Freezing sewer vent pipes



Motor Mouse

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One more thing about the copper t or cross. If you want them to work 100% of the time you need the bottom leg of the t to extend two or three feet into the heated space. So depending on how high on your roof and your roof pitch the t needs to be several feet long. A copper t sticking a few inches down your vent or even into your attic a ways won’t do much.
 

Livetohuntandfish

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Sorry to rain on the copper t thing but if you don’t take them out of your vents in the summers after a few years of forgetting them the gases will eat them away and they will drop into your pipes. Making a shitty situation. And sadly I don’t really know what will work at these temps. I quit going up on the roof and when I flush the toilet just fill the sinks trap again haha. I don’t think they make houses North Dakota proof....
 

dust in the wind

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Why not use black pvc instead of copper if you can find it?

eta - so far no issues with our vents freezing up except for the furnace one where a little ice hangs down from the vent pipe.
 

eyexer

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Has anybody ever had their vents freeze up on houses that are on a septic system? I don't know anybody that has. I think the heat from the septic tanks degradation keeps them open.
 


nytebyte

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I have a septic system and vents are iced over. Might give the copper a try.
 

eyexer

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I just have never had a vent freezing issue in all my years. crazy.
 

Glass

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There is a guy in Bismarck on Bisman facebook group that is selling those copper T handles for 15 bucks
 


SLE

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My house is on a septic system and I’ve been up on the roof three days in a row! First day I just cleared the snow/ice off of it. Woke up the next morning to sewer smell. Went to menards for some copper parts. Dumped hot water in and put the copper T in. Woke up this morning to the same thing! Copper T and all was froze over. Just got done dumping about 2 gallons of hot water down the vent and then sprayed the hell out of it with wd40. I’m about ready to try any remedy. Never had this problem since building the house 7 years ago.
 

guywhofishes

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I bought a heavy folding ladder decades ago and I just leave it up on the “ugliest” side of my house that is rarely visited and hidden. That folding section makes exit/entry a breeze even carrying leaf blowers, shovels, etc.

My vents often look plugged from the ground but they just form beautiful shit-vapor coral that breaths - like you see on the Great Barrier Reef

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My house is on a septic system and I’ve been up on the roof three days in a row! First day I just cleared the snow/ice off of it. Woke up the next morning to sewer smell. Went to menards for some copper parts. Dumped hot water in and put the copper T in. Woke up this morning to the same thing! Copper T and all was froze over. Just got done dumping about 2 gallons of hot water down the vent and then sprayed the hell out of it with wd40. I’m about ready to try any remedy. Never had this problem since building the house 7 years ago.

once plugged up good down inside I suppose they go cold top/bottom and thus lose their ability to draw heat (like a cold chimney will not vent smoke)
 

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WormWiggler

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boy that sucks SLE, i imagine the cold streak is the lions share of the culprit but I am wondering if something like, maybe, long hot showers, a hot tub, or something is contributing?
 

Motor Mouse

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SLE, your t, how far does it stick down into your vent? A copper t like most I see being sold will not do it in this cold weather! Period. The copper heats up some by the warm sewer gas but your attic should be close to the outside temp then you have a foot or two of plastic vent pipe sticking above the roof. How can we expect a piece of copper maybe sticking in the vent pipe a couple of feet to keep the vent open when the sewer gas it self is frosting up. You simply don’t get enough heat transfer from the sewer gas to the copper to do any good when it is very cold. Let’s say your vent sticks above your roof line 18 inches and inside your attic it is 4.5 feet from your roof line to your inside ceiling that the vent pipe penitrates up through. You need the copper to be; 18” + 4.5’ + about 3 ‘ extending inside the vent pipe below your ceiling level (inside the heated space). So you would need that copper t to be 8’ long. With this that 3 foot of pipe sticking in the heated space as well as the warm sewer gas at that level heats the copper pipe and because copper is such a good conductor of heat it keeps the copper in the cold section of your vent warm enough to stop the frost build up. Someone asked about making one out of pvc painted black...won’t work.

Do this and there will be no more discussion on the subject needed!
 

lostinnd

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Well both of mine have a lot of frost built up, not sure if they are completely plugged yet or not but with a fresh coating of snow I am not headed back up there to open them up. Plan will be to just fill all the traps after using the shower/toilets for a couple days until it warms up. Both of my vents have elbows and horizontal runs in the attic so unfortunately it sounds like the copper t won't work for us.

Working on finding those black plastic insul-vent covers but no luck here locally and tough to find online. Menards locally has a metal one with a lead ring at the top but it needs to be put under shingles to work properly.

Found this thing which is mainly for stopping leaks but it looks like it might do the ticket for keeping the pipe warm too

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Perma-Boot-Pipe-Boot-Repair-for-3-in-I-D-Vent-Pipe-Black-Color-PBR-312-
3BK/202581375#customer_reviews

Also found this job..

https://frostfreesewervent.com

The inlaws put some kind of black plastic insulated covers on theirs years ago and haven't had any issues yet.
 


BRK

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Went up and unplugged mine today. Luckily i don't have all that steep of a roof so it's not all that painful of a task.
 

SLE

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I might have to try a longer T. The one I made should extend below the Attic and about 2’ into the main section of the house however it is on an external wall. The only thing different than previous years, my daughter moved down to the basement so that bathroom is getting used a lot more ��. Might have to the frost free sewer vent. As a kicker, damn truck won’t start today either. Started fine the past few days!
 

pluggin

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Will you generally get a sewer smell before this could be dangerous? I have some ice built up but could see quite a bit of steam coming out earlier today so seemed to be fine. Have never had any problems in over 6 years. Would rather not climb up on my snow covered roof if possible.
 

BrokenBackJack

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Sometimes sewer smell or toilets gurgling when you flush and sinks gurgle too when draining a bowl full of water.
 


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