Frozen outdoor Drain Pipe (1 Viewer)

[MJM]

OK my dilemma 50% of my downspouts feed to a Pipe that is buried underground. The pipe ties into a drain in one section of the basement that is lower than the rest. The problem is the Pipe then runs out to the ditch. We had some warm temps and lots of snow melt so the pipes did there thing. The bad part is it went from 48F to 3F in 10hours and the pipe froze at the ditch. It has been that way for a month and whenever snow melts my basements fills up with the water from the downspouts.
Any way to unfreeze the drain pipe at the ditch.
I have lived in this house for 5 years and have never had a problem.
I know this is not typical neither is the house. The house was originally built in 1837 so it has a lot of interesting mechanicals

 

[inthewall]

Build a tent over it with tarps, then put a space heater in the tent. It won't work long term though.

 

[agomez]

disconnect the downspouts...

 

[rutbeer]

Can you get to the pipe at all? There are heating elements that are intended to wrap around pipes to keep them from freezing. Not really designed for PVC, but you didn't specify what it was.

 

[Toyo FJ40]

I had this problem. There is a heating wire made for gutters. I ran one down a downspout connector out to the end of the drain and it kept the drain open.

Here's a link

As far as getting it open now you could try to get it jetted using hot water.

 

[splitshot]

One of the cheep weed burner torches from Harbor Freight if used carefully should provide a quick fix.

 

[Offroads4x4]

First is the pipe steel? If so a welder can thaw it in no time for you (lead on each end). If it's PVC or ABS you will need to get a roof/gutter heat cord and run one down the side of it. One on each side would be better. Hope that helps.

 

[MJM]

It is PVC

I think I will just need to wait it out and vacuum the basement as needed. This area of the basement has old stone walls so it leaks anyways. If it does thaw I will attempt to get a wire in there for the heat. The Pipe is PVC so not chipping away or it will shatter. I do not think a torch will do it since the PVC will melt around 165f, I am in the plastic business and know what the material can take.

I will continue to cover the frozen entrance with salt and more salt in hopes that is is not frozen all of the way up.

I like the idea of the disconcerting the downspots but the house configuration and downspout location would put a lot of water in a bad place.

 

[nomembername]

Get a test plug for the basement drain in the meantime? This may or may not be helpful as it could back water up the downspouts if there's no other direction for it to go.

If you disconnect the downspouts, it's easy enough to put ells on the end of each and use pvc pipe to direct the water away from the house... just lay it on the ground (or snow) and send the water however far away you want it based on the length of pipe you choose.

 

[MJM]

Salt salt and more salt

I used salt every day for a week and then hit the ice with a long piece of steel.
Once I was able to move the ice I then flooded the drain with Hot water.
After a few tense moments wooooosh the ice came out along with the hot water.

Thanks

 

[haystax]

Glad you were able to get lucky. I'm constantly fighting our shop wash bay drain line this time of year, usually the only reliable fix is sunshine and lots of time.