Alright, so lately, thanks to this craptastic cold that's been the scourge of the nation, our pipes are stuck. Now, it's somewhat unclear if it's because of ice ({which is what I think }) or food-stuffs and the like ({partially what my mom thinks}). so i have a question to pose to you all. How have you dealt with such things? We've tried Liquid Plumr, to no avail, and more recently, Liquid Lightning, which is sulfuric acid, also to no avail. So, is there anything that any of you have done to get your sinks de-iced, or unclogged, through the drain, while avoid a plumber? It'd be greatly appreciated!
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Pipefitters, plumbers, or people with old houses!
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Sulfuric acid drain cleaners are the best you can get. When they don't work, you either need to rent a drain snake or, as you mention, it may be ice.Ice is a tough one to solve while the temperature is so low. When main lines freeze, they can be thawed with very specialised equipment that sends an electric current trought the pipe to heat it up.is it only the drain pipes that are stuck of is it also your incoming fresh water?
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no, that's the strange thing. it's only drain pipes, the incoming water to the faucet is fine. The bath/shower drain and incoming are fine, the toilet, and the bathroom sink is fine, too. It's only our kitchen sink drains.
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ok, then it is a genuine clog and a snake would be the way to go
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Are these are cast iron pipes?
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either that, or steel, it's not as irony looking, so i would assume steel?and unsuper....the only problem with a snake is, we can't fit them down, it's not a hole, there's like a grated design, like so food doesn't go through.
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Ah the cold, as I live in winnipeg I know just what you're going through. Call your hydro company, tell them, they will thaw it, and you will most likely have to leave the tap on at all times on a low flow so that the flow of water keeps going through and it doesn't freeze up.
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yeah, that seemed to help, and we actually got the water to go down today, maybe the acid dissolved the ice...but in anycase, i told my mom that a good idea might be to pour boiling, or at least very hot, water down the drains once a day, and that should heep them good and thawed.
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This is what Iv been doing for a living, insulation and heat trace pipe to keep shit from freezing, and I can tell you sulfuric and hydrochloric acid both freeze and even freeze at higher temps than water. if you put acid on a frozen line, your only making it worse.these are drains that run into the ground yes?buried pipes do not freeze, and if they do its only the first few inches (check local frost line) that go to shit.It sounds like and Id bet money on it, that you have old pipes, couple things happen with old pipes, they swell up, they rust and build shit up inside and so they get smaller and smaller, then clog easily, next tree roots grow THROUGH them. have a plumber run a snake through them, a motorized cutting bastard, not a grab and pull shit out one like you can buy at the hardware store, a professional drain cleaner. if that doesnt cut it, replace the pipes, the insides of them have 'grown' and no longer are able to pass the material you send though them.also if you do have those old cast iron or steel pipes, do not be putting that drain-o shit in them! that is weak acid, and the weaker the acid the more destructive it is on steel and cast iron, Iv seen pipe stha normally had 93% sulfuric go to shit in less than 3 minutes when a backflow fail and pumped water into the system. in 3 minutes it destroyed hundreds of feet of pipe.add to that flow meters and TC probes. replace them with black avb plastic.
