Kruse
Member
- Joined
- Jan 3, 2012
- Messages
- 2
Hello All,
I have a plumbing question I hope I could get some advice on. The situation is I am fixing up an old house. There are two houses on the same property and the the water comes from the street, into the larger house (where the main shutoff and meters are), and branches off to the second house. The pipe goes underground, beneath the frost line to the second house. Once it gets to the house, it comes up from the ground, runs about 9 feet under the floor, then to the sink where it branches off to the hot water heater and cold water for the rest of the house.
The problem is it always freezes at some point during the winter at the part where it comes out of the ground and runs under the house. The space between the ground and the floor is only about a foot high and inaccessible unless the floor is torn out, like it is now.
I've had a few people tell me to put a heating tape on the pipe, like the kind you buy at Lowes or Ace with the thermostat, and put a plug under the sink/cabinet area. My thinking is only a crazy person would put a heating element in a confined, inaccessible place like that. I'm worried about mice and moisture having a very negative effect on it. They say I'm crazy, I say they're crazy. So would it be acceptable to put a heating tape, with insulation, on this pipe?
The crappy part is I think I'm screwed either way: if the pipe freezes and bursts or if there is a problem with the heating tape because I would have to tear the floor up again. Although I'd prefer a bust pipe to a potential fire.
I have a plumbing question I hope I could get some advice on. The situation is I am fixing up an old house. There are two houses on the same property and the the water comes from the street, into the larger house (where the main shutoff and meters are), and branches off to the second house. The pipe goes underground, beneath the frost line to the second house. Once it gets to the house, it comes up from the ground, runs about 9 feet under the floor, then to the sink where it branches off to the hot water heater and cold water for the rest of the house.
The problem is it always freezes at some point during the winter at the part where it comes out of the ground and runs under the house. The space between the ground and the floor is only about a foot high and inaccessible unless the floor is torn out, like it is now.
I've had a few people tell me to put a heating tape on the pipe, like the kind you buy at Lowes or Ace with the thermostat, and put a plug under the sink/cabinet area. My thinking is only a crazy person would put a heating element in a confined, inaccessible place like that. I'm worried about mice and moisture having a very negative effect on it. They say I'm crazy, I say they're crazy. So would it be acceptable to put a heating tape, with insulation, on this pipe?
The crappy part is I think I'm screwed either way: if the pipe freezes and bursts or if there is a problem with the heating tape because I would have to tear the floor up again. Although I'd prefer a bust pipe to a potential fire.