Pipes

How to replace a frozen water pipe in the ground. How to quickly and correctly defrost a pipe with water underground? What are the popular methods of defrosting

If the water in the house froze - what to do?

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Problems with freezing plumbing in a private house are not uncommon. Most often this is caused by various errors made during the installation of pipes. So, for example, pipes can easily freeze under drywall if they are attached closely to outer wall houses are not well insulated. In this case, it will be necessary to insulate the water supply or heat it all the time with a special heating cable.

However, in order to prevent such problems with the operation of the water supply system in winter, it is required not to make mistakes during its installation. If, nevertheless, trouble happened and the water in the house froze, then you can warm it up different ways and fixtures.

If the water in the house froze - what to do?

Frozen water in the pipes can damage the plumbing, especially if it is metal. In most cases, the plumbing freezes at the entrance to the house, as a rule, due to insufficient insulation of the pipes. In this case, boiling water is used to freeze the pipes, after which they are subjected to additional insulation.

Warm pipes with boiling water should be carefully. It is not recommended to pour hot water directly onto the pipe. Before you should wrap it with a piece thick fabric. This procedure is very long, so the best option here will connect the hose to the DHW.

When defrosting the water supply, you can use various other available ways as well as devices. Warm the pipes, possibly with a construction or, in extreme cases, a household hair dryer.

To reduce heat loss at the same time, in that section of the pipe that requires defrosting, something like a box should be built. The materials for its manufacture can be cardboard, polyethylene, etc. In the same way, it will turn out to warm the pipes if you use the most common incandescent lamp installed for some time in the assembled box.

In general, as you can see, there are plenty of ways to heat the water supply, and all of them, as a rule, work only indoors. If the pipes are frozen underground, then, alas, it will not work to warm them up with either a lamp or a hair dryer.

To melt the ice in the pipes, deep underground, you have to try hard. In some cases, this is completely impossible, or you will have to dig a pit in order to get to a frozen water supply.

Whatever it was, but there are proven ways to defrost pipes underground. For their implementation, you need to use a welding machine or a hose with hot water.

In both cases, it will not be possible to quickly warm the pipes. For example, in the case of using a hose and hot water, the hose will have to be gradually pushed into the pipe. After a while, hot water will melt the ice, and the plumbing will warm it up.

However, this method is ideal when the ice plug is not so far from the draw-off point. With its own considerable remoteness, you can try to warm the pipes with current.

Plastic pipes have become a very common material in recent years. 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 fairly 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 why they freeze water pipes located in the ground - the depth of the pipeline is too small. 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. Very 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:

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.
Heating with hot air. To warm the pipes with hot air, you need a building hair dryer or some 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: "".
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.
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: The welding machine is connected 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 with hot water is as follows:

First you need to take a high-rigidity hose or a metal-plastic pipe with a smaller diameter;
The hose or pipe is pushed into the frozen pipeline until it hits resistance in the form of an ice plug;
Hot water or strong brine is poured into the pipe;
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:

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.
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.
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.
Water that has changed from solid to liquid will exit through open taps.

So that the defrosted 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 ah, 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 actions:

The barrel is filled with hot water, the temperature of which is constantly rising.
The hose is inserted into the pipeline exactly until it hits the ice crust.
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.
The pump starts, after which the water heated in the barrel is pumped into the 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.
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. The ice in this case will break with the help of 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.

In a private house, where the water conduit is not properly prepared for winter, its freezing may be a logical conclusion. How to warm up a frozen water pipe depends on the material from which it is made, and the location of the frozen section of the water pipe: outside in the open air, in a cold room or buried in the soil.

Defrosting outdoor pipes

A poorly insulated water supply system, located in an unheated room or outside the house, freezes faster in extreme cold than in the ground. There are two most simple and affordable methods of heating the water supply:

hot air;
Hot water.

Both of these methods are suitable for heating frozen plastic or metal plumbing.

Hot water defrosting

Water is heated in a bucket or in a kettle (its amount depends on the extent of freezing), and poured onto the pipe until the layer of ice adjacent to its inner surface thaws. The faucet must be open at this time, and as soon as water can seep from the supply conduit between the pipe wall and the ice plug, it will flow from the faucet first in a small stream, and as it thaws, the pressure will increase.

To increase the efficiency of the operation, the pipeline should be wrapped with rags or other moisture-absorbing material - it will absorb liquid, increasing its exposure to frozen pipes.

The essence of the operation is that a jet of hot air is directed to a frozen section of the pipeline, its surface is heated, and a water layer is formed between the ice plug and the wall. When water starts pouring from the tap, its movement and further heating will melt the ice. Can be used as a heat source heat gun or building hair dryer. In the case of a metal plumbing, it is permissible to use an open flame of a blowtorch or gas burner. But you need to be careful not to start a fire, especially indoors.

You can localize the heat around the area to be heated by building a small tent out of plastic sheeting or other airtight material. This is especially effective when work is carried out outdoors at sub-zero temperatures.

Attention ! Be careful with plastic piping. Hot air should be supplied to the plastic in portions, without overheating its surface. If an ice block has formed in a short span of the water line, it is safer to use a regular hair dryer to dry your hair.

How to warm up a plastic frozen water pipe with a heating cable, watch the video:

Heating pipes in the ground

It is much more difficult to heat a water pipe that is underground, since for this you first need to dig it out. With the help of open fire, most often bonfires, the ground above the pipeline laying is defrosted and a trench is dug. When the pipes are freed from the soil, they are heated in the same way as the surface ones - with hot air and water.

Welding Machine Application

There is a way in which you do not need to dig a trench - this is to heat the water supply with a welding machine. One end of the cable is connected to the outlet of the pipe to the house, and the other to the valve located in the well. The defrosting time depends on the length of the area blocked with ice. Do not forget to keep the tap open, as the current of water that appears, first in the form of a thin stream, will contribute to a faster heating process.

A warning ! This method is applicable exclusively on metal pipelines. If there is a plastic insert between the two ends of the cable, the heating process will not occur.

How to prevent freezing

It is easier to prevent freezing of water in pipes than to eliminate its consequences later. Measures to prevent misfortune should be taken even at the stage of laying the water supply.

What can be done to prevent pipes from freezing:

Deepen the pipes into the ground below the freezing level of the soil;
Before filling up a trench with a laid water pipe, cover it with a heater, you can use a polypropylene cylinder for this;
Put waterproofing (thick plastic film) on top of the insulation. It will protect the insulation from moisture, and it will last longer;
Especially carefully insulate the outer pipe and at the exit from the ground;
In non-residential premises through which the water supply runs (veranda, terrace), maintain a positive air temperature;
In severe frosts, open the tap slightly to create a constant flow of water in the water supply.

You can take advantage of an effective innovation, and during the assembly of pipes, install a heating cable for the water supply in the areas that will be most exposed to negative temperatures. It is inserted inside the pipe and is connected to the network during the danger of freezing.

The water pipe may freeze different reasons. If the requirements of GOST were violated during the laying of the water supply and propylene pipes were laid at an insufficient depth. Poor or no insulation. With a small flow of water or in the absence of residents, when the water flow is zero, and there are abnormal frosts in the yard. Whatever the reason, a frozen plumbing needs to be warmed up. The method of heating will depend on where the ice block originated: underground or in the house.

Search for a place of freezing

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 freezing, the water expands, and the ice plug can push the plastic one. Externally, there will be a visible thickening on the pipe;

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

the second method is used if there is no possibility to visually inspect the pipeline. In this case, the valve is closed and after it the nearest detachable connection is dismantled or the pipe is cut. Then a metal flexible cable is inserted into the pipe. According to the length of the cable, you can calculate the distance to the freezing point.

Order further action to eliminate the ice plug will depend on exactly where it froze.

Defrosting the water supply with electric current

You will need a copper wire having two cores with a cross section of 2.5 mm. The veins are separated and bred to the sides. Then the end of one core is exposed in such a way that several turns of the bare wire can be made around the other. The cores must not touch each other to avoid a short circuit. At the opposite end of the wire, connect the plug.

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 that melting of the propylene water pipe is excluded.

Advice. Before pushing 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. In no case do not put your hands into the bucket, so as not to get an 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 efficient and fast way elimination of ice blockage. 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 adapted for heating. When using them, the procedure is as follows:

To defrost the water supply, you can use a steam generator

Pour water into one of the listed units.
One end of the heat-resistant hose is connected to the autoclave fitting.
We push the second end into the water pipe to the freezing point.
We turn on the device for heating and wait for the result.
We monitor the water level in the autoclave.

Submersible pump and barrel to help

You will need a metal barrel, a bucket, a pump and a hose.

Advice. Propylene pipes are connected by fittings that do not narrow the inner diameter of the pipe at the joints, so the process of removing the ice plug is greatly simplified in comparison with pipes made of other materials.

Internal defrosting from improvised means

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

enema;
wire;
a tube.

Scheme: defrosting the water supply using Esmarch's mug

The tube with the wire is 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 faucet on Esmarch's mug, which is pre-filled with hot water. Water enters the ice plug, and 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 considerable patience and time.

External heating of propylene water supply

External heating of the water supply system is implemented quite simply. This can be done in several ways. But first, the taps are opened so that the melted water and ice can come out.

hot water. Over the freezing area, any rag is wound on the pipe, which absorbs and retains water well. In order not to damage the pipe, the water temperature is increased gradually. Under the pipe, any container is installed to collect water. It will take more than one cycle of wringing out the rags and re-dousing with hot water.

If you need to defrost a small area, you can use a hair dryer

Hairdryer. A building hair dryer can be used as a heat source. It requires great care and skill in working with this power tool, since a propylene pipe can be melted by negligence. Fan heaters and other electric heaters are used, but this method is not effective enough, since a large amount of heat generated is wasted. For quite small plot freezing will fit and a regular hair dryer. Additionally, build a small casing to trap warm air.
self-heating electrical cable, it is also used in the arrangement of a warm floor. The cable is wrapped around the pipe and connected to the network.

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

hydrodynamic machine. If all the methods have been tested, but there is no result, call the experts. In a matter of minutes, they can eliminate the ice jam with a hydrodynamic machine, the profile application of which is the cleaning of water pipes and sewer pipes. The water equipment of the unit runs on diesel fuel, and the unit itself is powered by the network. The machine creates a high pressure of hot water and is able to break even harder materials than ice, so the use of such equipment requires skill and knowledge of safety.

Measures to prevent freezing of the pipeline

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 sections will need to be replaced.

But while frost is cracking on the street, not all methods of isolation can be applied, and it makes no sense to peck the frozen ground. One effective action that can be advised - although this is a violation of safety rules: keep the faucet ajar 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 pipe: video

Water supply defrosting methods: photo

If frosts have damaged water pipes and water has frozen in them, the problem must be solved immediately. In this article we will tell you how to properly thaw pipes, in addition, you will learn about the most effective ways accident localization on plastic or metal pipelines.

If water does not flow from the pipe, air does not come out and is not sucked in, while the neighbors in the area do not have such problems, you have to deal with a frozen pipeline. There are several ways to eliminate the accident, but first you need to find a frozen section of the pipeline.

Finding a freezing point

Pipes most often freeze in places with poor thermal protection, usually it is the rise of a pipe from the ground, entry points into the house, basements, revision or accounting wells, and places of reduced flow - fittings and connections - are also at risk. There are two main cases where the problem occurs:

The main line that feeds the entire system froze.
A local area has frozen (this is easy to check if, in addition to the house, there is a water supply to the garden or outbuildings).

Usually, pipelines running above the freezing depth are at risk, and it is different for all regions.

In addition to the climatic zone, the level of uplift is also important. ground water, type of soil and even the size of the snow cap (so think about whether it is worth clearing the ground of snow in severe frost).

After access to potential freezing centers is open, thawing can begin. If a pipe section of a large length is frozen, you can not dig it out completely, it is better to dig holes every 4-5 meters. Their size should provide normal access to the pipe for subsequent work with it.

If plastic pipes are frozen

Plastic pipes are not recommended to be heated with an open flame, but a building hair dryer is perfect. If it is not available, wrap the clogged area with burlap and pour hot water for 10-30 minutes. At the same time, the taps must be open: even the slightest hole in the ice plug will be broken high pressure. Then the water itself will do its job, you just need to drain a sufficient amount through the system - about 1-1.5 m 3.

Pipes made of polypropylene and polyethylene retain plasticity even at very low temperatures. So if you have a new plastic plumbing and when laying a pipe of acceptable quality was used, there is a good chance that it will not break through. Special attention should be paid to the places of adhesions: if the plastic was overheated during installation, it can crack and leak.

How to heat a metal pipe

Metal pipes are not as sensitive to open flames unless the inner wall is zinc coated. You can even heat them with a blowtorch or a fire built under a pipe, an acetylene or propane cutter. It is advisable to avoid direct fire heating of threaded connections, because of this they will lose their tightness, they will have to be repacked.

A metal pipe is good because it effectively distributes heat along its entire length, with strong heating, the water inside boils, the steam slowly but surely thaws the ice plug. This can work even at a distance of up to 4-5 meters, so be patient and keep heating.

Heating frozen pipes with electric current

A metal pipe is a good conductor and should be heated by the action of an electric current, if you connect a conventional welding transformer to a section of the pipe, the pipe will heat up enough to melt the ice inside it. Depending on the power of the device, it is possible to heat up a section from 5 to 30 meters at a time, or even the entire pipe.

Attention! This thawing method will take several hours and is only suitable for metal pipes that do not have connections and fittings.

There is another way to thaw ice inside a pipe, more laborious, but indispensable for buried pipes. The house will have to disassemble a couple of connections to get one end of the frozen pipe completely open. Through it, a probe from an electric cable will be inserted into the pipe, having a tip like a "soldier's boiler".

Making a "boiler"

We need a solid copper cable with two solid cores in double insulation, with a cross section of at least 4 mm 2, several meters longer than the frozen pipe. From one end, you need to remove the belt insulation by 10-15 cm, wrap one core in the opposite direction and press it against the cable, remove the insulation from the second and wrap it very tightly over the cable with a core of 4-5 turns superimposed on it. The end of the remaining core must also be stripped and wrapped around the cable at a distance of 3-4 cm from the first winding.

Attention! In no case should the insulation be damaged so that the cores do not have direct contact.

Such a probe heats the water quite strongly, easily moving along the pipe, even passing through bends and turns. The probe can completely melt up to 20-30 meters of pipe (3-3.5 m of pipe in 1 hour). The probe can only be powered through circuit breaker at 25 A.

Attention! In no case should you touch a pipe or a live wire, which means that you will have to push the probe only after turning it off! Before each restart, check the circuit for a short circuit with a tester.

Water can be drained from the pipe by inserting a thin silicone hose into it connected to a pump or car compressor.

This method is suitable for plastic pipes, for metal the probe will have to be improved to avoid a short circuit to the metal wall. It is possible, for example, to equip the probe with an insulating case made of a tube of smaller diameter. The probe will not burn through the plastic, since it only heats the water, the core itself does not heat up.

"Enema" method of thawing pipes

You will need a large funnel, an Esmarch mug or an enema bag, a thin silicone tube of the appropriate diameter, tightly put on the container fitting. The task is simple: deliver boiling water to the place of freezing through a thin hose, collect the water coming out of the pipe, boil it again and pour it into an enema. The method really works, although with its help it will only be possible to warm up 1.5-2 meters of pipe per hour.

The bag must be located at least 2 meters above the outlet. As it thaws, the tube must be advanced until it again rests on the ice. This will be much easier to do if the tube is tied to a stiff steel wire with a bent end.

Eliminate frozen water in the plumbing. Further actions

After the blockage in the pipe is cleared, you need to make sure that the pipe has not broken from the expanded ice. Drain about 0.5 m 3 of water and turn off all taps. If there is a leak in the system, it will make itself felt: after some time, water will begin to collect in dug holes or trenches, and the location of the breakthrough can be determined by its volume and direction of inflow. The damaged area must be replaced, and the pipe must be insulated or buried deeper so that it does not freeze again.

IN winter time overhaul too much difficult task, but there are some measures that will allow you to "overwinter":