PVC Pipe and Winter

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Hi folks...

Currently all the hoses in my pond is the black flex-style hose and although it works great, where it exits the pond and leads to my filters, it's starting to show its age and late last Fall just before shutdown I was starting to fight pinhole sized leaks in it.

This spring I want to put in some PVC anywhere the hoses exit the pond and route it to behind my waterfall where i keep my filters. My concern is what will happen in Wintertime and freezing? For Winter I remove all the filters, shut down the waterfall and just run floating heaters coupled with sufficient aeration.

What do you all do to prevent the PVC from freezing over the Winter?

Wammy
 

mrsclem

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Hi Wammy- as long as the pipes are drained there should be no problems. I had pvc bottom drains break last winter because after I drained the filters, I closed the drains and melting snow in the filters froze.
 
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When we turn off the pump and filter, the lines drain and Leave them open. So far so good.
 

addy1

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I just pull my pump, everything turned off, some of the lines hold a bit of water but open to the air, so far they have survived the winter.
 

sissy

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I use sump pump hose and it is still the original hose from back in 2010 .I just got some new stuff at rural king and going to use it to protect some of the power cords
 
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Just remember to never close the valves. If you do then water can accumulate even after the lines are drained. When that happens the valves will crack. The pipes are easy to fix but the valves can get expensive.
 

mrsclem

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Just remember to never close the valves. If you do then water can accumulate even after the lines are drained. When that happens the valves will crack. The pipes are easy to fix but the valves can get expensive.
Thats exactly what happened to me last year! Had 2 heavy duty valves freeze and explode. NOT cheap!
 

addy1

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That is always on my check list, valves open, check, lines open, check. No broken pipes since the one where the deer walked on one.
Thats exactly what happened to me last year! Had 2 heavy duty valves freeze and explode. NOT cheap!
 
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There is a flexible PVC that can be glued to regular schedule 40 fittings. They claim it can withstand freezing too. I'll be looking into that this spring. I've been using the standard pond hose (the corrugated type) but it has a very short lifespan. Time to upgrade.
 
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There is a flexible PVC that can be glued to regular schedule 40 fittings. They claim it can withstand freezing too. I'll be looking into that this spring. I've been using the standard pond hose (the corrugated type) but it has a very short lifespan. Time to upgrade.
I use that stuff and I wouldn't trust it not to crack. If it does it's expensive. Drain it like you would any other line. The other thing is that if it's filled with water whatever is stopping the water from coming out ( such as a valve) will crack.







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