying of a heat insulator. The most commonly used method is to heat the liquid inside the system. Why assemble a device from a flexible metal-plastic pipe and water heater.

How to heat a plastic pipe with electricity

Another means of heating a plastic pipe underground is electricity. This original method at the same time simple, effective and extremely dangerous, since as a result of negligence it is possible to cause short circuit and get electrocuted. When carrying out preparatory and basic work, do not forget about the means personal protection and compliance with safety regulations. The material will require a copper two-wire wire, as well as a compressor or pump for pumping out the thawed liquid.

First you need to prepare the wire:

• from a segment of 70-100 mm we remove the upper insulator;
• we bend one of the internal wiring at the place where the insulation is cut and press it to the main wire;
• completely clean the second posting;
• we also press it to the main wire and at the very edge, on top of the first we make 2-3 tight turns, cut off the excess;
• retreating from the created turns, we expose the pressed first wire and also make several turns in parallel, without touching the turns of the second wire;
• install an electrical plug on the other end of the wire.

In this design, it is important to ensure the immobility of the bare wires. During its operation, the wire is inserted into the pipe to the stop with a frozen section and electricity is supplied, under the influence of which the ice quickly melts. As you move, the thawed water must be removed, and the wire should be pushed further.

But what if none of the suggested methods work for you? What to do with frozen water in a plastic pipe? The answer is simple. Call a team of specialists who, with the help of an industrial steam generator, will restore the operability of the pipeline, regardless of its purpose.