DJR
New Member
Hello,
My question relates to freeze prevention for a home waterline in Fairbanks, AK. Water for the house comes from a well that is connected to a buried 1500 gal steel water tank. That waterline is around 60 feet long, buried some unknown depth, and protected with heat tape on the outside of the pipe that is on all winter. This part of the system has never frozen.
The water then runs 50 feet from the buried tank to the house in a buried 1 in soft copper pipe that passes through a 3 ft unheated crawl space into the house pressure tank. This part of the water line froze before I owned the house. The previous owner had the pipe replaced all the way to the tank. He put external heat tape on the pipe and had an internal heating element installed in the pipe as well, a Wattco spiral Calrod. That was in 2005, I've owned the house since 2007.
As per the previous owner's instructions, we have run the Calrod on a timer all winter, 1 hr on every 8 hours, and it was worked flawlessly, even when the house has been unoccupied for several weeks while we were away for the holidays...until this winter.
The line from the tank froze to the house while we were away this December. A plumber thawed the line with a thaw box and found that the Calrod had corroded and stopped working after 18 winters of use.
We have been using the external heat trace on the water line since the Calrod failed. We have never had to rely on the heat tape before, but it seems to be working, although it has not been tested by a prolonged period of no water use. I worry it will not be as good freeze protection as the Calrod.
I would like to put another internal heating element in the pipe. The problem is the old Calrod won't come out of the pipe. The plumber who has helped me with this says he has never been able to remove an old Calrod from a waterline. When I contacted Wattco about this, they said it should come out, but won't say how to get it out.
My question, finally: does any one in this forum know from experience how to remove a heating element from inside a copper waterpipe? The Calrod is ~ 3/8 in copper tube that is a spiral and ~ 50 ft long. Simply pulling it has only worked to remove a small piece. The plumber cut the waterline a bit lower to get access to the Calrod again, but it won't budge.
I know Heatline makes internal heat probes, but until I get the old Calrod out, there is not space for one in the pipe, unless someone knows of a very narrow diameter heat probe. I would like to have redundant freeze protection for that waterline, with both an internal heat probe and external heat tape. It seems that short of excavating a new waterline, I may not be able to replace the Calrod unless I can get it out.
I think that even getting the first 10 feet or so of the Calrod removed and replaced would be helpful as the pipe is most likely to freeze where it passes through the crawl space, despite being covered by over a foot of spray foam (the temp here can stay at -40 F/C for a week plus at a time).
I welcome and appreciate your input.
Dan
My question relates to freeze prevention for a home waterline in Fairbanks, AK. Water for the house comes from a well that is connected to a buried 1500 gal steel water tank. That waterline is around 60 feet long, buried some unknown depth, and protected with heat tape on the outside of the pipe that is on all winter. This part of the system has never frozen.
The water then runs 50 feet from the buried tank to the house in a buried 1 in soft copper pipe that passes through a 3 ft unheated crawl space into the house pressure tank. This part of the water line froze before I owned the house. The previous owner had the pipe replaced all the way to the tank. He put external heat tape on the pipe and had an internal heating element installed in the pipe as well, a Wattco spiral Calrod. That was in 2005, I've owned the house since 2007.
As per the previous owner's instructions, we have run the Calrod on a timer all winter, 1 hr on every 8 hours, and it was worked flawlessly, even when the house has been unoccupied for several weeks while we were away for the holidays...until this winter.
The line from the tank froze to the house while we were away this December. A plumber thawed the line with a thaw box and found that the Calrod had corroded and stopped working after 18 winters of use.
We have been using the external heat trace on the water line since the Calrod failed. We have never had to rely on the heat tape before, but it seems to be working, although it has not been tested by a prolonged period of no water use. I worry it will not be as good freeze protection as the Calrod.
I would like to put another internal heating element in the pipe. The problem is the old Calrod won't come out of the pipe. The plumber who has helped me with this says he has never been able to remove an old Calrod from a waterline. When I contacted Wattco about this, they said it should come out, but won't say how to get it out.
My question, finally: does any one in this forum know from experience how to remove a heating element from inside a copper waterpipe? The Calrod is ~ 3/8 in copper tube that is a spiral and ~ 50 ft long. Simply pulling it has only worked to remove a small piece. The plumber cut the waterline a bit lower to get access to the Calrod again, but it won't budge.
I know Heatline makes internal heat probes, but until I get the old Calrod out, there is not space for one in the pipe, unless someone knows of a very narrow diameter heat probe. I would like to have redundant freeze protection for that waterline, with both an internal heat probe and external heat tape. It seems that short of excavating a new waterline, I may not be able to replace the Calrod unless I can get it out.
I think that even getting the first 10 feet or so of the Calrod removed and replaced would be helpful as the pipe is most likely to freeze where it passes through the crawl space, despite being covered by over a foot of spray foam (the temp here can stay at -40 F/C for a week plus at a time).
I welcome and appreciate your input.
Dan
