Can you explain how this would help? The water is draining fine, but it is the inlet that is frozen.
Friends somehow used antifreeze overnight, when they were poor college kids in an uninsulated beach house. I think they poured it in the toilet bowl. But that might only keep the toilet bowl water from freezing.
Good luck to all the people with frozen pipes!
My younger daughter’s flight out of NYC left on time early this morning. For reasons unrelated to the storm, she had changed her reservation late Monday or Tuesday from today’s last cross-country flight of the day to the first. What a relief that turned out to be when the airline allowed storm-affected travelers to rebook and all the seats on all flights this weekend to all cities in her West Coast location filled up a day or so later.
Then unfortunately the salt water trick wouldn’t work. It’s only for outflow pipes. 
I suggested the hot salt water idea to my husband. He wasn’t taken with it for some reason. I’ll just let him continue to do his thing!
For anyone travelling to JFK today or tomorrow, leave plenty of time to get to the terminals. I took DH this morning for his 10:00 A.M. flight to Florida and we left very early which was good as the ramps to the terminals are bumper to bumper traffic. His flight was only delayed about an hour and he had no issues with check-in and security. My car is back in the garage, one parked on the street has a dead battery, let’s hope for some snow melt this week with the warmer temperatures that are forecast.
@hebegebe I used to have a pipe freeze all the time that supplied water to a toilet (I recently had the pipe rerouted, which seems to have resolved the problem, fingers crossed).
Fortunately the pipe never burst. I think pipes burst because pressure builds when there is no place for the water to go as it melts. But with a toilet the thawing water just fills the toilet tank, relieving the pressure. This is why they say you should leave a faucet open when a sink pipe freezes, but this isn’t a problem for a toilet.
Again, I’m no plumber so I could be wrong, but this has been my understanding and experience.
@thumper1 Does the shower drain have a trap? There must be a section with standing water to freeze. Drains are usually empty if drained properly. Nothing to freeze. My dishwasher drain climbs before draining, leaving standing water at the low point. I don’t have a permanent solution to the issue. The heating pad for supply lines
My community facebook page is full of people asking about frozen pipes.
This is dangerous. Antifreeze is highly poisonous, as are their vapors.
For the same reason, you should never pour out antifreeze outside. Its sweet smell attracts animals, including neighborhood pets.
Windshield washer fluid is a much safer option.
Husband snakes out the shower drain. I think getting the debris out helped. The snake went past the trap so that is not where the frozen issue is…he thinks.
This shower is at the far side of our house from our septic. I’m guessing the debris collected…and ice formed. That is now gone so…keeping fingers crossed that it all just drains
Pipes burst because water expands when it freezes, unlike any other liquid. The expansion causes weaker pipes (e.g. old or thinner copper pipes) to burst (or fittings to loosen). Drain pipes are typically made of PVC and if they’re frozen, they’re likely cracked already.
@hebegebe At this point the best is what you are doing - heating up the spaces above and below with space heaters.
As far as antifreeze, there is non-toxic anti-freeze they sell especially for such applications. For preventative applications, you drain your toilet and add the antifreeze as indicated here:
http://www.diynetwork.com/how-to/maintenance-and-repair/sustainability/how-to-winterize-a-toilet
We use RV antifreeze to winterize the toilet at our cabin.
We closed off the downstairs bathroom that’s uninsullated and out over a crawl space area. Water turned off, and house-grade antifreeze (made for this sort of use), in the toilet so the out take doesn’t freeze. It just gets impossible to keep this bathroom from freezing, so in cold snaps like this, we wave the white flag.
Well, this stuff is supposed to be safe and here’s a link for “safe” anti-freeze:
http://www.poolproducts.com/p/super-safe-pool-plumbing-line-anti-freeze
Considering our climate, have no personal experience.
First, I am happy to report that I have a working toilet! Never in my wildest dreams would I have expected to post this.
Second, I didn’t realize that there was a non-poisonous version of antifreeze. Just don’t use the auto stuff, or anything with Ethylene Glycol.
My shower drain is still not fully draining. We don’t think it’s ice.
Bumping this up to let you know,…it was above freezing yesterday and today…and…woohoo…our shower drain is…draining. So it probably was ice.
We haven’t seen any leaks!