Frozen Drain -bathroom sink

elisebutt65

Eek- the drain pipe in my downstairs(only) bathroom has frozen. Bath and loo are fine though

How do I defrost it? Have tried pouring hot water through and on pipes outside, but no movement. I can't get to pipes cos I'm crap at that and as it's a council house, don't want to risk any damage.

It's an added on bathroom so it gets really cold - I've turned up heating in there as well

Don't want to call out council as it's not really an emergency, if I can sort it out

JasX

put an electric heater in the room?

pouring boiling water down will become less effective over time?

meantime can you wash your hands/shave over the bath?

for future are the pipes / outside pipes appropriately insulated?

are you sure its not just 'blocked'

ormus

if its plastic pipe outside, dismantle it and clear the blockage.
you should not need insulation on any waste pipe. as there should be no standing water in it to freeze up.

elisebutt65

ormus wrote: »

if its plastic pipe outside, dismantle it and clear the blockage.
you should not need insulation on any waste pipe. as there should be no standing water in it to freeze up.

Sorry but....... Dismantle pipe??? RAFLMAO!!! I can't even dismantle a plug.
Think I may have to call council

ariba10

Can you get a hair drier to it?

wallbash

1) Its a downstairs bathroom

The exposed pipe must therefore be easy to get to and short .

Have tried pouring hot water through

But the water wont drain and therefore goes cold and freezes.. so stop that.

and on pipes outside,

Poring water on pipe is a good idea but the water wont stay there,
Wrap an tea towel over pipe , pour water over towel , when tea towel cools repeat.

Inactive

I reckon that the waste pipe may be blocked, it is unusual for waste pipe to freeze.

Mojisola

The plastic pipes will be very brittle at these temperatures. If you try to dismantle the outside ones, you might find yourself having to buy new ones.

wallbash

I reckon that the waste pipe may be blocked, it is unusual for waste pipe to freeze.

Should !! be impossible because the pipe does not contain water. But as a guess if the inside tap drips , water drips down the exterior pipe. Freezes before too long and vey quickly a blockage occurs.

happyhero

Hi I had exactly same situation and same problem, the water has frozen in the u bend or bottle trap depending on what type you have.

All you need to do is warm the pipe but dont use much heat or you will do damage, you just need to take the temperature over zero a little way.

I used a heat gun (but my job is building services and I have done this a few times) but then you need to be really careful but a hairdryer will do it.

Just try to gently heat the pipe over about a foot around the u-bend area. It will take a few minutes before anything happens as the heat needs to penetrate and will take longer as you are only gently heating it. It will slowly melt the plug of ice and when that is small enough will let the water by and flush the lump of ice out that has not yet melted. This does work well I find.

Remember a little warmth is ok but hot is going to give you problems.

Good luck with yours.

penrhyn

Fan heater or hairdrier on the offending pipe.
You can even use a chemical heat pad (the ones you use for a bad back.)
There is of course water in the U bend.
Plastic pipes simply pull apart.
A little fairy liquid can be used when pushing them back together.
Should be possible to sort it out without resorting to calling out the council who probably have better things to do.