Insulating new water connection

[Triggaaar]

I need to run a water supply (25mm MDPE pipe) to my guest house & shed, and ideally I would run it 750mm (2'6") underground to protect it from frost, but there are a couple of areas where this isn't too easy:
1) where the pipe enters the new building, because the foundations are full of steel (so I'd like to put the pipe in above DPC)
2) Along side the new build where digging is extremely tricky
3) half way down the garden, where I'd like to install a tap for a hose

Can anyone suggest some long lasting pipe insulation for use under/over ground that would do the job well?

Thanks

 

[WellsWood]

I can't help with the insulation Trig, but strewth 750mm deep to avoid frost? :shock:
Where do you live - Murmansk? I'd have thought a foot or so would be more than adequate, but then again maybe we're spoilt down here in the temperate Southeast.

 

[Triggaaar]

strewth 750mm deep to avoid frost? :shock:

Where do you live - Murmansk? I'd have thought a foot or so would be more than adequate, but then again maybe we're spoilt down here in the temperate Southeast.

Strewth? - is that southeast Australia?

I'm in the south east and it'd be great if 1 foot is enough, but 750mm is building regs.

 

[WellsWood]

Well there you go, you learn something new every day. I guess we have to believe the "experts" at the planning department - and rules is rules - but the optimist (or pessimist, depending on your viewpoint on climate change) in me can't quite believe we're ever going to get another winter in this part of the world that will freeze more than a few inches of topsoil.

 

[wizer]

can't quite believe we're ever going to get another winter in this part of the world that will freeze more than a few inches of topsoil.

I bloody hope so

 

[9fingers]

Some sort of closed cell foam plus mechanical protection should do the trick.

How about rigid pvc piping such as gutter downpipe surrounding the supply pipe wedged centrally and then filled with builders foam?

Bob

 

[Triggaaar]

I guess we have to believe the "experts" at the planning department - and rules is rules - but the optimist (or pessimist, depending on your viewpoint on climate change) in me can't quite believe we're ever going to get another winter in this part of the world that will freeze more than a few inches of topsoil.

That's a fair point, and maybe I can get away with less than the regs. It's not going to be checked, and it's only for me, so if it goes wrong I'd be the one digging it up and fixing it. I can understand the regs though, these pipes should be in the ground for hundreds of years, so we don't want it going wrong. Although listening to the news this week, if there's no polar ice left in 20 years, I think the south east will be under water anyway.

 

[WellsWood]

Some sort of closed cell foam plus mechanical protection should do the trick.

How about rigid pvc piping such as gutter downpipe surrounding the supply pipe wedged centrally and then filled with builders foam?

Bob

I think this is pretty much how I would do it. Probably with polypipe for the feed with this stuff around it, and then slide the whole lot into downpipe or similar. I don't think the builders foam would work as you'd have no practical way of keeping the feed pipe central. As long as it's down far enough so you can't hit it with a garden spade I can't imagine for a second any winter would affect it. And like you say, who's ever going to dig it up to check ? :wink:

 

[MikeG.]

I guess we have to believe the "experts" at the planning department - and rules is rules .

Don't blame the Planners.......it's nothing to do with them. This is Building Regulations: different department altogether.

Again, people often misinterpret the Approved Documents as "rules". They aren't. The actual Building Regulations themselves are incredibly short.......it is the Approved Documents which are long-winded, and the bit that everybody treats as rules. If you can prove that you have an alternative way of meeting any particular Regulation, then you can ignore the guidance. But you do have to be able to prove it. Generally, it is easier to stick to the Approved Documents.

Mike

 

[gav]

I recently had to replace my water main and anglian water insisted on inspecting it open in the trench before they would connect it in the street.

Yes it had to be 750mm deep.

Where it came in to the house it couldn't be 750mm deep as I couldn't bore through the footings. they insisted I insulated it to the point it reached 750mm deep and so far in from the house wall.

For underground insulation they said I had to use an underground waterproof pipe insulation, like Armaflex Tuffcoat, as the normal types of pipe insulation get wet and become ineffective. I will say that this stuff is not cheap but when you need water you have to go with what the inspector says.

Gav

 

[bob321]

750 - 1250mm it is to protect it from frost and to stop the temp of the water rising above 16 or 21 degrees. i would know coz i am a plumber soon



bob321

 

[Triggaaar]

For underground insulation they said I had to use an underground waterproof pipe insulation, like Armaflex Tuffcoat, as the normal types of pipe insulation get wet and become ineffective.

I'll check that stuff out, thanks.

750 - 1250mm it is to protect it from frost and to stop the temp of the water rising above 16 or 21 degrees. i would know coz i am a plumber soon

Well if it comes up in a test, remember it's 750-1350