Winter-proofing
Frost is the job
In the Interior, a water line is a plan against frost with some pipe attached. We choose depth, insulation, heat and a way to drain down, and we write down which ones your place has.
No one method works everywhere. Gravel, silt and permafrost hold cold differently, a cable needs power, and a cabin that sits empty needs a different plan from a house with a family in it.
Each line is labeled where it leaves the well and where it enters the house.
Every heat cable gets its own breaker, and the breaker gets a label.
You get a one-page sketch of where lines, cables and shutoffs run.
Four ways to keep a line from freezing
We pick one, or two together
Frost depth
Bury the line below the frost. Where permafrost or ledge stops that, we go shallower and insulate.
Best on gravel with no permafrost
Cost grows with trench length
Needs workable ground to dig
Insulated lines
A jacketed pipe, buried or in an insulated box above ground, that holds the water's heat.
Best where the ground is hard to dig
Works with or without power
A damaged jacket loses its value
Heat trace
A self-regulating cable along the pipe that warms it as it cools, under insulation.
Needs power, on its own breaker
A dead cable is easy to miss: we label it
Checked each fall before freeze-up
Drain-down
Valves and a written order of steps to empty the lines, for places that sit empty in winter.
Best for seasonal cabins
Needs low points with drains
Takes a person on site to do it
If a line freezes
Do this first, in this order
Shut the main valve
A split pipe floods the moment it thaws. Close the main first, and the house keeps its floors.
Open the nearest tap
An open tap gives thawing water somewhere to go and shows you when it runs again.
Warm the room, not the pipe
Open cabinet doors under sinks and heat the room. Never use a torch, a heat gun or any open flame on a pipe.
Call, and tell us three things
Which pipe, whether it has split, and when the heat last worked. We will say when we can be there.
The year
What happens to a rural water system, month by month
- Before freeze-up
Step 1: September and October
Pre-freeze check: heat cable test, insulation, drain valves, and a look at what the summer changed.
- Freeze watch
Step 2: November to March
Freeze-up calls. Heat trace failures, pump failures and lines that froze. Calls come in evenings and weekends, and we say the rate on the phone.
- Thaw
Step 3: April and May
Break-up. Thaw can split a pipe that froze unnoticed and soften driveways for a loaded truck. We check lines that froze and plan which places we can reach.
- Build
Step 4: June to August
Digging season. New wells, long trenches and crawl-space work, while the ground can be dug and the days are long.
Before the cold
Book the pre-freeze check in September
We test the heat cable, look at the insulation and walk the drain-down steps with you.