As hard as we try to turn off the main water valves and drain the pipes, winter freezing temperatures still causes problems. I needed to repair one of the water valves this week.
I turned off the main valve at the water tank.
Cut out the leaking valve using my dovetail saw.
I then installed a new valve. Because I cut out a section of pipe, I needed to join the pipe with a rubber coupling. I should add that water is gravity fed from a water tank, so I could use a rubber coupling because the water pressure is minimal. If the water was under city water pressure, I would have used a different type of coupling.
After the glue dried, I turned on the water at the tank and pumped water back to the kitchen sink.
I have three other valves to fix, but they can wait until spring.
Have a great day and thanks for your up-vote, Tim and Joann
Thanks for the practical and informative post. Because we have had some unusually cold weather in Arkansas this winter, I have naturally been thinking about how to keep pipes from freezing when I get to that point in our offgrid cabin build. It helps to see that even experienced offgrid homesteaders sometimes struggle with this issue, and just have to be prepared to make repairs as required.
I'm sure those pvc valves don't like winter
Not unless the water is drained out.
Looks like u got some work cut out for you. Who knew owning property took so much of your time to maintain right?
You have a good system running. Smart and efficient. Is there any way you can insulate them so that you won’t have the same problems next year? I love the pump at the sink and the shut off valve attached to it. Nice work. 🐓🐓
When temps drop below 27 deg pipes will crack. Insulation would only help a little.
So much for that idea. Lol.🐓🐓
In your experience, what is the best material for pipes to handle the freezing issue - both in resistance to freezing and in resistance to breaking when freezing does occur?
I like to use galvanized or copper pipes when I can, but PVC is less expensive and easier to repair. However, any type pipe will break if exposed to the cold winter temps. We just make it a practice to drain the pipes when temps below 27 degs are expected.
What about using PEX? I have started replacing all of my plumbing with PEX pipe which is supposed to be more resistant to freezing - not really sure if the same applies to the PEX fittings or not though. I also enjoyed seeing your use of the dovetail saw which as I remember you posted about earlier.
PEX would be okay, but would still crack if temps got too low. The fittings would be more expensive and would require special tools. That would be a good Steemit post on installing PEX.
Simple fix but then again it is just a part of the never ending job of homestead maintenance!