Tfield98
New Member
Thirty-five years ago the previous owner added a basement bathroom, installed a sump ejector pump, and ran its drain above ground to the house's main sewer line. It's probably totally not to code, but this has worked.
All was well until last year an installer put a heat pump next to the drain line.
Last winter, the metal pipe from the ejector to the sewer line froze in 30° weather here in Seattle. We think this is because of the wind chill from the heat-pump fan blowing cold air over the pipe.
A plumber we hired at the time repaired the split ~2" metal pipe by inserting a length of plastic pipe and compression clamps, as seen in the attached images. We probably should have insisted on metal pipe, but cutting new threads on the remaining metal pipe wasn't possible because it's too close to the house.
The sump pump in the well has a check valve, so this length of pipe probably has liquid in it all the time?
We don't get a lot of freezing weather, but we do need to avoid this happening again. How do we avoid this line freezing again this winter? This spot gets a lot of precipitation. Is there low-voltage, rain-safe, heat tape for plastic pipe that we can use on the ten-foot metal-plastic-metal run with compression clamps as seen in the attached?
We want to avoid ripping the metal pipe back to the sump at one end and back to the sewage line at the other.
All was well until last year an installer put a heat pump next to the drain line.
Last winter, the metal pipe from the ejector to the sewer line froze in 30° weather here in Seattle. We think this is because of the wind chill from the heat-pump fan blowing cold air over the pipe.
A plumber we hired at the time repaired the split ~2" metal pipe by inserting a length of plastic pipe and compression clamps, as seen in the attached images. We probably should have insisted on metal pipe, but cutting new threads on the remaining metal pipe wasn't possible because it's too close to the house.
The sump pump in the well has a check valve, so this length of pipe probably has liquid in it all the time?
We don't get a lot of freezing weather, but we do need to avoid this happening again. How do we avoid this line freezing again this winter? This spot gets a lot of precipitation. Is there low-voltage, rain-safe, heat tape for plastic pipe that we can use on the ten-foot metal-plastic-metal run with compression clamps as seen in the attached?
We want to avoid ripping the metal pipe back to the sump at one end and back to the sewage line at the other.