Freezing Condensate.

[Bankrupt]

it just takes longer to freeze and fill the pipe with ice. By which time weather has probably got warmer.

Exactly the problem I have - See other thread. I had no problem if it freezes overnight. But if it stays mainly sub-zero for several days the drain pipe, although properly sized, will freeze and block. Insulation only slows down the process - If it stays sub-zero for long enough, inside the pipe will still freeze and ice will start to build up eventually blocking the pipe.

 

[Bankrupt]

Insulation does not prevent water in a pipe freezing, it only delays it until hopefully the weather improves.



Trace heating can prevent water in a pipe from freezing. A DIY trace heater has proven to be effective in a long run of external condensate drain that had frozen several times.

The trace heater was made using nichrome wire sleeved with silicon tubing and run inside the pipe. The power source was a few volts from a low cost toroidal transformer that provided safety isolation of the heating wire from the mains.

The hardest part was threading the nichrome wire into the silicon sleeving.

You should manufacture and market this Bernard. I would buy it.