Exposed PVC wastewater pipe

[skot.fortin]

Hello yurtforum and any yurt-plumbers out there!

I'm looking to add a wastewater pipe to my yurt in Western Maine. The 2" drain pipe will go through the floor of the yurt & head at a negative slope towards the leach field approximately 30' from the drain. I will not be installing a P-trap to eliminate any standing water in the system. 10' of the PVC will be buried in the ground but 15-20' of it will be attached to the bottom of the yurt, exposed with the exception of insulating wrap.

My initial thought is that if wastewater is put down the drain mid-winter the water will make it to the leach field before it freezes. After reading on the Internet now I'm thinking it might be a good idea to add an electric heat cable the length of the drain pipe in case some of the water freezes in the bottom of the pipe. The whole system will be wrapped with an insulator.

The system could be flushed with warm-hot water every now and then to thaw the pipe and allow water to drain to the leach field.

Any insights or suggestions?

[Jafo]

A heat cable or heat tape couldn't hurt.

[Bob Rowlands]

Underside of

yurt platform

is no different then underside of house trailer. I installed aluminum framed and styrofoam insulated skirt systems on house trailers in Jackson Hole WY back in the early 80s. Everyone living in a trailer in that sub zero cold had heat tape and

insulation

around their water supplies. Really good installs had all dwv and supply enclosed in an insulated chase that was demountable for service work, because frozen pipes were pretty much a certainty if it was -20 and on down.

Adding an insulated skirt system goes along way when it is bitter cold out. If it doesn't really get much below freezing in your area, I'd add foam pipe wrap (with the slit in the side) to all exposed pipe. If there is any freeze problem add heat tape. A skirt certainly wouldn't hurt either. Good luck.

[Bob Rowlands]

This is totally off topic, but another things folks did in bitter temps was run a trickle of water all the time. That helped keep supply lines from freezing. I remember seeing discarded sections of ruptured pipes and busted pvc and funked up fiberglass

insulation

, all manner of unbelievable filth from blown dwv and supplies laying under some of those trailers. Man some of that was a freakin nightmare. Makes me REAL happy we have a full concrete basement and floor, and all supplies and drains well under frost level.

[CO1day]

Looking past exposed PVC and into the no P trap. If you don't have a P trap then you can expect to have "sewer" waste gases coming up through sink or shower. Your flush toilet has a p trap built in. One way you could solve this issue would be to put a vent in before the fixture. Just my 2 cents