On Sat, 11 Jan 2014 20:13:19 -0000, "Lord Androcles"
wrote:

Unnamed
wrote in message news
On Sat, 11 Jan 2014 12:29:52 -0000, "Lord Androcles"
wrote:



"micky" wrote in message
. ..

Inspired by Trader, I'm again looking into a frost-free sillcock, garden
faucet, which is designed, by having the actual valve 3 to 9 inches
inside the basement, not to freeze and crack open in cold weather.

The text and video pages seem to make a big deal out of tilting the pipe
down 5 degrees (so that it will fully drain after it is use) as opposed
to up 5 degrees. Up is not the alternative in my case, it is level.
All the pipes are already there and the pipe that goes outside is level.

If I do nothing, the new sillcock will be level too. It seems to me
that if the pipe I.D. is 1/2 inch, a level pipe will drain until the
water level is no more than 1/8", 1/4 of the total diameter, and that
even if it freezes then, it will expand UP into the air space. And
that 1/8" of water, or even 3/16" with all that empty space above can't
possibly freeze in a way that breaks the pipe. Won't it just lift
itself up? Closer to the center of the pipe.

(I reed that water expands a bit more than 9% when cooling between 4^C
and 0^C.)

Maybe at the inside end of the pipe, where the valve is, surface tension
will keep the water level higher, but that will be 6" into my basement,
where the temp is always about 68^. Can water freeze inside the pipe
when it's 68F outside, and the pipe is metal?

I don't see how I can raise the other pipes to tip the sillcock down as
it goes out of the house. IIRC, a floor joist is in the way. Plus
it would put flex-tension on a right angle pipe or a straight union,
perhaps risking a leak there.

Thanks
================================================ =====
If the pipe is level then 1/8" of water will freeze in the bottom.
then more water comes in, freezes and you'll have 1/4" of ice
in the bottom. Then more water will enter the pipe and you'll
have 3/8" ... AND SO ON.
You are doing a grand job making excuses not to use the
recommended 5 degree slope, but it's your home... shrug
What CAN go wrong WILL go wrong.

-- Lord Androcles, Zeroth Earl of Medway
And just where is all this extra water going to come from??????
=============================================
It's a pipe, it has water in it. What do I care where it comes from? shrug

It is an open pipe on the outside of a closed stopcock - you clain
water accumulation will cause a problem. Explain where the water you
claim is going to cause a problem will come from.