Copper line not splitting when frozen??
Ledebuhr1
| Posted in General Discussion on
Neighbor has a large water line for feeding his sprinklers. Its a 2″ copper that comes out of the ground. It had water in it up to about 8″ above the ground where a ball valve is. We are in SE michigan, and this winter it got really cold. We just went over to check it and we could not find any cracks in it at all. It was under very little pressure, untill the system is turned on this spring. The water line is out away from buildings and has no heat source
I though that copper would crack when water froze it it? Is it a mericle that it dident bust open, or normal?
Replies
Check the tarnish marks.
There is probably an image of Jesus or the Virgin Mary!!!
You're gonna be rich!!!
I don't Know what I am doing
But
I am VERY good at it!!
Good luck!
I am in VA and just replaced a frost free hydrant that got nailed this winter.
My wife left the hose on to water the dogs!
Edited 4/3/2007 7:44 pm ET by VAVince
Pipe doesn't burst because of the water in a section of pipe freezing per se, but rather because the water at opposite ends freezes FIRST, trapping some liquid water in the middle that subsequently freezes. As the water freezes from both ends towards the middle the very slight expansion that occurs during freezing "adds up" to produce considerable pressure in the last section to freeze.
A short, straight section of copper can be frozen without damage (and, in fact, this is a way that plumbers sometimes deal with pipes where there's no shutoff valve).
So damage is not a "given". But it should be suspected and watched for. More likely is a crack in the valve due to water freezing unevenly in it and the ice getting trapped by the geometry of the valve.
The valve probably should be replaced with a frost proof hydrant kind of like this:
http://plumbing.hardwarestore.com/52-306-frostproof-faucets/frost-proof-hydrant-629971.aspx
Thanks for your help,
I though when a pipe froze the water expanded in both the width and length. If it expands in the width shouldnet the pipe then split open?
I thought this is also why fire hydrants have shut offs way below the ground line.
I didnet see any holy mark on it, but i will check agian. :)
If the water can expand in length it doesn't expand in width.
So convenient a thing it is to be a reasonable Creature, since it enables one to find or make a Reason for everything one has a mind to do. --Benjamin Franklin
What Dan said. In your situation the water freezes from the top down. So long as the liquid water beneath it has somewhere to go to, the ice won't break anything.Bill
Yeah, my wife freezes food in the freezer in MASON jars! I tell her it won't work, but she's been doing it for years; never broken one.
Forrest