Fozen sewer pipe

[wbsurfver]

I sometimes go to a temple in Worcester Mass. They've owned the building for a few years and they said that often times the bathrooms can't be used in the colder parts of the winter because the sewer pipe freezes. I told them I'd post a question on the internet about this to see if anyone has any suggestions. I wounder if you could dig up part of the pipe and see how deep it was and then wrap a long heating coil around it and bury it. You would then activate the heating coil in the winter. Would that be a bad idea to be running an electric heating coil under ground ?

My guess is the only other thing you could do is pile more dirt on it. How deep does it need to go ?

Could it be affective to connect the toilet with the hot water instead of the cold and flush it often ?

Thanks

[Ned Flanders]

This usually only happens with a constant flow of water. A slow flow, like a toilet running by is common cause. If the sewer pipe is flat and collects water then dig up/fix.

[Ned Flanders]

oh yeah if you can add more earth then that will fix it too. You want to get to 4 feet if possible. Remember: 1 inch of foam is about 1 foot of earth. Box it in with foam on sides and 2 feet across on top.

[Terry]

Dig down and lay some closed cell foam insulation over the pipe. Then pile more dirt than at present back on top. Might be a quick fix because the ground below the pipe should be warmer than the cold above it to prevent freezing. Pipe probably have to be a minimum of 30 inches down though; again depending on how cold is your climate.