Water lines in barns

Anonymous-0 · Feb 11, 2009

Hey folks. In a couple of posts, guys were talking about busted water lines and drinkers in barns. What do you folks use for plumbing? What works best? And' how do you keep things from freezing? I just finished fixing my auto waterers that froze and a couple of valves that are shot from the swelling. Have galvanized pipe now. Really interested in what works for you folks cause it doesn't get near as cold here.

Thinking about using the black PVC and heat band (on a thermostat) and just insulating and puttind a PVC Jacket (3 inch or so) on the drops.

Dave

Negligence · Feb 11, 2009

We use an air compressor to blow out water lines in the barn after each use. Never had a problem freezing, but the compressor needs to be kept in a heated area so it always works. I find it won't start in -20 or lower temps.

showcrop · Feb 11, 2009

Hi Dave, We had an electric heated waterer in the barn for many years. I planted a three ft length of 12 inch culvert pipe for it to sit on and the riser of 1 inch black poly came up to about one foot below ground where I installed a sillcock. a 4 ft rubber hose ran up from there giving me slack for hook-up and maint. The waterer sat on top of the culvert pipe and never froze up in ten years with below zero temps. I have seen units that are similar insulated boxes that need no elec. with a poly ball that your critters push down with their nose to get water. with these it is important to size properly so that there is not too long a period between uses when it may freeze.

Nebraska Cowman · Feb 11, 2009

I don't know. We always used galvanised in the dairy barn but it seldom froze. Cows give off a lot of heat. Now I run cattle outside. The water lines are underground to open tanks with float valves. Except for ice on top they never freeze.

Michael Soldan · Feb 11, 2009

An older neighbour told me how to avoid frozen lines.., I had a line running into a 200 gallon trough and he said to set the valve so there is a flow about the size of a lead pencil, the cattle will keep the trough drank down and the flowing water never freezes...it worked quite well and as long as your herd is big enough to keep the tank drank down it will work fine, next I would use heat tape. Friend has pipes insulated with foam pipe insulation covered with plastic field tile. The tile keeps the wind off the line, the foam holds the heat in and it works fairly well.

Wheat Farmer · Feb 11, 2009

I have water lines that are only one or two feet deep because of rock. I cover them in slack coal (Fine stuff)I try and get 2" under them and as much as I can above them. For above ground units I built a box around them and filled that with coal. I have seen -20°F and they haven"t froze. The trick now days is to find coal.

bc · Feb 11, 2009

Black pvc will freeze up and split out. Pex will not split if frozen up. So Pex would be my choice. Heat tape laid along side of the pipe and cover with foam pipe insulation. Then wrap with fiberglass pipe wrap. Probably should insulate any pipe down to the frost level. heat tape can get expensive depending upon how much above ground run you have plus require elec outlets.

JiminIA · Feb 11, 2009

If you are talking a dairy barn, here is what we did when we replaced the galv.pipes. We used 1 1/2" sch 80 pvc pipe for supply and the drops we used flexible lines that clamped on the pvc( purchased from farmtek). That solved 99% of our problems. When it was really cold the cows only went out for a short time and came back in to keep the barn warm enough....Jim

As an after thought as someone said above with the availabilty of PEX now that maybe the way to go, a little more expensive for fittings, tubing and crimp tool but it seems to be pretty versatile..

kyhayman · Feb 11, 2009

I use the Richie frost free units and hydrants with below ground valves. Rather than depend on electricity (ours was out 5 days the last time) and heat tape. I'd rather have my lines buried and when I need to move water around to use hoses, or the sealed frost proof tanks.

Ken Macfarlane · Feb 11, 2009

Yeah my compressor and bench grinder don't like sub zero and if
you force them to try it burns up the capacitors.

Most dairies here don't let the cattle out in the winter because the
barn would freeze up too quick.

My sisters dairy barn built in the 50's last had a herd inside in
1996 I believe (about 50 head) and now the floor and walls are all
broken up and heaved. She has lots of sheep and pigs inside but
they don't have enough body mass to throw heat like cattle.

Anonymous-0 · Feb 11, 2009

Thanks Folks.

Guess I should have been more specific. The water line feeds automatic waters (bowls) in open horse stalls that don't hold body heat. I've been keeping up with it by turning everything off and opening valves when temps go below freezing. Just snuck up on me this year and made a mess. Temps usually don't get below 20f here (except the little spat of global warming dropped them to 15 for a few days) overnight and a couple of days in Jan. I've got PVC for the supply and a 150ft heat tape w/ thermostat. I like the flex drops though and will probably use the idea.
When I have nothing else to spend money on or if temps continue to stay below freezing, there is a setup available that you run your supply line continuously through drink bowls (no limit) and back to the starting point. When temps hit freezing a circulation pump kicks on every hour or so. When temps get way down, a heating element kicks in. About a thousand bucks but getting cheaper each year.

Dave

Don-Wi · Feb 11, 2009

Can't say we have problems too often because of the cows body heat. The one line going outside is off from november through february/march. If it is warm enough it's turned on during the day and off again at night.

Use mostly galvanized pipe in the barn, but there is some PVC also.

Donovan from Wisconsin

bc · Feb 11, 2009

(quoted from post at 07:20:07 02/11/09) Hey folks. In a couple of posts, guys were talking about busted water lines and drinkers in barns. What do you folks use for plumbing? What works best? And' how do you keep things from freezing? I just finished fixing my auto waterers that froze and a couple of valves that are shot from the swelling. Have galvanized pipe now. Really interested in what works for you folks cause it doesn't get near as cold here.

Thinking about using the black PVC and heat band (on a thermostat) and just insulating and puttind a PVC Jacket (3 inch or so) on the drops.

Dave

You are probably thinking permanent which is why I mentioned pex. Pex can be thawed with a hair dryer or pour boiling water on it.

But we fill two stock tanks with two old garden hoses that run up into the loft and drop into each tank and drop down at the frost free faucet. Unhook the ends from the faucet and removed the ends out of the tanks to stop freezing and back syphoning and then they gravity drain on their own.

Anonymous-0 · Feb 12, 2009

Heat tape mfg says dont use foam insulation,only fiberglass wrap.

Anonymous-0 · Feb 12, 2009

One system I looked at had a small compressor in the house cellar plus electric valves that shut off the water and let air into the lines.My brother in law used frost proof hydrants when he had horses.

Water lines in barns

Anonymous-0

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Negligence

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showcrop

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Nebraska Cowman

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Michael Soldan

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Wheat Farmer

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bc

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JiminIA

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kyhayman

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Ken Macfarlane

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Anonymous-0

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Don-Wi

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bc

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Anonymous-0

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Anonymous-0

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