Frozen waste pipe from macerator?

[Mottie]

I hope so! We have a macerator in our downstairs loo and this morning it started pumping halfway through me having a wee, which it sometimes does depending on how much water is already in it. It carried on pumping and didn’t stop so I flushed the toilet and although the pump was running, the water came up very close to the rim. I turned the power off and bailed the water out back town to near normal level. We have a 22mm copper waste pipe from the macerator to the soil stack and that runs along the flank wall of our house. It has a decent fall and has never blocked in the 25 years it’s been there. When I temporarily reconnect the power, the water in the bowl rises slightly which indicates (to me) that the pump is pumping. What’s the chances of it just being a frozen waste pipe?

 

[blup]

Part blockage so more likely tofreeze?

 

[just pumps]

The chances of it being frozen depend on how cold it has been in your area. It should be lagged to help prevent freezing so either wait for it to get warmer or apply heat to any elbows.

 

[gas112]

5hit happens

 

[HERTS P&D]

Frozen, get the hair dryer out and work from the soil stack backwards.

Andy

 

[Mottie]

Frozen, get the hair dryer out and work from the soil stack backwards.

Andy

Nice one Andy.

I did as you said using my hot air stripper and the problem is now solved but starting from the soil stack as you suggested led me to discover why it has never frozen in the last 25 years. I had to move the bin store to get to the soil stack and once I had, it was immediately obvious why it had frozen. Last year when I did my kitchen, I had to replace the lower section of the soil stack. I must have been pìssed when I fitted the strap-on boss for the macerator connection. The 22mm copper pipe runs along my flank wall, turns a corner and enters the stack. I noticed today that I had put the boss on too high and the waste has to run up to get into the stack! It’s obviously pooling in that section and freezing. Permanent fix would be to re-do the stack but that’s a pain so I’ll just raise the flank wall pipe around an inch at that end so that nothing will lay in the pipe. I’ll still have a decent fall along the pipe when I've done this but thanks again for pointing me in the right