a question for the north country folk

[elkoholic]

For those of you that live where the temperatures drop into the negative range for weeks at a time, I have a question. Do you have problems with exhaust vents (clothes drier/bathroom and kitchen fans) and/or septic vent stacks frosting or freezing over? What is your solution to the problem? I am aware of several homes in our area where the septic vent pipes froze over (not covered with snow) and caused the septic gases to bubble up through the drains and smell up the house. Our exhaust fan vents tend to freeze which causes multiple problems. Does anyone have a good idea about how avoid this problem?

[sureshot]

never had that problem and we just got out of a 2 week snap of -40 and below, sounds like a moisture problem, the possable difference could be we have a really dry cold, there is not alot of humididty in the air when it gets this cold, maybe you have a lot more humidity and when the hot air hits the cold it forms ice?????just a thought but I never heard of that up here anyways, good luck and let me know what you find out!!

[stevebeilgard]

i've never heard of a septic pipe freezing. i'm on a septic and we don't have a vent. the venting is through the roof of the house. as for gas getting into the house, that should be impossible with p-traps on every pipe. make sure the p-traps have water in them. if you don't use all the sinks & stools regularily, make sure you keep water in the traps. if you go away for months, put wesson oil in the traps.

[OJR]

I agree with SteveB on this one! No "P" traps and your sewer gas is going to get into the house! If "P" traps are installed, just run some water ever so often and there shouldn't be a problem!

Never heard of a septic tank freezing!

Seems some of these problems could be from some lousy plumbing!

[elkoholic]

Okay, a little more explanation is in order. The septic pipe is not what is frosting/freezing. The vent stacks that come out of the roof of the house are the culprits. As the warm, moist (and smelly) septic gases rise up the vent pipes and encounter the dry frigid air it either turns to frost or condenses on the pipe and freezes. Eventually the pipe seals itself off and the septic gases are forced out somewhere else. These gases will bubble up through the water in the p-traps and you can actually hear the gurgling as the gas escapes into the inside of the house. If you take a shower it will gurgle up in the toilet or if you flush the toilet it may come up out of the sink drain. My sister in-law's house was a prime example this past weekend. When her husband went up on the roof to check out the vents there was over one foot of solid ice in the vent. It was quite a job to get it cleared. This is not an uncommon problem here and some houses seem to be more likely to have this occur. In our house the vent stacks were covered with snow and it seems the septic gases permeate up through the snow just fine. Our biggest problem is with dryer and bathroom exhaust fan vents freezing shut, or, on occasion they will freeze in the open position allowing cold air to infiltrate the house. I can see no solution to this as the warm, moist air will freeze on contact with the extremely cold louvers at the outside opening of the vent.

[Strut10]

........ we just got out of a 2 week snap of -40 and below............. we have a really dry cold, there is not alot of humididty .......

It may be 40 below ................but it's a dry cold. :D:D:p