Frozen Gutter Drain

Many contractors employ equipment that injects steam and or hot water into your gutters and through your downspouts to get rid of ice.

Frozen gutter drain.

First resist the urge to go after the ice with a hammer or axe. Over time the ice can back up into your gutters creating additional weight on your entire gutter system. Unfortunately dealing with frozen gutters is rarely simple or inexpensive. The only sure fire way to melt the ice in frozen gutters is to hire a professional.

How to fix frozen gutter problem. Striking frozen downspouts with a hammer or baseball bat in the hopes of breaking up the ice inside them may cause more damage and make the situation worse. Your pvc pipes can get damaged and any frozen water in your pipes can clog your drain. When drains are clogged the water may find its way into your foundation exactly where you don t want it to be.

Consistently frozen downspouts require immediate attention. It s important to nip such problems in the bud. If the frozen portion of your downspout is on the ground level and if it is near an outlet you can simply plug in your hairdryer to an extension cord and warm up the portion of the downspout that has become frozen. This can lead to your gutter and downspout tearing away from your roof or siding leading to more costly and larger problems such as water leaks and improper drainage.

When winter storms hit gutters and downspouts sometimes freeze into solid blocks of ice and homeowners understandably worry about gutters pulling away from the roofs or ice dams forming. Once the ice has melted it will drop the remaining ice through the spout.