Water line, Another question, sorry

[Banjo Bud]

i put a riser pipe in at the high point in my run. As you can see in the picture it comes up to ground level and is capped. I plan to prime it there if it needs it. At the least, I will uncap it to allow air to escape while I prime it at the pump. My question now is about the possibility of the water in the riser pipe freezing. I’m near Charlotte, NC, so it’s not bad here but still, we do get freezing temps. So, if I prime it at the cap, and look into the riser pipe while priming, and don’t allow the water to come up the riser pipe, will the riser pipe stay that way? Void of water? If so, I have no worries. If however it will eventually have water in it, it may freeze and break. So any suggestions to address that possibility are welcome. I thought of making the pipe shorter and surrounding it with a 4” or 6” PVC and insulating that. But not sure how I would screw and unscrew the cap while holding the cap base so as not to break the pipe off. Thanks guys.

 

[Valveman]

I am more worried about the air that will accumulate in that riser. I also worry the threads on the plug will cause a suction leak. But yes if it is full of water as it should be, it will freeze anytime it gets below 32.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Banjo Bud]

But if I don’t fill the riser pipe, will it stay empty? Do you have a better idea instead of the threaded cap?

 

[Valveman]

Threaded cap is the best you can do. That riser will stay full of water when you are using the pump. If it gets air in the riser, it will move on down to the pump and cause it to lose prime.

 

[Banjo Bud]

Maybe I’ll put a ball valve in instead of the cap. Put it down as low as I can. Then put it one of those sprinkler solenoid boxes and fill it with insulation.

 

[Valveman]

You could also change that 90 on the pipe coming up to a tee with a threaded top. Screwing a plug in the top of the tee would leave the least space to trap air I can think of.

 

[Banjo Bud]

I’ll skin this cat sooner or later

 

[Chucky_ott]

what's the difference between that section and the section that is close to your intake at the stream ? Aren't they both likely to freeze ?

 

[Banjo Bud]

No. The horizontal pipe is buried (will be). The riser pipe comes up to ground level.

 

[Reach4]

I wonder if a wet-dry vacuum cleaner could pull the water up for priming, rather than pouring water in.

 

[Banjo Bud]

Hmmmm. I wonder.

 

[Banjo Bud]

How’s this look? And I’ll insulate the box.