Hi,

I have a cold water pipe running undermy conservatory and running outside of my conservatory wall. now that the winter is coming i am concerned that it will freez and split. Its a copper pipe with no insulation at the moment.

can anybody suggets the best course of action for insualting the pipe.

or would it be just (if i could) turning the pipe off for the winter (not sure if this would prevent it spliting?

any help appricated.

Goju wrote:

Hi,

I have a cold water pipe running undermy conservatory and running
outside of my conservatory wall. now that the winter is coming i am
concerned that it will freez and split. Its a copper pipe with no
insulation at the moment.

can anybody suggets the best course of action for insualting the pipe.

or would it be just (if i could) turning the pipe off for the winter
(not sure if this would prevent it spliting?

any help appricated.





Goju,

First of all, I noticed that you posted from the U.K. When I was in the
U.K. (in the U.S. Air Force) we never had any problem with outside pipes
freezing. It never stayed cold enough, long enough, to cause a problem.

However, if you feel that you need to do something the best thing to do
is to turn off the water supply to that pipe and drain it as best you
can. Copper pipes only split when the water in them freezes and expands
enough to split them. In very cold areas, like here in the U.S., we use
electric heat wrap devices to protect our outdoor pipes that we need to
keep water supplied to during the winter. Those wraps and foam wraps
over the pipe work very well at temperature much lower than you will
ever see in the U.K. However, before investing in them I would talk to
some of you fellow countrymen and see if anything is really required in
your area.
--
Bill R. (Ohio Valley, U.S.A)

Gardening for over 40 years

To see pictures from my garden visit http://members.iglou.com/brosen

Digital Camera - Pentax *ist DL

Remove NO_WEEDS_ in e-mail address to reply by e-mail

I have a cold water pipe running undermy conservatory and running
outside of my conservatory wall. now that the winter is coming i am
concerned that it will freez and split. Its a copper pipe with no
insulation at the moment.

I'd probably pull in PEX and be much less worried about freeze-fracturing.
http://www.ppfahome.org/pex/faqpex.html

Otherwise, you can wrap all exposed pipe with heat tape and hope, or cut off
water to that pipe and drain it (don't leave water in the pipe over winter)

On 29 Oct 2007 21:42:03 GMT, Kay Lancaster wrote:


I have a cold water pipe running undermy conservatory and running
outside of my conservatory wall. now that the winter is coming i am
concerned that it will freez and split. Its a copper pipe with no
insulation at the moment.

I'd probably pull in PEX and be much less worried about freeze-fracturing.
http://www.ppfahome.org/pex/faqpex.html

Otherwise, you can wrap all exposed pipe with heat tape and hope, or cut off
water to that pipe and drain it (don't leave water in the pipe over winter)

This is an area I know nothing about personally (So Calif coastal; no
freeze), but I have read that people in freeze areas sometimes leave
water trickling through the pipes.

I guess this would not be PC these days, esp. in areas where water is
not abundant.

???? Inquiring minds...

Persephone

...
On 29 Oct 2007 21:42:03 GMT, Kay Lancaster wrote:


I have a cold water pipe running undermy conservatory and running
outside of my conservatory wall. now that the winter is coming i am
concerned that it will freez and split. Its a copper pipe with no
insulation at the moment.

I'd probably pull in PEX and be much less worried about freeze-fracturing.
http://www.ppfahome.org/pex/faqpex.html

Otherwise, you can wrap all exposed pipe with heat tape and hope, or cut
off
water to that pipe and drain it (don't leave water in the pipe over
winter)

This is an area I know nothing about personally (So Calif coastal; no
freeze), but I have read that people in freeze areas sometimes leave
water trickling through the pipes.

I guess this would not be PC these days, esp. in areas where water is
not abundant.

???? Inquiring minds...

Persephone


A medium speed drip rate run at night is okay if you live in a warm climate
that may have a few intermittent "hard" freezes in the winter. Turn it off
a day or two later when that "hard" freeze is done. If its too cold, the
drip will eventually ice up. So, not a viable solution in colder areas.
Also, it requires monitoring the outside air temperature, and weather
forecasts.

When the overnight temp is leaning toward the lower 20s or below, I
generally drip my well piping and external fixtures for garden hose. One
faucet did freeze up last winter as I was too timid on the drip rate.

--
Dave
Profound is we're here due to a chance arrangement
of chemicals in the ocean billions of years ago.
More profound is we made it to the top of the food
chain per our reasoning abilities.
Most profound is the denial of why we may
be on the way out.