Running a water line outside above ground
- Thread starter RayCo
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CincyFlyer
Veteran Member
That's when you wish you would have done the job properly, which is to bore through the floor down to below the frost line and run the pipe totally underground.
John Fitzgerald
Gold Member
Bore through the floor, dig under the footer, run totally underground below the frost line. Sleeve the pipe where it goes through the floor, then patch the concrete.
EddieWalker
Epic Contributor
Exactly how I would do it. It's a little more digging, but once done, you will never have to worry about it again. Do it right the first time, and forget about it.
pmsmechanic
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As above!
bspeedy
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^^Yep. Do it this way or do it again every time it freezes.
You are asking for trouble doing it your way. The most likely location for a freeze up is where you have the pipe running through the wall. 100 percent certainty unless you build some kind of enclosed and insulated space for the water line. I assume that this would be quite unsightly. I'd run it along the basement wall until I could penetrate the wall at a location that is 4' underground.
You are asking for trouble doing it your way. The most likely location for a freeze up is where you have the pipe running through the wall. 100 percent certainty unless you build some kind of enclosed and insulated space for the water line. I assume that this would be quite unsightly. I'd run it along the basement wall until I could penetrate the wall at a location that is 4' underground.
John Fitzgerald
Gold Member
When above grade, I have seen the insides of walk-out basements have frost on them a few times, even down here in Arkansas. If you run it along an above ground wall, it would be better to use stand offs to get an inch or so distance from the wall.
PILOON
Super Star Member
I've done a number of shallow water line installations.
My preference is interior tracing heated wire usually available in 2 wattage's, 3 watt/foot or 6/ft and in 110 or 220 vac.
The 3 watt will prevent freezing but won't thaw a frozen line while the 6/ft will thaw the line.
Basically they are thermoplastics that heat in one foot segments thus only heating the sections that need heat and therefore very economical to use.
You can leave them powered on 12 month per year and will only draw power when needed.
These products have special fittings to allow insertion into the waterline.
We did a few installs above ground as there was no earth to excavate only solid rock.
On those I wrapped the heat traced line with layers of foam sheeting like used under quick step flooring and further protected with 4" black corrugated drainage piping. That was merely to provide mechanical protection and prevent sun burning the foam wrap
Those installs have withstood up to -35 deg colds, and that is above ground! (some snow coverage helps!)
While I personally hve no tried it, my supplier claims that powering a 110 tracing line with 220, briefly, will always thaw out a frozen line after power failures.
Also from one attempt I know that a frozen line powered by the lower 3 watt will not thaw out after a power failure and for that reason (about same price) I only ever used the higher wattage tracing lines.
NB: the 3 watt install was not my doing, I was attempting to cure a problem after a failure.(the GFI gadget got wet and shut down the power to the line)
Moral is be sure the GFI gadget is high and dry! (If you use one and I believe most codes want one now)
Also code now wants tracing lines to be shielded and grounded.
Another (not code complaint) that works is wrapping a water line with heated cable that is used to keep eave-troughs from freezing.
Wrapping in a longish spiral fashion with placement of the sensor where you feel it might be coldest or least protected also works.
Taping with electrical tape every so often to keep the heat cable tight to the water line helps.
I'm in cottage country that folks over time started to use their cottages more and more as time went on. Today a great majority are now being used as full time homes and that implied upgrading water supply after the fact and that difficult due to all the existing landscaping and often total lack of access. (like cliffs or solid bedrock)
Also most use our pure lakewater as sole source. (we are at the head of the water chain and the lake is totally spring fed. Other than bird and duck poop we have pure water. (Tested yearly at same 20 locations at same depths) Bacteria is always at 0 with rare 1 or 2.
Those of us that drink that water use ozone purifiers and some reverse osmosis.
My preference is interior tracing heated wire usually available in 2 wattage's, 3 watt/foot or 6/ft and in 110 or 220 vac.
The 3 watt will prevent freezing but won't thaw a frozen line while the 6/ft will thaw the line.
Basically they are thermoplastics that heat in one foot segments thus only heating the sections that need heat and therefore very economical to use.
You can leave them powered on 12 month per year and will only draw power when needed.
These products have special fittings to allow insertion into the waterline.
We did a few installs above ground as there was no earth to excavate only solid rock.
On those I wrapped the heat traced line with layers of foam sheeting like used under quick step flooring and further protected with 4" black corrugated drainage piping. That was merely to provide mechanical protection and prevent sun burning the foam wrap
Those installs have withstood up to -35 deg colds, and that is above ground! (some snow coverage helps!)
While I personally hve no tried it, my supplier claims that powering a 110 tracing line with 220, briefly, will always thaw out a frozen line after power failures.
Also from one attempt I know that a frozen line powered by the lower 3 watt will not thaw out after a power failure and for that reason (about same price) I only ever used the higher wattage tracing lines.
NB: the 3 watt install was not my doing, I was attempting to cure a problem after a failure.(the GFI gadget got wet and shut down the power to the line)
Moral is be sure the GFI gadget is high and dry! (If you use one and I believe most codes want one now)
Also code now wants tracing lines to be shielded and grounded.
Another (not code complaint) that works is wrapping a water line with heated cable that is used to keep eave-troughs from freezing.
Wrapping in a longish spiral fashion with placement of the sensor where you feel it might be coldest or least protected also works.
Taping with electrical tape every so often to keep the heat cable tight to the water line helps.
I'm in cottage country that folks over time started to use their cottages more and more as time went on. Today a great majority are now being used as full time homes and that implied upgrading water supply after the fact and that difficult due to all the existing landscaping and often total lack of access. (like cliffs or solid bedrock)
Also most use our pure lakewater as sole source. (we are at the head of the water chain and the lake is totally spring fed. Other than bird and duck poop we have pure water. (Tested yearly at same 20 locations at same depths) Bacteria is always at 0 with rare 1 or 2.
Those of us that drink that water use ozone purifiers and some reverse osmosis.
You're not showing it in your drawing, but if you have a basement then there's a footer under the block wall all the way around. Then at the walkout portion, the footer is likely much deeper, below the frost line.
