Protection from freezing for cast iron downpipes

dharm999

In the real cold weather we had before Christmas one of our cast iron down pipes froze causing the utility to flood as the washing machine couldn’t drain away water.  Since then I’ve been trying to find something to protect the downpipes from the cold but not having much luck

ideally I want something insulated that simply attaches to the downpipes with, say, Velcro straps, making it easy to install and remove, does anyone know if what I am looking for exists?  I could wrap insulation around the pipes and tape it in place, but I am after something that looks a bit neater and can be easily removed.

Thanks

diystarter7

Hi
We've had cast iron pipes i many houses and never encountered that.
There must some sort of blockage where water stands and in cold weather like that blocks of the hole and when
snow melts, ice melts it overflows. (I'm assuming you are talking about exposed pipes

How long have you lived there, is this the first time, and or has layout/angles been recently changed or is some other water going into it?

Thanks

Martin_the_Unjust

There shouldn’t be any water in the down pipes to freeze. 

You need to investigate further as, if there is water standing in your down pipe, you have a blockage somewhere.


Plus, your washing machine really should not be draining into a downpipe.

Apodemus

Martin_the_Unjust said:

There shouldn’t be any water in the down pipes to freeze. 

You need to investigate further as, if there is water standing in your down pipe, you have a blockage somewhere.

... or perhaps simply a trickle of water constantly running down the pipe, which is freezing in cold weather.  By any chance, does a condensing boiler drain to this pipe?

FreeBear

Martin_the_Unjust said: Plus, your washing machine really should not be draining into a downpipe.

Depends on where the downpipe discharges to. If it is going in to the foul water drain, not a problem. Only if the water is ending up in a storm drain or soakaway does it become an issue.

Martin_the_Unjust

FreeBear said:

Martin_the_Unjust said: Plus, your washing machine really should not be draining into a downpipe.

Depends on where the downpipe discharges to. If it is going in to the foul water drain, not a problem. Only if the water is ending up in a storm drain or soakaway does it become an issue.

Pretty sure downpipes shouldn’t discharge into the foul sewer.

theoretica

Martin_the_Unjust said:

FreeBear said:

Martin_the_Unjust said: Plus, your washing machine really should not be draining into a downpipe.

Depends on where the downpipe discharges to. If it is going in to the foul water drain, not a problem. Only if the water is ending up in a storm drain or soakaway does it become an issue.

Pretty sure downpipes shouldn’t discharge into the foul sewer.

Recently built ones don't (or maybe don't if there is any option) but many older ones do - and cast iron raises expectations of older with me.

dharm999

It’s an old house, c1930, and the down pipe goes into the foul water drain.  

MikeJXE

Does the OP know what downpipe actually refers to, is the op getting mixed up and it's actually a waste pipe, 1.25 or 1.5 inch diameter ? 

Is said waste pipe discharging into a downpipe and there might not be enough fall on it to discharge water fast enough

Again a photo would tell a better story 

dharm999

Apodemus said:

Martin_the_Unjust said:

There shouldn’t be any water in the down pipes to freeze. 

You need to investigate further as, if there is water standing in your down pipe, you have a blockage somewhere.

... or perhaps simply a trickle of water constantly running down the pipe, which is freezing in cold weather.  By any chance, does a condensing boiler drain to this pipe?

I have had a new system boiler fitted, and it drains into the same pipe work that the washing machine drains in to.  All these pipes are inside, with one pipe only going out in to the down pipe.  This one pipe that feeds in to the downpipe is old, probably original, as it’s cast iron.  No idea what it was used for.

Back to my original question, anyone know of anything that would be what I am looking for?

MikeJXE

Yes box it in after surrounding it with insulation