Exterior sewage line out frozen (from 2nd floor)

Submitted by NationalMyth t3_zwolok in baltimore

My friend has a house where the 2nd floor bathroom line out goes out the back of the house, and straight down to the main sewage out.

A portion somewhere appears to have frozen, and is being asked to spend $8k to replace/fix/possibly bring it inside.

There are thousands of homes that have this line running down the outside of their house. My understanding is that there is only standing water in there if there is a serious backup in the sewage line, and to have water standing 20 to 30 ft above ground you would likely see backup the basement drains, or anything on the first floor as well.

Any ideas / opinions on this? No doubt those pipes got very cold over the recent cold snap, and there is definitely an interior issue causing water down the drain to seep through the wall. But for the exterior line to be busted seems odd. Her whole black has the same line, and it's been there for as long as the house has had plumbing.

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Animanialmanac t1_j1w7x03 wrote

Some areas have sewer line problems where the city sewage lines are at fault, the back up happens after rain storms and can push sewage from the city lines back into residential pipes. You can call 311 to see if this is the problem, your friend’s neighborhood group might have grants to get it fixed. I received around $11,000 over two years to fix my sewer pipes and install pumps and valves to prevent the back up. My sewage line is inside, but the same may apply to your friend’s home.

https://publicworks.baltimorecity.gov/soscleanup

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TehM1lkM4n t1_j1vw81o wrote

My pop had the same thing. He just got exterior heating pads/pipeheaters. Wrap em up and plug em in wont fix it for good. But beats 8k.

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NationalMyth OP t1_j1w0z6d wrote

So a bottom drain plug blew off, right near where the pipe goes into the ground. There seems to be a solid chunk of ice blocking things. I'm concerned that there is that much standing water in the pipe given that the freezing temperatures didn't hit till hours after all that rain last week.

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TheTransAgendaIsLove t1_j219aax wrote

plumber here, exterior pipes can clog up easily when its cold because any trickle of water will freeze in the pipe same as how icecicles are made and itll keep growing till it plugs up the line with ice. you can get heat tape to try and deal with it but thats not guaranteed to work. the other problem is when the pipes are freezing cold and your using hot water the lines have a tendency to split right down the middle from the temperature change. if that happens you gotta replace it all.

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NationalMyth OP t1_j21gq4i wrote

Hey thanks. There was no ice forming on any part of the exterior pipe, which would have indicated a crack. The weather warmed up today and the ice blockage melted. We believe the initial overflow of water into the wall was caused by a water backup from the blockage and a poor seal on the toilet. We'll be replacing the toilet (long time coming) and obviously adding a new seal/gasket/ring. We know what to watch for next time a cold snap hits. Thanks for the reply.

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sxswnxnw t1_j1wjzsg wrote

This sucks. I thought it was unlucky to have my sewer line indoors, but maybe not.

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Complete-Ad9574 t1_j1ws4rm wrote

This means that the line is not properly angled, and is not fully clearing. Many historic buildings in Europe have exterior soil stacks. So the concept has been proven to work. Could also mean that people are putting too much TP in at one flush or other items , like Kitty litter, lint from washers, and other unmentionables.

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NationalMyth OP t1_j1wsz57 wrote

It had been working fine up until the Pilar vortex. They were gone for the week surrounding it, and had no issues beforehand. The house was kept at a reasonable temperature as well during the time in question. No litter, or obscene amounts of TP being used. The gutter apparently is routed into that pipe as well, but the rain ended well before freezing temps hit.

One toilet flush is what sent water into the walls, and the ice blockage at the blow out hole was discovered.

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