32mm / 40mm Pipe Lagging??

[UKPITA]

I have been asked to insulate some outside waste pipes as these have frozen up and the inside sinks/basins no longer drain away..... (They poured boiling water over pipes to defrost and all ok)....

Never insulated waste pipes before and was wondering if anyone could suggest the best sort of insulation for these (32mm and 40mm)... Personally I think pipes should be re-routed as incorrectly installed in first place!!

*Might be wrong but I thought you could get a type of water cylinder jacket material to wrap round??? but cant seem to find this so maybe not?!

 

[WHPES]

You need to be careful as if you put the wrong material on it will get saturated and make matters worse when it freezes. I suggest you look at the pipe routes and modify them instead.

 

[justlead1]

Hi. Difficult to achieve on waste pipe with insulation. Have you thought about a pipe trace (a long time since i fitted them) Like an earth warming element with a frost stat to control during freezing conditions.

 

[tamz]

The pipes "should" only freeze if they have dips or are wrongly graded (too shallow). Lagging the pipes will not solve the problem if this is the case. If it is cold enough it will still freeze.
If you must lag them use armaflex armacell with glued and taped joints.

 

[UKPITA]

Yeah i did think of this but to be honest I dont think the customer will be up for the cost of installing these....??

 

[UKPITA]

Exactly what i was thinking Tamz!.. if pipes were fitted correctly then wouldnt be having this problem, customer however is pretty addiment that lagging will fix issue after all "It worked with my tap" lol....

 

[barryplumb]

I've got a condensing pipe from my boiler that goes into 32mm waste pipe and then drops from first floor to ground level. This froze up to 2m high last year!! luckily the boiler is high enough not to be affected

 

[tamz]

Exactly what i was thinking Tamz!.. if pipes were fitted correctly then wouldnt be having this problem, customer however is pretty addiment that lagging will fix issue after all "It worked with my tap" lol....

Just make it clear if the pipes are badly fitted or graded that lagging them is not a cure. You have then did your bit and it is his decision.
You can't make a silk purse from a pigs ear.

 

[tamz]

I've got a condensing pipe from my boiler that goes into 32mm waste pipe and then drops from first floor to ground level. This froze up to 2m high last year!! luckily the boiler is high enough not to be affected

Bet it went into a soakaway?

 

[Reg Man]

Sounds like badly fitted waste sytem. Waste pipes don't normally freeze, unless there's a dripping tap or the like. Don't think lagging will help much. You'll be throwing alot of money at it and it still may not do the job. Cost wise it would be probably be cheaper to get the waste system renewed with the correct gradients ect.

 

[Avatar]

solution - tell them you can remove the offending external pipework, and replace with nice new pipes, installed with the correct fall ect!

After all every house has external waste pipes, but freezing of these are an almost unheard of senario.

Are the pipes of the correct length runs, or partically blocked already. this wouldnt help.