wells

Frozen pipeline underground what to do. What to do if tap water froze in a private house

Almost all owners of private houses or cottages, at least once, faced the problem of freezing water. Of course, this problem is not relevant for regions with warm winters, but if the temperature drops to -20 or -35 in your region, you will have to do something.

Of course, it is better to think about everything in advance and insulate the pipes so that you do not have to warm up the frozen pipeline, but such thoughts usually come after.

If you do not take into account physics, which says that all substances in nature (except helium) solidify at 0 and below, the freezing point of water in pipes may differ. Firstly, it matters which pipes are plastic or old, metal. Secondly, how is the plumbing. In fact, according to some observations, it takes a stable temperature of -5 or -7 degrees for several days for the water to freeze. Or -20 or more in one day.

If you know what it could be and expect a harsh winter, take care of the water in advance.

How to prevent plumbing from freezing

If these tips do not come in handy for you this year, then be sure to save them and take care of plumbing next year.

First, decide on the pipes. Metal ones are not an option at all, it is better to immediately replace them with plastic ones. And the best decision would be to buy thick-walled reinforced PVC pipes . They do not corrode, the operating temperature is 35 degrees, and the pressure is 15 bar. Accordingly, in the cold they will not crack.

The second is piping. Do not be lazy and dig them deeper. How much you decide, but not less than the depth of soil freezing in your area. When determining this indicator, consider the type of soil, because the depth of freezing depends on this. For example, in Moscow, loams and clays have a freezing depth of 1.35 meters, medium and coarse-grained sands of 1.76 meters, and clastic soil of a large fraction - 2 meters.

Insurance. Depth deep, but it's better to play it safe. Therefore, it is worth insulating pipes. Thermal insulation can be carried out both from the upper side of the pipe, and at the top and side. And it is possible and at all the closed box. It is up to you to decide, most importantly, to consult whether the selected material is suitable for thermal insulation in the ground.

Another option - heating cable for pipes. It is better to lay it at the stage of wiring the water supply or in case of replacement.

For example, a resistive cable is good because it is cheap and that's where its pluses end. But there are enough minuses: it cannot be shortened, in case of an inflection it closes and fails. In addition, it heats the entire pipe, even if a certain section of it does not need it.

Self-regulating heating cable is another matter entirely. There is only one minus - the price, but otherwise there are only pluses: high efficiency, heats only the necessary section of the pipe, you can adjust the length with any hose, overlap or two layers - it reacts positively to everything. No additional sensors needed.

Another little tip, or rather a life hack: turn on the water with a thin stream and leave for a period of severe frost. So the water won't freeze. Of course, if your frosts last a long time, and not 2-5 days, then this option will not work. In this case - insulation or cable laying.

What to do if the water supply in a private house is frozen

If the water is already frozen, and you will do repairs in the summer, you will have to be patient and warm the water. This is where all the methods differ, because one is suitable for metal pipes, and another for plastic.

So, if the pipe is made of metal, then the following methods are suitable :

Heating with boiling water is a proven "old-fashioned" method;
Heating with a building hair dryer or welding;
Supply of current to the pipe;
Building a fire over a pipe (if it is buried in the ground).

As for plastic pipes, there are only three options. :

Using a building hair dryer (but it will take a long time, because plastic does not conduct heat very well);
Winding with rags and watering with boiling water;
Pouring hot water into the plumbing.

Nothing else can be used, so if you are wondering how to warm up the water supply, then the only way.

Another topic that needs to be sorted out is non-freezing plumbing. Many are interested in whether this is a myth or a reality. In fact, this and that. If the pipe is not buried in the ground and the water supply, one might say, is laid “through the air”, then at low temperatures the water will freeze in any case. A non-freezing water supply system means a well-made construction made of concrete rings, with a diameter of 1 meter or the arrangement of a well using sediment. It is difficult to call these methods costly and simple, but effective.

If you are ready to tinker, then it makes sense to study this topic in detail, if not, choose insulation or a heating cable.

You will learn about what else to do if the water in the pipe at home has frozen in this video.

Owners of private houses are often faced with winter time with the situation when one morning it suddenly turns out that water is not flowing from the tap: the water supply system has frozen. There are several reasons for the freezing of water in the water supply: a decrease in the air temperature outside to extremely low temperatures, insufficient penetration of pipes (without taking into account the depth of soil freezing), the water in the pipe is motionless due to low or zero flow (at night or in the absence of owners ), insufficient insulation of pipes. Usually, all of these reasons, taken together, lead to freezing of the water supply. What to do, is there a way out of the current situation, because without water, as you know, neither there nor here? Yes, I have. Consider some methods of heating frozen water pipe, which, however, will require a lot of patience and some skills from you.

Overview of different ways

Plumbing can be defrosted different ways external thermal effects on the pipe, or by defrosting it from the inside.

Method 1. Use hot water

If there is a suspicion that the water supply system is frozen in an open area - at the entrance to the house, in an unheated basement, etc., boiling water is used to warm it up.

To do this, the pipe must first be wrapped with any rag that will absorb water, and to extend the contact time of the pipe with boiling water. Watering hot water until the ice starts to melt. And to speed up the process, the tap must be left open.

The easiest way to warm up a frozen pipe is to pour boiling water over it.

This method is used only indoors, because if the pipe is underground, it will take a long time to warm it with boiling water - at least 12 hours.

Method 2. We use a building hair dryer

The pipe can be defrosted using the hot air produced by a powerful building dryer. The surface of the pipe is blown from all sides, and to reduce heat losses, it is recommended to build a small pavilion made of polyethylene film over a frozen pipe, for example. If the pipe is plastic, you need to correctly calculate the heating so as not to melt it.

Solving the problem of defrosting a water pipe with a conventional hair dryer, but you can also use a building

With a slight freezing of the pipe, you can use a household hair dryer or fan heater to warm it up. If there are turns, narrowings, entrances to fittings, they also need to be warmed up, as ice can get stuck there. And in this case, do not forget to leave the tap open.

Method 3. An electric current comes to the rescue

How to warm up a frozen water pipe using electric current?

Heating of a metal water pipe can be made using a welding transformer: the positive wire is connected to one end of the pipe, and the negative wire to the second. So in a simple way the problem can be solved in a few minutes: the ice plug will melt.

Time to thaw frozen metal water pipes welding transformer– minimum

Heating of plastic pipeline can be done with a two-core copper wire with a cross section of 2.5 mm. This method is similar to the principle of operation of a familiar home boiler. The wire strands are disconnected. One of them is simply bent, and the second is exposed and twisted 3-5 turns around the wire, cutting off the extra end. The same is done with the first core, retreating 2-3 millimeters from the turns of the second core. It is necessary to pay attention that the cores do not touch, otherwise a short circuit will result. A plug is connected to the other end of the wire. The wire is pushed into the plastic pipeline and connected to the electrical network. Passing through the water, the current heats it up, and the ice begins to melt. The method is good in that only water is heated, while the wires remain cold and this prevents accidental melting of the plastic pipe. To quickly blow out the melt water, you will need an additional compressor.

Method 4. We heat the pipeline with improvised means from the inside

How to warm the water supply if it has many bends and sections? For such a case, you can build a special device. You will need a wire, a hydrolevel tube, Esmarch's medical mug (in a simple way - an enema), which consists of a rubber container with a rubber hose and a small faucet for draining water. The hydraulic level tube is fastened to the wire with electrical tape so that the end of the tube is slightly longer than the wire. Push it into the water supply until it stops. Hot water flows out of the rubber tank into the pipeline. It is necessary to organize the collection of melt water.

Schematic representation of the warming process with wire and enema

As the ice thaws, the tube with the wire is pushed further. The process of heating a frozen water pipe with improvised means is quite laborious and requires a lot of patience and time (about 1 hour per meter of a frozen pipe), but the costs are minimal.

Method 5. Calling specialists

warm up water pipe from the inside it is also possible with the help of special equipment - a hydrodynamic installation, the direct purpose of which is the preventive flushing of water and sewer pipes.

Hot water with a temperature of 150 degrees is supplied under high pressure(90-100 atm) on the sleeve. The water boiler of the installation runs on diesel fuel, and the unit is powered by an electrical network with a power of at least 7 kW and a voltage of 380V. For this method, you need to call specialists, so this method is not suitable for everyone.

How to prevent pipeline freezing?

First of all, pipes must be laid taking into account the type of soil and the depth of its freezing. To avoid freezing, it is best to lay the pipe at a depth of at least 2m. Well, if this is not possible, then you need to make high-quality thermal insulation of the pipeline or think about using a special heating self-regulating electrical cable, which turns on if necessary. In addition, all leaks must be repaired.

Freezing of the pipe can be avoided by using a special heating electric cable

It is important to know! Water often freezes in pipelines of small diameter, therefore it is recommended to use pipes with a diameter of more than 50 mm for plumbing.

Water can freeze in the plumbing where it passes through the basement or basement, as concrete freezes faster than soil. In such places, it is recommended to place the pipe in a sleeve (pipe with a large diameter), and inject polyurethane foam into the voids formed.

Underground water supply can also be protected from freezing with glass wool, mineral wool, foam strips, filling all voids with polyurethane foam.

High-quality insulation of water pipes will protect them from freezing

There is another option, which one of the experts will tell you about:

If not all of the above measures have been taken, and there are frosts on the street, one thing remains - contrary to safety regulations, leave the tap ajar at night and when no one is at home - the movement of water will prevent the formation of ice.

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

Before figuring out what to do if the water in the water pipes froze, let's figure out why this can happen. Main reasons:

laying pipes at insufficient depth;
a small layer of insulation, its poor quality or complete absence;
insignificant or zero water consumption during severe frosts;
abnormal weather conditions.

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

Cork search

Before deciding how to warm up a frozen water supply, first of all, you should find the place where an ice plug forms in the pipe. Most often they are formed at the joints of the elements, but sometimes the structure freezes along the entire length. Search methods:

Visual inspection of the outer pipes. Due to the fact that water increases in volume when it freezes, ice plugs lead to the expansion of plastic elements. In addition, these areas feel colder to the touch than the rest.
Internal check. If it is not possible to inspect the pipeline, it should be partially disassembled and a flexible cable inserted into the hole. As soon as there is an obstacle in the way of its progress, the traffic jam is detected. To determine its location, you should measure the length of the included cable.

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

External pipe heating

If the water in the pipe is frozen, how to warm it from the outside? If there is open access to the area in which the ice plug has formed, it is not difficult to solve the problem. Before heating, be sure to open the taps so that the melted liquid can freely exit. The main methods involve the use of:

hot water;
warm air;
elements of the "warm floor" system (heating cable).

Hot water

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

Wrap fabric around the frozen area. This is necessary to protect the pipe and distribute heat more evenly.
Place a container under the pipe to collect water.
Spray the area with hot water for a few minutes.
Periodically wring out the fabric and repeat the steps until the water supply is restored.

Warm air

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

If the freezing area is small and the pipe is thin, then you can use a regular hair dryer, but it should not work longer than 15 minutes in a row. It is advisable to wrap the pipe with heat-insulating material and let hot air under it. Such a "casing" will accelerate warming up.

It is useless to use a fan heater or an electric radiator, since they cannot be used to create a concentrated air flow. With a building hair dryer, you can safely defrost metal pipes. Plastic structures with inaccurate use, it can damage.

Heating cable

To heat a plastic pipe, you will need an electric cable that is used when installing a "warm floor" or a special cable for heating pipes. Action algorithm:

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

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

Internal heating of pipes

Consider what to do when water froze in a pipe underground. With a shallow depth and low hardness of the soil, it is worth digging a trench and applying some of the methods described above. If this is not possible, internal heating should be carried out. The main methods are based on the application:

steam generator;
homemade boiler;
hot water.

All methods assume the possibility of penetration into the pipeline. If it is missing, you should disassemble or cut out part of the structure, after blocking the water supply.

steam generator

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

Pour water into the tank.
Connect a heat-resistant hose with a small diameter to the steam generator.
Insert the hose as far as it will go (up to the ice plug) into the water pipe. At the same time, there should be free space in it for the flow of melt water.
Turn on the steam generator. Wait until the ice begins to defrost. This usually takes 5-15 minutes. The amount of water in the steam generator tank must be monitored.

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

Homemade boiler

You can warm up the water supply from plastic using a homemade electric boiler. This method is not suitable for metal structures. It involves working with high voltage, so you need to be careful.

Action algorithm:

Take a copper wire with two insulated cores (section - 2.5-3 mm).
Separate the wires and spread apart.
Remove the winding from one wire. Bend the second core in the opposite direction along the wire.
Tightly wrap the "bare" part 3-5 times around the fold. Cut off the rest.
Retreat from the turns of 2-3 mm. Strip the end of the bent wire. Wind it around the insulated wire 3-5 times. Trim off the excess. The turns of the first and second wires must not touch.
Connect the plug to the other end of the wire.
Insert the "boiler" into the water supply until it stops.
Plug in the plug. Under the influence of heat, the ice should begin to melt.
As the cork decreases, the "boiler" should be moved deeper.

Tip: When using a steam generator or "boiler", ensure that the melt water is drained. It is required to periodically turn off the device and use a thin hose and a compressor to pump it out of the pipe.

Hot water

The essence of this method is reduced to the impact on the ice in the pipe with hot water. For its "delivery" to the cork, you can use:

hydro level and Esmarch's mug;
pump.

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

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

Connect the length of the hydraulic level tube and the wire, making a loop at its end for greater rigidity. The edge of the tube should protrude 1 cm beyond the end of the wire.
Attach the second end of the hydro level to Esmarch's circle.
Push the device into the water supply as far as it will go.
Place a bucket under the pipe hole.
Pouring into a mug hot water. It must flow through the hydraulic level tube to the ice and heat it. In this case, defrosted water will pour out of the hole in the pipe.

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

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

Note: In warm time year it is worth inspecting the water supply that has undergone defrosting. Deformed elements may need to be replaced. It is also worth taking measures to prevent the freezing of pipes.

Prevention

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

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;
Conductivity of 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:

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 one more effective method heating pipes, which consists in supplying 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 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:

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.

Currently, when making repairs in an apartment or a private house, the owners, in order to save money, try to do more work. on your own. Today it will not be difficult to find the necessary information on the technology of performing a wide variety of works. Therefore, having the skills to work with various tools and the necessary guidance for action, most often, home craftsmen manage to cope with the work.

But, as a rule, amateur craftsmen cannot provide for all the features and requirements for a particular type of work, which can later lead to unexpected problems.

One of these problems may appear when, during the installation of a plastic water pipe, due attention was not paid to its insulation, as a result of which the water in it freezes during the cold season, blocking its operation. How to thaw a frozen plastic plumbing and get it back to work?

The main reason why the water supply freezes during the cold season in the ground is its unsuccessful laying, non-compliance with the required depth during installation, that is, less than the depth where the soil (soil) does not freeze. Therefore, if plastic pipes are laid exactly at such a depth, then their freezing is simply ensured and this will happen almost every frosty year.

Of course, this does not apply to main water pipelines with a considerable pipe diameter. Since water always moves in them, that is, there is no stagnation, so they can be laid at a shallow depth. But for plastic, which is less than 32 mm, this approach is not suitable, the installation depth must necessarily exceed the depth of winter freezing.

Remember! If it is not possible to lay a plastic water pipe to a sufficient depth, then it is recommended that when laying it, it is well insulated with special heaters, with which today's market is very rich.

To exclude the possibility of freezing water pipes in a very cold season, it is recommended to leave the water turned on at night. By the way, it should be borne in mind that the probability that the water supply system will not freeze will depend on the power of the pressure.

If, nevertheless, such a nuisance has befallen you and plastic water pipes have frozen, do not despair - there are several ways to warm them up without dismantling or damaging them.

1. One of the most common and simple ways– heating with very hot water. To do this, the pipes must be wrapped with rags or foam rubber and watered with boiling water. But this method can only be applied indoors - if a metal-plastic pipe is frozen underground on the street, defrosting by pouring boiling water over it can take 10 hours or even more.

2. Warming of pipes can be carried out from the inside by melting the ice plug with hot water (boiling water). To do this, you need to provide a good entrance to the pipe, through which hot water will be supplied to the plug to eliminate it. Hot water can be injected into the pipe under pressure, heated with the help of some device such as a boiler. The use of this method is permissible only on a flat area and the process itself takes a lot of time (up to several days).

3. Another way to warm up a plastic water pipe is with the use of hot air, the source of which can be a building hair dryer, various heaters, with fans. With this method, it will take from two to ten hours to warm up. It has a number of disadvantages: for example, if the heating intensity is incorrectly calculated, pipes can be melted. But this method is not efficient enough - most of the heat is wasted.

4. You can warm plastic water pipes using its thermal conductivity. To do this, the pipe is wrapped in a spiral with wires that are used for underfloor heating systems, and these wires are connected to the electrical network.

It can take up to 3 hours to heat a plastic pipe in this way. At the same time, this option is not suitable for heating underground pipes. In addition, such wires are sold in coils or kits, which makes this method quite expensive.

If a metal-plastic pipe freezes underground, and, moreover, there are turns and bends of the pipe in the frozen section, methods for warming metal pipes are not suitable, and breaking ice with wire is unacceptable, since the size of the frozen section of the pipe is unknown and another method is needed how to warm the frozen plastic plumbing.

In such situations, you can use folk way its defrosting using a welding machine connected at different ends of the pipe.

Also, plastic plumbing can be heated with a jet of hot water, which must be fed directly to the shutter, where it cannot get by gravity. In such a situation, you have to either pour hot water into the pipe, or directly heat it in the pipe.

In order to warm the water supply in the house in this way, you can use a rigid hose or a metal-plastic pipe with a smaller diameter. The end of such a pipe or hose is pushed into the frozen pipe until it hits an ice plug. Further, very hot water is poured into this pipe, or, even better, a strong brine solution.

To collect the flowing melted water, it is necessary to prepare containers in advance to collect it. After a sufficient amount of melted water has flowed out, hot water can be started to be supplied continuously.

The process of thawing a frozen plastic pipe

First, it is necessary to determine as accurately as possible the place where the pipes have frozen by examining the pipes in the basement near the place where they enter the house. In order to detect a frozen area, you can simply touch the pipes to the touch - in places of freezing, they will, accordingly, be colder.
In the place of freezing, the pipe is wrapped with a rag. In the house, you should open the water taps, having prepared hot water in advance. If there is no water supply in the house, snow can be melted for this purpose.
The pipe should be watered first with cold, then with hot water. At the same time, it is necessary to increase the temperature of the water gradually in order to avoid damage to the water pipes.
The water taps are left open for several hours, allowing all the accumulated ice to come out. To prevent re-freezing of the pipe, it is recommended to immediately insulate it.

When plastic pipes freeze under the foundation or in the soil, they can be thawed using domestic pump, barrels and oxygen hose.

1. The barrel is filled with hot water and constantly heated (for example, with a fire or a blowtorch).

2. The hose is pushed into the water pipe so that it rests on the ice plug.

3. The tap opens, a rubber hose is put on it and lowered into the barrel. If it is not possible to place a barrel next to the tap, you can substitute a capacious bucket under the tap.

4. Turning on the pump, hot water is pumped into the pipe from the barrel. At the same time, the hose is pushed inward as the ice plug is defrosted. From time to time, the pump must be turned off to drain the water from the bucket into the barrel.

5. After the ice plug is broken, the hose is removed from the pipe, after which water will flow from the pipe with a powerful stream.

Steam generator or hydrodynamic machine

It is possible to heat metal-plastic pipes, if possible, with the help of such special equipment as a steam generator or a hydrodynamic machine.

When using a hydrodynamic machine, it is necessary to insert the end of the hose into the pipe and start the device, as a result of which the machine will create pressure, which will break the ice plug.
Warming with the use of a steam generator occurs due to the action of steam. When defrosting the water supply using this method, a thick-walled pipe should be used, to which a safety valve and a pressure gauge are mounted. The valve is adjusted to a pressure of 3 atm. Water for steam generation can be heated, for example, in a barrel.

When using a steam generator to defrost the water supply, it is necessary to strictly follow the operating instructions and safety regulations.

Summing up, I would like to note once again that in order to avoid such an unpleasant situation, it is necessary to correctly design and follow all the rules for installing the pipeline, or, which is much more preferable, seek help from specialists in this matter.