Blocked shower and sink in en-suite, could the waste pipe be frozen?

wallbash

Desperate_Housewife wrote: »

thanks for this thread, I've got the same probs with my en suite shower wont drain, I have had a heater blowing into the access cupboard but its freaking me out how much electric ts costing so now off, not sure what to do, tried salt, plunger hot water and soda crystals and vinegar, wonder about anti freeze/...

But have you checked outside?

Eenymeeny

AGBAGB wrote: »

This is the best solution I can think of. The towels keep the heat aginst the pipe for longer than just pouring hot water over the pipe.
It's quick and safe as long as you don't scold yourself or fall off a ladder.

I put a couple of pictures up on my blog http://idostuff.co.uk/blogs/archives/406

We've had the same problem today. If you have any of those 'wheatbags' that you heat in the microwave they are a less messy alternative. Just keep reheating or replacing as they cool down. Have to say that ours turned out to be the outside downpipe completely frozen! OH luckily had some spare fittings and has set up a temporary outlet pipe. Hope that doesn't freeze too.:(

ormus

in this recent weather, those ideas are not really enough for an external pipe.
they need some decent heat and or the pipe removing. to clear the ice slug.

dizziblonde

We're still waiting out the bathroom sink unfreezing - can't get to the external pipe where I think it's frozen because it comes out of the outside of the house so high up, and since it's along the alleyway we use to get in and out of the house - I really don't fancy pouring kettles of water on it and making a nice little ice rink on the way to the door since I have the world's most accident-prone husband anyway!

spinningsheep

Cheers for all the advice guys. I kept trying to plunge it and loads of gunk and soap scum etc came back up but still no water draining, so led me to think maybe it was a normal blockage rather than iced up, so called the landlady and she sent her plumber round. One look at the external pipe and he immediately said it was iced. He dismantled the pipe from the main soil stack and HUGE pipe shaped chunks of ice came tumbling out, followed by all the water. He showed us how to dismantle it ourselves in future should it happen again. He said it was very unlikely the large plastic soil pipes on the back wall would befall the same fate due to their large diameter. We traced the problem to a small triton electric water heater I have above my sink in my en-suite. It had a very small slow drip as the knob wasn't quite turned to off, not that I had noticed it was so small, and because the sink drain is connected to shower thats how it froze. All sorted now, have put anti freeze down drain at night and lagged the pipe in an old fleece blanket, just hope it stops it happening again!!

Eenymeeny

spinningsheep wrote: »

Cheers for all the advice guys. I kept trying to plunge it and loads of gunk and soap scum etc came back up but still no water draining, so led me to think maybe it was a normal blockage rather than iced up, so called the landlady and she sent her plumber round. One look at the external pipe and he immediately said it was iced. He dismantled the pipe from the main soil stack and HUGE pipe shaped chunks of ice came tumbling out, followed by all the water. He showed us how to dismantle it ourselves in future should it happen again. He said it was very unlikely the large plastic soil pipes on the back wall would befall the same fate due to their large diameter. We traced the problem to a small triton electric water heater I have above my sink in my en-suite. It had a very small slow drip as the knob wasn't quite turned to off, not that I had noticed it was so small, and because the sink drain is connected to shower thats how it froze. All sorted now, have put anti freeze down drain at night and lagged the pipe in an old fleece blanket, just hope it stops it happening again!!

Thanks for that, Can I just add that our downpipe broke because it was so brittle with the cold. So take care if you are dismantling outside pipes.