yds
New Member
Hi. Just last Friday I finally had my service line replaced. I now have 1inch copper from the street. Finally, pressure!!
The new line was installed so that the meter and first 10 feet of line is in an unheated "cold storage" room under my concrete front porch (only reasonably priced option I had for the new service). I'm slightly concerned about freezing issues now, and looking for advice on what is best to prevent any possible problems.
I'm located in Toronto, and we can get some pretty cold snaps in winter. Last year, I monitored the temperature in the cold room using a wireless thermometer. I don't recall it ever getting below freezing, but it did get down into the low single digits (celsius - that would be the high 30's for fahrenheit). However, last year was a fairly mild winter, and I don't profess to have kept track of the temperature religiously.
I've put foam pipewrap on most of the piping from the meter to the entrance to the house. But I don't know what to do (if anything) with the meter or the 6 inches of pipe + shutoff coming out of the ground to the meter (wrap is not pracital on this section because of the shutoff).
I thought of putting a small space heater with thermostat in the room and setting the thermostat low enough so that it only comes on when temp is almost at zero. But heating the entire space seems wasteful (it's about a 6X15 foot room), even if it wouldn't come on much.
I've thought about using heat-tape on the meter, but not sure if that would be ok, or even if that would be enough to keep it from freezing.
I've also wondered if I really need to worry at all? I suspect that even if we had a really cold snap that lasted, the temp in the room wouldn't drop to much more than a few degrees below zero (Celsius), and perhaps the pipes and meter could withstand that?
Anyway, looking for any expert advice.
The new line was installed so that the meter and first 10 feet of line is in an unheated "cold storage" room under my concrete front porch (only reasonably priced option I had for the new service). I'm slightly concerned about freezing issues now, and looking for advice on what is best to prevent any possible problems.
I'm located in Toronto, and we can get some pretty cold snaps in winter. Last year, I monitored the temperature in the cold room using a wireless thermometer. I don't recall it ever getting below freezing, but it did get down into the low single digits (celsius - that would be the high 30's for fahrenheit). However, last year was a fairly mild winter, and I don't profess to have kept track of the temperature religiously.
I've put foam pipewrap on most of the piping from the meter to the entrance to the house. But I don't know what to do (if anything) with the meter or the 6 inches of pipe + shutoff coming out of the ground to the meter (wrap is not pracital on this section because of the shutoff).
I thought of putting a small space heater with thermostat in the room and setting the thermostat low enough so that it only comes on when temp is almost at zero. But heating the entire space seems wasteful (it's about a 6X15 foot room), even if it wouldn't come on much.
I've thought about using heat-tape on the meter, but not sure if that would be ok, or even if that would be enough to keep it from freezing.
I've also wondered if I really need to worry at all? I suspect that even if we had a really cold snap that lasted, the temp in the room wouldn't drop to much more than a few degrees below zero (Celsius), and perhaps the pipes and meter could withstand that?
Anyway, looking for any expert advice.
