Water to outbuilding

[forgeblast]

I have poly lines around our property to move water in the summer, in the fall I take my air compressor and blow out the lines and I am good for the winter, its a pain at times but when we put the lines in we could not get them as deep as we needed.

 

[dave1949]

Yeah...stays underground for most of the trip then starts to rise (on the outside) at that 45 degree angle and enters that building pretty close to the sidewall. Currently is a "stub" inside the building rising 2' from the finished floor. The shop is radiant infloor and does have some residual heat but as noted I want the option of turning that off if I want (e.g. if LP gets to $5 again). The soil is sand/gravel and the building does have a decent soffit on it. What I'm afraid of is water most of the way, then a popsicle when it is almost there. I guess I'll plumb it with my idea of a capped "tee" so I can pump the water out if it looks like a problem need be.

Aha! I didn't understand that is was a stub coming out of a finished floor with radiant heat. I guess unless you know for sure where the PEX lines are, you won't be cutting the concrete.

You could use some of the frost-protected shallow foundation techniques to shield the line from where it begins to sweep up to the outside edge of the building. Basically it means digging down about 24" and putting in a layer of styrofoam boards. There are guidelines for the buried depth and width of the foam coverage based on your local temps. Details can be found here: Revised Builder's Guide to Frost Protected Shallow Foundations (FPSFs)

I googled 'immersion heaters' wondering if anyone makes a resistance heater designed to go inside a pipe. It would be like an inside-the-pipe heat tape. If there was such a thing 6'-8' long that you could stick in the pipe that would be a solution. I found lots of industrial stuff but my brief look didn't find anything that looked useful to your set-up. Maybe there is something out there like that.

 

[check]

At our cottage we have a heat line
That goes inside the poly pipe, and runs about 15 feet down. In the winter, at maximum draw, it only draws 9 W, so it is very cheap to use. I'm sure you can get one of these from your local Pump Shop.

 

[farmer2009]

Could you go outside either at the house or shop and dig down and find the line then install an access with a drain valve that uses a long handle meter wrench. Then you just drain the lines whenever you need too. We had a setup like this where I use to work same wrench turned off the water and next man hole had the drain valve in it. Then opened the above ground valve to let in air. Never had any trouble with freezing. A good plumbing supply house should be able to help you here.

 

[ttriff]

Am in a similar situation as the OP.

Was going to put a hydrant in the concrete floor until the GC said what be involved should the entire hydrant need replacing. The current plan is to put the hydrant in the ground just outside the end of the building, then run a quick connect to the building plumbing. Popping the quick connect will allow both the hydrant and the lines in the building to drain.

Another thought is to use a elevated tote as the H2O supply in the building. Fill it from the outside hydrant as needed. Keep it from freezing with a solar powered livestock water heater