How to prevent sewer lines from freezing?

Question

OK, for those who read our last ?, here is the follow-up: Didnt have to sue the plumber, the new overflow is from the back sewer line freezing during the winter storm that came through after he was here originally. (He was nice & didn't charge me...bless him). He told me: the sewer line from the back (house addition) to the point where it joins the front sewer line (original) was 1) not buried deep enough in the ground to avoid freezing, which means this will happen forever due to nature & 2) the back line does not have a steep enough grade for gravity to do it's job & pull the water down the pipe. about 1/4" or so water sits in the pipe until pushed through each time...just waiting to freeze while standing there. We can't afford to dig up the pipe & relay it. He said constant trickling water will only sit and build, eventually freezing. Intervals of hot water, like from the tub (to keep it moving) will freeze faster, plus run bills up. Suggestions as to how to deal with this?

Answer 1

I didn't see the other question that you are refering to so I don't know what happened then or it you have a septic tank that everything ultimately empties into. But here in septic tank country, where some tanks and lines are in high water table areas so they aren't as deep as our cousins who are on high ground, we use a powder that contains yeast to keep the septic tank from not being able to rot the sewage fast enough to keep cleared out. This also keeps the tank and lines from freezing as the action of the yeast produces heat as well. Is there someway that you could put a septic tank yeast into the lines where it would build up some heat in the line in the standing sewer water? It was just a thought. Good Luck.

Answer 2

you can't afford not to dig the pipe up and re-install it. If the plumber did NOT run a sewer camera down the pipe, he is only speculating what the problem is. If he did then you are assured there is a problem that will only cause more problems in the future. In the winter it holds water that freezes, causing a stoppage. If the pipe is not pitched properly this also means that solids will begin to accumulate, also creating a stoppage.

Everytime you have a stoppage what are you going to do? Call a repairman. I'd suggest contacing the original installer and threatening a lawsuit. If you paid someone to run the newer sewer line, in laymans' terms, you got screwed. Fix it right or you will be reminded that you didn't forever and usually at the least opportune times.

A sewage ejector? cost about $500 + pipe and fittings + labor, I estimate $1,000 minimum to do that. I own 16 houses, not one of them has the problems you describe and they are all over 50 years old. A gravity sewer will last a very long time if done correctly.

Answer 3

Long term fix is going to be to install a septic sump and pump the waste from the sump to the sewer line.
Your plumber is incorrect about the hot water freezing faster, but is correct that dribbling water will probably just continue to build up until you have very little line open. And he's also correct about wasting energy, although you'll probably have to do that for a while here.
The only other fix I can think of would be to dig up the line, wrap it with some heat trace wire, then insulate the line before recovering it.

Answer 4

Cheapest easiest fix: Create a raised layer of earth to compensate for the too shallow bury on the pipe.If it is just below surface & plastic it may not be too big a deal to dig up area to level of pipe & place about two inches of stryofoam atop pipe & extending past about a foot. Straw bales aligned along length of buried pipe is also a possibility.

Answer 5

For a temp solution: Frost only goes down not sideways. Haybails placed above the path of the pipe from end to end should prevent freezing. Good luck.

Answer 6

Check out this article on keeping your sewer pipe safe during the winter. Hope it helps.

http://thedrainguys.wordpress.com/2014/02/26/frozen-drain-pipes-does-that-happen/

Answer 7

Patbab -3: After cosiderable interest in your perplexing case,
it is QUITE PLAIN to me, that you ought, 'chuck-in' the towel..
and RETURN to the Paradise [that] you belong in: Philippines!

Now keep right-away from the temptations OF Manila,
and move ALL your belongings -'way down TO the 'Promised Land':

Bukidnon.
(You may be surprised to learn that due to the recent Economic Boom,
there has been, like the [creation of] a whole NEW emmerging 'Middle-Class'

Go HOME! Jump ON a flight -down to Lumbia Airport; take a taxi-ride
to (even) as far as only, Manolo Fortich. Have a look about;
then seek-out Attornie Viason's Daughter-in-Law -or even use
a Cagayan de Oro R.E.-Dealer, and stick a deposit -pronto,
on a house block: ready TO partake in the wonderfull opportunities
(in a MUCH-more [pleasant] 'Table-land' climate;
in a fertile place: one that is beginning to BOOM, economically.

And: Oh! -Forget all those nonsense stories, re-security..
The medium-sized "52nd Battalion" have frightened-off ALL
-and-sundry
Islamic trouble-makers: 'booting-them' beyond Lake Lanao -(which is
SO far-away in the West, it isn't even ON a map OF Prosperous, BUKIDNON.

To show you THAT, 'Putis', -like us ARE -in fact- willing to "put our MONEY
[where-our-mouth-is]", just ONE year ago my elder bought a Lime-stone
QUARRY -down near-to Manolo Fortich.
Making it pay? Too easy! His (Dumarget) men excavate
the soft limestone, then feed it through a 'hammer-mill', crushing: 'to dust'.

No big-dollar 'out-lay'! From there the lime-powder goes into one of two
'Spreader-trucks', and head for the DOLE Pineapple-Plantation..
-and spread the stuff, evenly -at great profit to ALL-
and so correct the "PH level" OF the DOLE soil -ready to grow the
SUPER "930"-variety giant Pineapples (as good as Del-Monte's).

And the opportunities for [work within] the Del-Monte Corporation
..are rather, "rosey", now.. (IF you either have "Okey" Qualifications;
-OR, provable experience).. at just operating a Kenworth 400 hp truck..