Insulating pipes at outdoor underground stopcock.

[Geo]

My friend has a water supply from a large tank fed with water from a stream (farm cottage). The pipes to the outside stopcock were buried about 12 inches down but the pipe has leaked several times so he has dug around it to form a cavity around the stopcock and will be putting a slab on top. The main pipe from the tank to the stopcock is about 1 3/8" lead then 1/2" copper to the cottage. He is worried about frost now that the earth has been removed. Any suggestions on the best way to insulate?

Geo

[sm_jamieson]

Stopcock chambers commonly have a big disk of polystyrene in the top of them, so something like this should do. Don't use glass fibre etc, since it will no insulate when wet. Simon.

[Geo]

I passed that on to him today and he seems to like the idea - many thanks...

Geo