Soon to be emergency...

[Shnabbles]

My tank and RO/DI waste drain into my sump pump.. Late last week i noticed the thing is frozen SOLID out side.... the PVC has already popped off once and soaked my basement ( how i figured out it was frozen) i only have enough top off water to last 2-3 more days..... any ideas on how i can melt this stuff out side... its about 3-4 inches solid ice in the black drain tube.

Running out of the fresh water will be the emergency.

 

[noahm]

warm water from the tap. use a pitcher.

 

[noahm]

Once you have it melted free, just run the RO waste inside into a bucket for the time being.

 

[Shnabbles]

The problem is where it comes out of the house it is zip tied to one of those big black drain pipes.... the zip tie is super huge or id just cut it off and replace it later.... its like 4 or 5 feet of solid 4 inch ice lol..... i need to check the forcast.. hopefully it gets above freezing for a couple days here real quick.

 

[Shnabbles]

Looks like its going to be below freezing tomorrow... then 39 thursday and 44 on friday... that will probally be my best bet to break through some of this ice.... worse comes to worse ill have to cut the huge zip tie and buy more.

 

[surge19us]

Just buy some waste line and switch it to drain down a bathroom or kitchen drain for now.

 

[mille239]

quick fix: transfer your RO/DI line to feed into a large tub, and empty it periodically.

your tank drains to it (I assume you mean when you do water changes) go the old fashion way with siphon hose and a trash can until things thaw.

long term: ummmm hopefully someone else can chime in.

 

[Playa-1]

any ideas on how i can melt this stuff out side... its about 3-4 inches solid ice in the black drain tube.

A propane torch would probably do the trick.

 

[NCNBilly]

I have a heat gun that I use for roasting coffee (my other addiction) that does wonders on slippery sidewalks. $10 from Harbor Freight and you can use it to shrinkwrap your wiring too.

 

[Indymann99]

I share your pain....

How I spent my monday...

The bad part is that the outside part of the sump line should never "hold" water and freeze... The part you see and "fix" is not really the problem.

What has most likely happened is that further down the line there is a DIP where the water pools and freezes... this causes the entire line to become full of water (check valve on the sump pump does that), and the portion above the ground freezes... mine was 6" of solid ice... in the 1.5 PVC pipe. Oh and the sump pump typically burns out from running for hours against a 100% blockage.

I only noticed because the battery backup pump was running - I have the house sump wired to the ADT alarm but the water level never got that high.

I would warm it slowly with some sort of cover and a lighbulb in a drop light.

Quick fix for your RO waste is to run to bucket, sink, shower, etc.

 

[jackets22]

Heat tape.

Just wrap around pipe and plug it in.

Heat tape link

 

[Shnabbles]

Thanks for all of your advice guys... Im going to cut away the black pipe and try some seriously hot water on the frozen part that is outside the house.. thank goodness its only a small peice of pvc sticking out of the house..... I feel for ya INDYMANN.... that sucks