Frozen taps????

ILuvCowparsely

ILuvCowparsely

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Just thought I would share our way round the taps being frozen. No need to pour water over the taps to thaw them out.

We had this done, the bottom taps for human hands etc , the top ones hot and cold with hose attachments. We cut a short piece of hose long enough from the tap to the floor so buckets can be place in the common room on the floor and filled up as normal. Then for the further stables we place the full bucket of water on the sledge and skedaddle across the yard.

So when the tap freezes we have no problems. Excuse their dirty sink liveries wet their ready grass and feeds too


Feel free to use this idea if you wish .:)
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This year we've used a 1000 litre IBC container (about £20 from ebay) we filled this before the cold weather started and store it in our haybarn - it hasn't frozen at all and a splash of hot water over the tap defrosts that part, should see ours out to the weekend when hopefully a thaw is coming!
 
How does that stop the freezing? Can't quite figure it out, we have pipes like that but they still freeze. I get so fed up with frozen pipes/taps. I think one is defrosted most days but by the time I get up at night it's frozen again.
 
(Scratching head) - er, yeah, I'm with the previous poster, sorry am a bit confused OP. Don't see how this set-up prevents anything freezing???? But perhaps I'm just being numpty.

I thawed my pipes out the other day by the old fashioned method of boiling up a kettle and then wrapping a towel dipped in the hot water round the pipe and tap - it took about twenty mins but we got there in the end; the water started out as just a p!ddle but then I could hear the ice crystals coming down the pipe and hey presto we had water again!

Just another tip if you live in a freezing barn like I do: my dear old dad gave me this one (his father/my grand-dad was a plumber) - if you're worried about the taps in your house freezing up then just leave a tap dripping in your coldest room(s). This will ensure the water is kept flowing through the pipes and give it a better chance of not freezing up.

For example, my utility room is NE facing and has a history of freezing up in the past so I always leave it with a slight drip if its chilly outside. You don't want a constant flow (especially if you're on metered water, like us), its a sort of drip, drip, drip, drip every couple of seconds or so you're after, just to keep the water moving very slowly.

Also (know its obvious) but lag pipes wherever possible especially at joints and tap-junctions.
 
MiJodsR2BlinkinTite said:
(Scratching head) - er, yeah, I'm with the previous poster, sorry am a bit confused OP. Don't see how this set-up prevents anything freezing???? But perhaps I'm just being numpty.
Click to expand...


This system wont stop an outside tap from freezing ( unless you put on hot tap and hose the yard tap) This is an alternative water supply when the yard tap has frozen




This system is in our common room which is warm and toasty this mains water is underground and feeds the house too NEVER EVER.
freezes


My hubby is a senior planner and he designed this inside the common room

When the yard tap freezes we just use hot water through the spare hose to free it then put on the cold water tap inside the common room and fill the buckets.

We do not bother to thaw the yard tap as the yard tap is out in the cold - thus freezes - This is in a room so does not freeze
 
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We have a special standpipe installed on our yard. The valve is underground and all the water drains away from the tap after use so it can not freeze. It has been installed for about ten years now and we have never had a problem.
 
A clever friend of mine got his plumber to drill through the outside wall of the house and plumb a yard tap directly into the hot water system so he has hot water in the yard.
 
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