Water supply to coop question

[etoh100]

Hi there, Newbie here. Just built my coop and ran 120' of conduit for electric and 120' of PVC to put a hose bib on outside of coop. I was wondering if I should have or even could have wrapped heat tape around the final vertical length of PVC from 30" underground up to the hose bib. I already backfilled the trench, but if it's possible or necessary to put on the heat tape, I don't mind digging around the vertical length to put it on. I'm just not sure if there's such a thing as waterproof heat tape that can contact the ground, or if I'd have to waterproof it somehow. Any advice from the plumbers or others that have water supplies coming from underground to their coop would be greatly appreciated. I'm in PA and the frost line here is about 28-30". Thanks.

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
I am not familiar with any heat tape that can safely be used that way. (Doesn't mean it doesn't exist, but I sure don't know of any).

What kind of hose bib did you do, though.

If you use a frost-free hydrant, then "in theory" (i.e. as long as its drainage bed is clear and it is not broken) you would have no need of heat tape.

I would suggest that if you did not use a frostfree hydrant -- the kind where the whole standpipe going down to below frostline is self-draining and frostfree, NOT the faucet type meant to be installed thru the wall of an internally-heated building -- you would be well served by digging it all up and installing a frostfree hydrant. WITH PROPER DRAINAGE BASE UNDER IT.

Even with a frostfree hydrant, you must not leave a hose connected to the faucet in the wintertime; but you will be able to use it to fill buckets or etc down to really *quite* cold temperatures, colder than you'll get there.

I'm in PA and the frost line here is about 28-30". Thanks.

Is this your legally required burial depth, or your actual frostline depth.

If your actual frostline depth is around 28-30" then it is pretty iffy to have installed the waterline at only 30"... cross your fingers for a succession of mild winters, and DO NOT WALK, DRIVE OR SHOVEL OVER WHERE THE WATERLINE LIES. (areas that are icy/packed/bare will drive the frost significantly further into the ground)

(Of course, if the part of PA you're in only has like 12" of actual frost and it's merely that the *bylaw requirement* is for 30" burial, you are likely to be just fine)

Good luck, have fun,

Pat​

 

[taprock]

We put in a frost free hydrant this past year. It still froze. We think it was a drainage problem since we have very high clay levels here. I don't know about the tape but we will be redoing the area for better drainage this summer.

 

[etoh100]

The hose bib is just a brass one which mounts on top of a vertical run of 3/4" pipe. I didn't know there were frost-free bibs that could be mounted this way. The ones in our house are frost-free mounted horizontally with the long "stem(?)" that extends the whole way thru the exterior wall to the inside. I have no problem getting another type of bib as long as I know exactly what I'm looking for. I don't know what you mean by a "hydrant" unless it's one of those faucets with a pump-type of handle that can be ungodly difficult to open. I haven't mounted the bib yet. Just have the end of a 3/4" PVC pipe sticking about 4' out of the ground. Thanks for the advice. I guess I'll look for a hydrant, get the shovels back out and get some stone for drainage.

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
Yes, that. Although they are not normally "ungodly difficult to open"

Get one. Seriously. There is NO POSSIBLE WAY you will keep the thing from freezing otherwise; and when it freezes solid in the winter, it will burst your pvc pipe unless you have blown the line dry in the fall and shut it off for the season.

You really do need to dig a coupla feet extra underneath the bottom (where vertical pipe meets buried water pipe) and fill with gravel to make a good drainage bed; and as the previous poster indicates, there are a few sites that have such a high groundwater table so much of the year that this setup will not reliably self-drain and *can* freeze in wintertime unless you do elaborate things.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[woodmort]

I had this hydrant put in last fall after carrying water for 25 years.

It was done by a plumbing contractor who buried it below 4 feet but he also put in a metal heating cable from the top of the hydrant to the bottom as well as where the the water line left the house just in case. I was careful all winter and had no problems even when temperatures fell well below freezing.

BTW, while he installed the heating cables, he did not put plugs on them. He felt it was best to wait to see if they would be needed. He also put a double layer of foam insulation around the hydrant part inside a 4" white pipe up to ground level then continued a single layer of foam up almost to the faucet. The heating cable is wrapped around the water pipe inside that insulation.

This picture was, obviously, taken in warm weather--I did not leave the hose connected once it started freezing but attached it each time I needed it.