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Frozen Drain Lines
Returning service safely
The dangers and techniques of unthawing frozen lines is covered on the page about water lines, so lets just say here that frozen sewer lines are worse. It is very hard to use a torch on 4" ABS pipe without damaging it, and the volume of ice requires LOTS of heat to unthaw.
My least messy, least dangerous approach was to attach heat tape to the entire length of the frozen line and then cover that with insulation bats. It still took 24 hours to unthaw. Depending on the circumstances, it might also be possible to thread a water hose into the cleanout and use the water pressure to break/thaw through the blocked area.