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10-16-2016, 10:58 PM | #1 |
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Lake Water Intake Hose Freeze Help
Hello All-- I take care of a lakeside rental house and we have winter renters in the house from now until May. The house water supply is from the lake and goes through an expensive filtration system. This year the intake hose is exposed due to the low water level. I am very concerned it will freeze.
Does anyone have any idea of how we can keep the hose from freezing up this winter? |
10-16-2016, 11:35 PM | #2 |
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You can use an "internal water pipe heater". Do an internet search for that term.
Several manufacturers make heating wire that goes inside the pipe to prevent freezing. This method is not as easy to install as the heat tape or wire that goes on the outside of the pipe, but it will work much better. |
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CateP (10-17-2016) |
10-17-2016, 05:28 AM | #3 | |
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10-17-2016, 08:25 AM | #4 |
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Judging by the picture I am surprised it has never been a problem before???
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10-17-2016, 09:04 AM | #5 |
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If FLL is lurking around I believe he has encountered and tackled a similar issue...
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10-17-2016, 09:10 AM | #6 |
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Out of curiosity, what is the difference between this situation or having a water line go in the water at the end of a breakwater dock or similar?... I have never pulled mine out and neither have many of my neighbors and we have never had an issue. As a matter of fact island support who handles hundreds of camps every year recommends leaving them in...
Is it an issue because its coming off the beach in shallow water??? Thanks! Dan
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10-17-2016, 11:13 AM | #7 |
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This is an interesting issue. While we as well as many others do not bring their lake hoses in for the winter, we don't use them in the winter. As long as there is vacant space in the hose above the lake waterline for it to freeze into, there is no problem with the hose cracking.
However, despite the low water level this year, isn't the hose exposed to the air somewhere between the normal waterline and the shore, where I expect it is buried in the ground? Is the amount of linear exposure to the air, because of the low waterline, the perceived problem? If push comes to shove, leaving a faucet open so that only a dribble of water comes out, would at least temporarily resolve pipe freezing issue. |
10-17-2016, 12:45 PM | #8 |
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Were there people renting through the winter in the past? If so and no issues before, my only concern would be with the intake/footvalve being frozen in the ice. Actually, if that were my pipe I would extend it maybe 10 ft anyway. Not to difficult to extend the pipe. All you need to do is cut the pipe a few feet from the intake and add a section of that black polyethylene pipe and use 2 couplers to rejoin. Heat the pipe with a propane torch just to soften enough to push in the coupler and use a standard hose clamp. Lowes and HD carry these.
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CateP (10-17-2016) |
10-17-2016, 10:06 PM | #9 |
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Caution!
Several years ago, we left our waterline in place at the end of the season. It was an installation similar to the one seen in the above photo. When we returned to our place on East Bear Island in the following spring, we found that the ice floes had moved our line to a location over an adjacent rock breakwater.
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10-18-2016, 07:50 AM | #10 |
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Our line was in the water in a similar fashion however we did not use it year round. There was a valve near the shore to drain the line. I think he would blow air down the line to clear as much as possible. As long as there is room in the pipe for expansion as it freezes there is no problem. Being used all year though? I would expect problems. Heat tape or wire would be a start. How about where it enters the house? I assume it is shallow or not buried all the way to the inlet?
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10-30-2016, 02:07 PM | #11 |
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Don't quote but pretty sure there is a 1 inch black pipe that is made to expand with the freeze and not suffer for it. Can't remember the brand name. You could use that below and sweat a union in above the waterline with a torch. If the union was maybe brass or such with a drain in it, you could drain the level down near the lake and out of your house and leave the foot valve in the lake with the expanding pipe in the mix..Ice floes though..Are on you..
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11-03-2016, 08:36 AM | #12 |
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Thanks all for the replies. We have winter renters in the house and are looking at the in pipe heating line.
The run from the house is 150ft. so we're looking at $2,200 just for the system parts, not the install. Sheesh. |
11-03-2016, 09:05 AM | #13 |
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$664 from here: http://www.supplyhouse.com/Easy-Heat...-Heating-Cable
http://www.emersonindustrial.com/en-...s/default.aspx Can't see it taking more than a few hours for someone to install. If you need an outlet installed I suppose that's an extra $200 for an electrician. Be careful out there, some are much more expensive than others. Also, the unit above is 700 Watts, which won't be cheap on your electric bill. |
11-03-2016, 09:10 AM | #14 |
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.... Hydro Tenax, Gilford Well
Gilford Well has these water heater-lake water intake systems, and you can chat them up about it.
In November 1992, I purchased a 125' x 1 1/4" black poly tube with an inside heat wire, installed it myself, and it has worked happily ever after, to this day, with no problems. Is hard to believe but true! Made by some company called Hydro Tenax or something in Ontario, Canada; it uses 888-watt for 125', and installation requires just a small trench, about 3" wide and 3" deep is instructed, so it was not at all difficult to install what with the small ditching needed as opposed to a big ditch. Crossing the rocky embankment at the waters edge required moving rocks and threading the poly tube through a white pvc pipe to protect the poly tube from wind, waves, and rocks...... and replacing the rocks. Best to bury it so the black tube enters the lake under the water and under the ice as the surface ice can move just a little, and could damage the tube. The very low water level this year may make for a new problem with the ice? A house with no inside working water is no fun! Supposedly, the type of 1 1/4" black poly tube used is able to survive a freeze-up and re-thaw without cracking what with the expansion of ice inside its' confined space, and this actually happened once when I forgot to turn on the breaker until the first week of January, one year. My price at Gilford Well in 1992 for a big cardboard box with a 125' black poly tube, thermostat box, temperature sensor, and 125' internal wire was $1050 and it was money well spent.....plus it supplies all the plumbing water to my little cottage including watering the outside plants and shrubs. A foot valve and some other small plumbing items were also needed to complete the job, and it runs off a 1/2-hp shallow well pump with a 30-gal water tank located in the kitchen which is obviously heated all winter long. I set the thermostat at about 34-degrees and it has a red light that comes on when in use, as it cycles on and off, depending outside daily temp. For $200 I got a perfect condition, 18" wide, stainless steel Frigidaire dishwasher on Maine-Craigslist, reg price about $500?, and plan to install it before this month November is done.......so's it will be a lake water, no filter, dish washer ........ wish me luck with this project! While I do not drink the lake water, I do brush my teeth with it, and spit it out......
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... down and out, liv'n that Walmart side of the lake! Last edited by fatlazyless; 11-03-2016 at 09:46 AM. |
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11-03-2016, 10:05 AM | #15 | |
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11-03-2016, 11:00 AM | #16 | |
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Jersey Ed (11-09-2016) |
11-09-2016, 10:31 AM | #17 |
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Actually,the only one I remember.You have it in you FLL.
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SIKSUKR |
11-20-2016, 08:46 AM | #18 |
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.....oopsie-doopsie ........ Pyrotenax is the correct name on my heated water line ....and not Hydro Tenax ....which was incorrect from blurred memory or something!
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