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Just finished clearing a frozen drain pipe Date: February 13, 2021 01:08AM |
We've had a bit of a cold snap here. Around -10 degrees outside. Came home from shopping to find the dishwasher overflowed into the sink and made quite the mess.
At first I thought it was just clogged. Emptied the water from the sink into buckets and dumped them down the toilet. Put a big bucket under the sink and pulled the P trap and it was all good. Ran the water on both sides of the sink and it drained through to the bucket so that part is good. Had to run to Walmart (only place still open) and pick up a snake because I couldn't find mine anywhere. Probably lent it to someone ages ago as we haven't had a clogged pipe since we moved into this house 4 or 5 years ago.
Came back and got about 3 feet down and hit something. Went at it for 5 minutes trying to grab or break through the blockage with no luck. Pulled out the snake and it was ice cold. DOH! Realized I was dealing with a frozen drain, not a clog at that point. The drain pipe is in an exterior wall, so that made some sense. Put the drain back together and boiled a huge pot of water full of salt(works great for melting ice). Dumped it down the drain and let it sit for an hour. No luck. Drained the pipes and repeated. No luck.
I have a hose hooked up to the hot water heater for resurfacing the backyard ice rink so I hauled the hose upstairs and tried spraying into the pipe to melt it with the hot water. Tried for 15 minutes and probably emptied the bucket a dozen times with no luck.
At this point it was midnight and I have had it with the pipe. Went down to the basement and ripped off the wood trim covering the drain from upstairs and pulled out all the insulation and sheet rock from around the drain pipe. There was a cleanout at the end of the pipe, pulled that out(gross inside) but snaked it to the main drain and it was good. Snaked up the pipe towards the sink and hit the blockage about 3 feet up right in the middle of the wall. Cut a hole into the cavity and grabbed the heat gun and temp probe to make sure I didn't melt the pipe or burn the house down. 10 minutes at 95 degrees later and I hear a wooosh over the sound of the heat gun. Mission accomplished.
Time to get some sleep. Little one has 2 hockey games tomorrow and I have to put a new bottom in the sink cabinet and replace the sheetrock and wood trim in the basement ceiling.
On the plus side, I probably saved myself several hundred bucks over calling a plumber on a Friday night.
C(-)ris
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At first I thought it was just clogged. Emptied the water from the sink into buckets and dumped them down the toilet. Put a big bucket under the sink and pulled the P trap and it was all good. Ran the water on both sides of the sink and it drained through to the bucket so that part is good. Had to run to Walmart (only place still open) and pick up a snake because I couldn't find mine anywhere. Probably lent it to someone ages ago as we haven't had a clogged pipe since we moved into this house 4 or 5 years ago.
Came back and got about 3 feet down and hit something. Went at it for 5 minutes trying to grab or break through the blockage with no luck. Pulled out the snake and it was ice cold. DOH! Realized I was dealing with a frozen drain, not a clog at that point. The drain pipe is in an exterior wall, so that made some sense. Put the drain back together and boiled a huge pot of water full of salt(works great for melting ice). Dumped it down the drain and let it sit for an hour. No luck. Drained the pipes and repeated. No luck.
I have a hose hooked up to the hot water heater for resurfacing the backyard ice rink so I hauled the hose upstairs and tried spraying into the pipe to melt it with the hot water. Tried for 15 minutes and probably emptied the bucket a dozen times with no luck.
At this point it was midnight and I have had it with the pipe. Went down to the basement and ripped off the wood trim covering the drain from upstairs and pulled out all the insulation and sheet rock from around the drain pipe. There was a cleanout at the end of the pipe, pulled that out(gross inside) but snaked it to the main drain and it was good. Snaked up the pipe towards the sink and hit the blockage about 3 feet up right in the middle of the wall. Cut a hole into the cavity and grabbed the heat gun and temp probe to make sure I didn't melt the pipe or burn the house down. 10 minutes at 95 degrees later and I hear a wooosh over the sound of the heat gun. Mission accomplished.
Time to get some sleep. Little one has 2 hockey games tomorrow and I have to put a new bottom in the sink cabinet and replace the sheetrock and wood trim in the basement ceiling.
On the plus side, I probably saved myself several hundred bucks over calling a plumber on a Friday night.
C(-)ris
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Re: Just finished clearing a frozen drain pipe Date: February 13, 2021 07:25AM |
Put a heater on that section till the weather warms!
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Re: Just finished clearing a frozen drain pipe Date: February 13, 2021 10:13AM |
I think my parents went through something similar within a couple years of construction of their new home. It sounds like an insulation failure to me. Not necessarily that the insulation 'failed' but improper construction might be drawing cold in toward your pipe.
I'm with GGD in suspecting that there was already some sort of clog.
Where are the supply lines? aren't they usually near a drain pipe?
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IMO while the temps are quite low they’re not that unusual so a house should be able to withstand then without special intervention
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/13/2021 12:32PM by mattkime.
I'm with GGD in suspecting that there was already some sort of clog.
Where are the supply lines? aren't they usually near a drain pipe?
—
IMO while the temps are quite low they’re not that unusual so a house should be able to withstand then without special intervention
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/13/2021 12:32PM by mattkime.
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Re: Just finished clearing a frozen drain pipe Date: February 13, 2021 11:48AM |
Frozen pipes, whether drain or supply is a pain in the...neck. Sorry you had to go to so much trouble to resolve the issue. Kudos for sticking with it until you fixed the frozen clog. 
Mr. Lahey: A lot of people, don’t know how to drink. They drink against the grain of the liquor. And when you drink against the grain of the liquor? You lose.
Randy: What the @#$%& are you talking about?
Mr. Lahey: A lot of people, don’t know how to drink. They drink against the grain of the liquor. And when you drink against the grain of the liquor? You lose.
Randy: What the @#$%& are you talking about?
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Re: Just finished clearing a frozen drain pipe Date: February 13, 2021 11:55AM |
Oh, and drip your pipes at night till the warm comes back.
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My name is DP, and I approve this message.
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Disclaimer: This post is checked for correct spelling, punctuation, and grammar. Any attempts at humor are solely the responsibility of the author and bear no claim that any and all readers will approve or appreciate said attempt at humor.
My name is DP, and I approve this message.
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Re: Just finished clearing a frozen drain pipe Date: February 13, 2021 06:48PM |
Just got back from Hockey and dinner. I was trying to figure out why that spot would have had water to be able to freeze as well. Didn't make much sense to me either unless it was already plugged as it was a vertical section. Pipes are good, I snaked the entire thing and it drains very fast.
For some reason the supply lines come up through the bottom of the cabinet base, but the drain comes up through the wall and then comes out. Not sure why they put the drain in the wall.
The drain pipe is clamped to the outside wall of the house, the cavity is full of insulation, but all that it is doing is insulating the pipe from the heat of the indoors.
I'm contemplating moving it so it goes down through the cabinet base. I can do it, I'm just not sure it is worth the hassle. We went 5 years with no issues, and now that I know what I need to do it will only take 15 minutes to fix next time.
C(-)ris
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Throwback Thursday Signature:
For some reason the supply lines come up through the bottom of the cabinet base, but the drain comes up through the wall and then comes out. Not sure why they put the drain in the wall.
The drain pipe is clamped to the outside wall of the house, the cavity is full of insulation, but all that it is doing is insulating the pipe from the heat of the indoors.
I'm contemplating moving it so it goes down through the cabinet base. I can do it, I'm just not sure it is worth the hassle. We went 5 years with no issues, and now that I know what I need to do it will only take 15 minutes to fix next time.
C(-)ris
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Throwback Thursday Signature:
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