Lake Water Pipe Question

rgilfert · 01-24-2015, 12:29 PM

2015 will be the fifth time that I will have opened and closed our Rattlesnake cottage for the summer season. Each year I try to open the cottage as soon as humanely possible after ice-out and then close it back down shortly after Columbus Day in October. Because of the extremely cold water temperature, the absolute worst opening/closing activity is having wade out into the lake to install the 1.25" black PVC pipe for our lake-water feed (this is even worse than having to climb into the septic pump chamber to disconnect surface installed leach field pipe from the pump and trip the check-valve).
This winter I've been trying to think of a way of eliminating the necessity of taking the pipe out of the lake each fall and I haven't been able to come up with a good, foolproof approach. But in the absence of a perfect solution, I would like to bounce a potential half-a$$ed approach off of the membership.
Currently I have about a 70' run of 1.25" black PVC pipe running from the jet pump that is installed under the cottage down to a quick disconnect PVC union at the waterfront (about a 30' drop in elevation). From the union there is a second piece (about 30' long) of 1.25" black PVC pipe that runs out into the lake and terminates with a foot-valve and sieve. Obviously this second piece is the one that I remove each October and then reinstall in April. At 65 years of age....that wading out to waist height in 40 degree water is absolutely miserable and, to be honest, is something that I procrastinate about doing which shortens our summer usage of the cottage.
So all that preamble brings me to my question ..... what would happen if I simply disconnected the union at the lakefront and left the pipe in the water? I'm wondering whether by having the end of the pipe open there would a place for the freezing water to expand towards rather than building up pressure and eventually bursting the pipe? Is this a bone head thought, or might it work?

01-24-2015, 12:29 PM	#1
rgilfert Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Bedford, NH / Rattlesnake Island Posts: 299 Thanks: 152 Thanked 227 Times in 57 Posts	Lake Water Pipe Question 2015 will be the fifth time that I will have opened and closed our Rattlesnake cottage for the summer season. Each year I try to open the cottage as soon as humanely possible after ice-out and then close it back down shortly after Columbus Day in October. Because of the extremely cold water temperature, the absolute worst opening/closing activity is having wade out into the lake to install the 1.25" black PVC pipe for our lake-water feed (this is even worse than having to climb into the septic pump chamber to disconnect surface installed leach field pipe from the pump and trip the check-valve). This winter I've been trying to think of a way of eliminating the necessity of taking the pipe out of the lake each fall and I haven't been able to come up with a good, foolproof approach. But in the absence of a perfect solution, I would like to bounce a potential half-a$$ed approach off of the membership. Currently I have about a 70' run of 1.25" black PVC pipe running from the jet pump that is installed under the cottage down to a quick disconnect PVC union at the waterfront (about a 30' drop in elevation). From the union there is a second piece (about 30' long) of 1.25" black PVC pipe that runs out into the lake and terminates with a foot-valve and sieve. Obviously this second piece is the one that I remove each October and then reinstall in April. At 65 years of age....that wading out to waist height in 40 degree water is absolutely miserable and, to be honest, is something that I procrastinate about doing which shortens our summer usage of the cottage. So all that preamble brings me to my question ..... what would happen if I simply disconnected the union at the lakefront and left the pipe in the water? I'm wondering whether by having the end of the pipe open there would a place for the freezing water to expand towards rather than building up pressure and eventually bursting the pipe? Is this a bone head thought, or might it work?