Lagging external pipes

Colliewobble_2

Hi all,

Just wondering if any of you could offer a solution?

I've still not moved into my new house - still doing it up, decorating etc.

The boiler has been serviced and I've had a new programmable room thermostat installed, so the interior of the house is lovely and warm when we're there and 'ticking over' when not.

Went there yesterday and when we came to wash out the brushes and rollers we found that the previously free-draining kitchen sink was blocked.

I think the outside pipe that takes the dirty water to the drain had frozen. My next door neighbour said his does the same thing in cold weather (my neighbour and I share a rear-entry access between our two semis that acts a bit like a wind tunnel and gets very little sunlight). His solution was to get a hairdryer on the case :eek:

Can these external pipes be lagged so that they don't freeze up in the cold weather that we've been having, or is there a different solution you might be able to suggest?

I don't fancy standing there with a hairdryer every time we reach minus figures!

Many thanks in advance,

CW

jblack_2

I'd be very surprised if the waste pipe is frozen. It will be a 40mm pipe and empty most of the time. When the water is drained from the sink it should just pass through the pipe, there is no standing water to freeze. There maybe a problem further down the pipe work or possibly a blockage.

HTH, J

SailorSam

We've had problems in the past with the waste water freezing, but from the bathroom wash basin. Outside is a sort of hopper which the pipe goes into, this had got full of snow, and then it was this snow that froze causing the blockage.
Op do you have anything similar going from your kitchen ?

keystone

jblack wrote: »

When the water is drained from the sink it should just pass through the pipe, there is no standing water to freeze.

You are correct if its installed properly but there may well be if a) it is incorrectly clipped and sags in the middle or b) the fall is wrong.

Cheers

ormus

the only standing waste water should be inside the trap under the sink. and that should never freeze.
maybe the design needs to be looked at.
drains need to be free. maybe theres a blockage at that end causing the water to back up?

where exactly did it freeze?

andrew-b

How does this waste pipe physically connect upto the drains underground? Does it empty into an open gully? Or is there a more direct connection to the drain via soil stack or closed gully?

27col

You need to check that the drain has a continuous slight fall to the gulley. If it has, then it will not freeze because there will never be any standing water in it to freeze up. Sounds more like a design/ installation fault as ormus says. Insulation will not help.All insulation can do is to prolong the period before the water freezes. But it will still freeze during a lengthy spell of freezing weather. If there is a leaking tap then it is quite likely that the water will freeze and eventually block the pipe. I can remember this happening in the severe winter of 1947, I think it was. There, I've nearly given away my age.

ormus

i dont remember the 47 freeze. but i remember the 1962 one.
my father used to put salt down the waste pipes and the WC pan.
all exposed pipes (anywhere) were given extra lagging. he used anything he could find. old sacking etc...

27col

You youngsters, you don't know you're born. We had to eat snow and sleep six in a bed and burn the garden gate to keep warm.

zzzLazyDaisy

The outlet pipe to my washing mashine in the utility room freezes every winter. Most winters there is a flood in there because I have taken my eye off the ball.

If I am going to use the washing machine, I put salt down the outlet pipe the night before - when I remember

DVardysShadow

27col wrote: »

You youngsters, you don't know you're born. We had to eat snow and sleep six in a bed and burn the garden gate to keep warm.

Yes, I remember it, it was the Good Old Days. We used to go down the chippy on a Friday and have our snow deep fried in batter for a change.