On Dec 21, 6:00*pm, "Stormin Mormon"
wrote:
Yes, that's maddening. I've heard that Pex will expand with
the freeze. And will thaw out just fine. Your local hardware
store can tell you more. The others advice about sloping the
pipe, and such is good advice.

--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
*www.lds.org
.

"astraweb ($ to read)" wrote in messagenews:4d10ff63$0$29718$c3e8da3$f5af001f@news .astraweb.com...
The pipe going through (uninsulated) garage wall to the
outside faucet burst
for the second time. Although I turned off the shutoff valve
feeding this
pipe and drained the water out, the valve turned back on
slightly (due to
cold?) causing the pipe to fill with water again that
eventually turned into
ice.

I'm sick of fixing this pipe. Interestingly it burst at
exactly the same
spot as last year. I want to fix it once and for all.

Is there another type of pipe that can be used instead of
copper that can
give a little and therefore cannot burst?
Or perhaps there is some long thin flexible material I can
insert into the
pipe that takes up some space but not enough to hinder water
flow, so that
when ice form this long thin flexible material would shrink
to allow the ice
to expand?

Otherwise I would have to put a heat tape on this pipe. But
the heat tape
says not to use it in enclosed wall, so that means I have to
cut open a
section of the drywall to expose the pipe, in order to use
the heat tape?

Pex is little more tolerant of freezing but not completely. It will
expand a little but it won't collapse back when it thaws. So if you
freeze it a few times it will beak at some point.

As others have pointed out a shutoff in a heated location is the only
solution that really works. You must leave the outside faucet open.
And if the shutoff valve is leaking replace or repair it. And the
plumbing between the shutoff and the outside faucet must all slope
down to the outside faucet so that water does not pool in a section of
pipe.