cpvc destroyed

[Billyfixit]

I bought a mobile home foreclosure fixer upper in central florida. No one has lived in it for 7 years. I got the well going and the cpvc throughout the underneath was split everywhere. It was also behind the underpinned insulation but still underneath the floor of the mobile home. Obviously it was full of water and had frozen and split at some point in time. I am replacing it but my question is how do I prevent this from happening in the future? Its not a place I'm going to be living in 24/7. Its more for weekend getaways. Any ideas?

 

[hj]

ANY pipe, unless it is drain can freeze and break under the right/wrong conditions. Insulation does NOT prevent it, it just slows the process down. If the pipe does not get some "heat", either externally or from "new water" flowing through it, it will freeze eventually.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Reach4]

Drain your pipes. If you plan it, you can do it fairly easily. If gravity is not totally sufficient, compressed air can help. Leaving faucets open may help if you might have residual water.

You can put non-poisonous antifreeze into drains and things you cannot drain.

 

[DonL]

I have about the same weather here as you do.

I use Heat Tape with a thermostat that turns on at 35 deg.

It works fine if AC power is available.

 

[Master Plumber Mark]

Wirsbo aquapex

The absolute best water pipe to install would be the Uponor aquapex.... if you set it up with a central manifold by the water heater that you can
blow out and drain and install no fitting joints under the trailer the pipes can still freeze but they will not break....

the heat tape is still necessary, but this stuff will not break when it freezes..

I have been down this road with a guy who let his new home freeze solid for about a month...it all thawed out once the heat was on and sprung back to life with no issues I was impressed