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In this video, I'm going to show you how to install my favorite in-pipe frost protection system for water supply lines
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This is the stuff here, and I've got a mock-up here in my shop
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so we can see all parts of the process as they unfold. Before I get into the details of the cable system that I'm going to be installing
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I want to show you the mock-up setup here. This is a half horsepower
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jet pump, very common in homes and cottages. This is a 1 1⁄4 inch black poly water intake line
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It's a whole lot shorter than it would be in real life because I wanted to have all parts of it visible
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and that's why there's a tie wrap here too, just to bring the end into view so that we can see the whole thing
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during the cable installation. So this is the system I'm going to be installing. I've seen it in action over many years
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It works great, hardly uses any electricity. It's made by a Canadian company called Heatline, and
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they call this particular system their retro line. Retro meaning you can retroactively
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install it in a water line, but you don't have to. You can do it in a new system too. The procedure that I'm going to show you here works in
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both cases, and there's really a few parts here. This is the actual heating cable
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It needs to be sized at the factory. You don't buy it off the spool and cut it to length yourself
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You have to send in the order, and then they make up the cable accordingly. This is the fitting
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that will splice into the water line. The cable is pushed into the water line as well
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so it's completely surrounded by water. The most efficient and reliable arrangement for safety
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A built-in GFCI ground fault circuit interrupter. This makes this system a whole lot safer. It's actually required for these sorts of systems
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but not all systems have them built in. You have to supply it separately. So this is a complete package, and when it's installed you just plug it in. This is a
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self-regulating cable, which means that it delivers more or less heat depending on the temperature
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So depending on how much heat is required. It's pretty smart that way, and it's part of the reason why this system is so energy efficient
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So let's go over and we'll do the installation. So the installation process is super simple and it begins
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by taking off the fittings here. We'll need to slip these fittings over top of the pipe
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When the time comes. Another reason to take the fittings off now is to show
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how much pipe needs to be removed to accommodate this tee. So this side of the pipe is going to end here and
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this side of the pipe is going to end here. So essentially need to remove
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that much pipe. Now in practice when you're doing this in a real installation, you probably don't have the opportunity to move the pipe further apart
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So it's necessary to remove an entire chunk of pipe. In this case
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we just need to slice in once because we can move the rest of the mock-up pipe a little bit over
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to accommodate what we're what we're trying to do here. So hacksaw is
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the best tool for slicing into pipe like this. It works fast and and simply just as you'll see here
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So the outer collar goes on first and then this compression comb with the ends the tapered ends pointing that way
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Just slips over here. So push it in all the way. Push this down
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This is a fitting made by a company called Filmac. It works really well. It does need a little bit of extra tension beyond what you can apply with your hands, but these fittings
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seal up really nicely. Just give it a little bit more than hand tight
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And we've already done that side. Now the other side is exactly the same except
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first we have to push in the cable. So as with the connection on the other side we need to
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put a few things on the pipe first just to get it ready to thread on down
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And you just poke the cable through. One nice thing, it's a small thing, but it makes a big difference is just how stiff it is
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I mean, it's it's pretty pretty stiff. They tell me you can push this as far as 300 feet into a pipe
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So you don't need to have a fish tape and pull it through. You can actually push it a long way
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We won't have any trouble with this little mock-up because it's so short, but you can see how it just feeds in
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The cable that you specify needs to be as long as your water intake line or
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at least the part of the water intake line from from here
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To the end and to the foot valve. So that's it. Wasn't that easy? Just a little bit of extra
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tensioning with a wrench. So all that's left now is to plug it in and enjoy some free-flowing
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water, even if your water intake line can't be properly protected from freezing temperatures by soil
