I ran about 40 feet of 1" PCV pipe across the ceiling in my barn. It goes from the hydrant (spigot) in the "water room" to the opposite side of the barn. The object is to get the water over to that side of the divided barn to water the animals on that side. The pipe has a short hose on the end by the hydrant. The PVC goes up the wall, and angles downward across the ceiling so that the water can escape on both ends when the hoses are disconnected.
This works fine, even in our severe northern cold winters, as long as the hoses are removed from both ends as soon as I complete filling the water tanks for the animals. I must also always leave the valve open on the low end where the water exits. As long as the valve is left open and hoses removed, all the water drains out both ends.
The problem is that I occasionally have hired help. I can tell these guys a million times to OPEN that valve and remove the hoses, but they seem to often forget to do this, particularly open the valve. Once the weather gets cold, this PVC pipe freezes and literally breaks apart in pieces. It seems that every year this happens at least once, and it just happened again.
I think I need a different type of pipe that will handle freezing better. While freezing will cause problems (since I cant use this pipeline), at least I wont have to keep replacing parts of it. I know that both copper and steel pipe will break when frozen, although not as badly as this PVC which just self destructs.
From what I have found, the only thing that will handle freezing is PEX. But I dont see how I can prevent sags in PEX, and sags will hold water and freeze. About the only way would be to put boards up there, or maybe something like rebar, and attach hangers every 8" or so. That seems like a lot of work and a big hassle. Besides that, do they even make 1" PEX? Plus, what about the brass fittings. Maybe the PEX wont break from freezing, but what about those fittings, wont they break? If all of this is not enough reason NOT to use PEX, I dont have the tools to install the crimps, and I can just imagine what this tool would cost for 1" PEX, just to make about 6 joints.
The thought has arisen to premake the whole thing, and take it to a plumber to install the crimps.
Then too, I know abotu those Sharkbite connectors, but I bet they would fail immediately if the pipes froze. I also wonder if plain hose clamps would work, and I suspect they would. Yet, I will still have the sagging problems and can not see a simple way to eliminate that since the pipe is literally suspended in the air. I fastened the PVC using hanger straps from the rafters, but they work fine spaced about 8 feet apart.
The other thought I have is that black poly pipe that is normally used underground. That stuff is cheap and may or may not hold up to freezing (I dont know?). But that stuff will likely tend to sag too, maybe not as bad, but it still will.
(No, not a garden hose, I actually used that first and hoses can freeze and do not break, but with the hose I had the sagging problem, and all the dips would freeze, which I why I went to a solid pipe.
What else is there? Any ideas?
Thanks