Automatic way to prevent private supply from freezing up

[mattwynne]

Hi all,

We moved out here to a farm in the Scottish Highlands a couple of years ago, and this is our first cold winter.

We have a private water supply, and some of the supply pipe runs over-ground. Last week in the cold snap, it froze.

We've been generally in the habit of running a cold tap overnight on cold nights, to keep a flow going down the supply pipe. On this occasion nobody noticed how cold it had been during the day until it was too late.

And once it froze, it was a bloody nightmare.

So I was thinking about how I could make something that can automatically "run the tap" when the temperature drops. I have a messy "plant" room where we filter the water before it comes into the house, and I could easily fit something in there. What kind of device would I need to open a valve when the temperature gets low?

Any ideas?!

cheers,
Matt

 

[lame plumber]

better to bury the suply pipe between 750 to 1350 mm deep then it wont freeze, your idea is not the answer

 

[newcastle phill]

Yeh id also be looking at burying it or a new pipe next to it as said above at correct depth.

 

[stani]

What length of pipe is it?

 

[stani]

Heat Trace | Home

 

[snowhead]

Bury it.
Lag it with good quality insulation.
Trace heating under the lagging, but it will also need good quality lagging.
Solenoid valve on a timer and frost stat to auto run off the water.

My Son has got a 750mtr run buried down a hillside in Northumberland, that doesn't freeze even with 3 ft of snow on it for a month.

 

[newcastle phill]

Bury it.
Lag it with good quality insulation.
Trace heating under the lagging, but it will also need good quality lagging.
Solenoid valve on a timer and frost stat to auto run off the water.

My Son has got a 750mtr run buried down a hillside in Northumberland, that doesn't freeze even with 3 ft of snow on it for a month.

Does he want a gardener.
Best rates for grass cutting

 

[mattwynne]

Thanks for the thoughts all - I'm definitely planning to put the pipe underground where I can, but it crosses a river at one point and just has to go out in the open air for about a 10m section. I'm obviously going to insulate that section too, but I'd still like a belt and braces approach. There's no harm in keeping the water running - it's free!

Overall the run of pipe that stands still when the taps in the house are off is about 80m long.

Thanks for the links to Heat Trace - that looks perfect if I can afford it. I'm gonna investigate.

 

[basildog]

When you say it crosses or runs by a river is the water flowing ?
I have seen a farmers supply running in a fast flowing stream that never froze so neither did the pipe as it was submerged !
The only reason it was never buried was due to all the ground around being solid rock !

 

[mattwynne]

When you say it crosses or runs by a river is the water flowing ?
I have seen a farmers supply running in a fast flowing stream that never froze so neither did the pipe as it was submerged !
The only reason it was never buried was due to all the ground around being solid rock !

It crosses a river. I can't submerge the pipe as the river goes from trickling stream to raging torrent depending on the weather, so it would always be at risk of getting ripped out, I think. I dunno - maybe I'm wrong and I could spend some time in summer pulling rocks out and trying to bury it under the river bed.

 

[mattwynne]

When you say it crosses or runs by a river is the water flowing ?
I have seen a farmers supply running in a fast flowing stream that never froze so neither did the pipe as it was submerged !
The only reason it was never buried was due to all the ground around being solid rock !

Yeah it crosses the burn, and I'm scared to try and bury it in the river bed as it goes absolutely mental when it's in spate.

 

[snowhead]

Does he want a gardener.
Best rates for grass cutting

110 acres, can you fit it in at the weekend.?

 

[newcastle phill]

Sure.
Wont take me long

 

[gassafe]

Hi all,

We've been generally in the habit of running a cold tap overnight on cold nights, to keep a flow going down the supply pipe.

This is crazy, think of those oxfam ads where kids travel miles for drinking water & your going to bed at night with the tap running!!!