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Outdoor water fixture/heat tape no freeze question
QUESTION:I have a horse and a cow that need water run to their barn before winter.
I paid an excavator to install pvc pipe from a well to a 3 car garage a few
hundred feet from the well. The PVC pipe is below the frost line, but I
need to install a well pump and a spigot in the barn ( a converted 3 car
garage ). I looked at Sears' site and I think I can handle installing the
submersible pump in the well. I have 120vAC to the well and there was a
220V pump already in the well but no 220V power so I will have to buy and
install a new 120VAC submersible pump from Sears.
My question is this: I live in Maine, USA. The barn/garage is unheated,
but has electricity. Since winters here will cause any above-ground
plumbing to freeze and burst, I will need to install some sort of heating
tape or something at the spigot end to keep that from happening. I looked
into spigots that would let the water drain back, but then while
researching well pumps, I noticed that they all come with a valve that
prevents backflow so that won't work. I don't really want to have to turn
off the well pump when not in use and I also don't want to wait for it to
fill the pipe that leads from the well to the barn. I want some heat tape
solution.
Does anyone know how to install an above ground water source that will
survive winters in an unheated barn/garage in Maine, USA possibly using
some kind of electrical heat tape?
ANSWER: You should be using 220vac for the pump. How are you going about sizing
the pump? There are a number ofthings you need to know before you buy
one. The cable has to be sized properly for the hp of the pump, voltage
and distance of the run from the power source to the pump. IMO you're
going to have problems finding a 120 v pump if your well is very deep
and/or the depth to the water line in the well and, your distance to the
barn also has to be taken into consideration.
You want a frost free hydrant, they come in various lengths so as to
keep the faucet height where you want it and to get the water line
connection below frost level for your area. In Maine I might guess about
48", maybe more so, a 4' frost free will give you 3' above ground and 4'
under ground. They drain into the earth under them so the earth should
be about a foot below the end of it and filled with smallish gravel and
then the water line connection to the frost free should be in a 5 gal
bucket with 1/4" holes drilled all over the bottom and sides that is
filled with the same gravel; like 2B or 3B gravel you would use on a
gravel drive way. You want support so the dirt doesn't cave it in but
you want good drainage.
I would have used 3/4" 200 psi rated PE rolled tubing for the water line
material instead of PVC with all its joints every 20' and its stiffness
but... it's too late for that.
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