ᐅ New Bathroom – Water Supply Through the Barn – Risk of Freezing?

Hello,

I’m new to the forum and would like to introduce myself briefly.
My name is Sebastian, I’m 29 years old and I’m from Lower Franconia. Since March 1, 2018, I have been the owner of a house built in 1900 with a barn. (The house was renovated in 2016 and has a Wolf heating system installed in February 2017.)

I have a question. My wife and I are planning a second bathroom above the first one. Our Wolf system is located in a separate room next to the garage (attached to the house). We were considering running the pipes over the barn (which is unheated), so they would connect directly to the new second bathroom.

The company that would do the work advised against this because the pipes running over the barn might freeze on cold winter days. They also suggested that I should completely open up the first bathroom downstairs and run the pipes up through there to the second bathroom above. Personally, I don’t like that idea!

Isn’t it possible to insulate the pipes running over the barn well enough to prevent freezing? What would your ideas be?
I was thinking of a 4-meter (13 feet) drywall partition with insulation, so that the pipes wouldn’t be exposed but enclosed, and then properly insulating the pipes themselves. There must be a way to insulate pipes running in unheated spaces. The barn is covered but unheated!

I’m not a tradesperson at all, so that’s why I’m asking here.

Thanks in advance for your advice and ideas.

Best regards,
Sebastian

Insulation is not heating. This means that if you have subzero temperatures in your barn, insulation will only delay the freezing for a while. Outside, water pipes are never installed exposed but are buried at least 1 meter (3 feet) below ground to avoid freezing.

In general, to prevent freezing, it helps to let the water run frequently (a pond freezes faster than a river), but as a plumber, I wouldn’t rely on that. What do you do when you are on vacation?

Hello

Alternatively, a trace heating system is also possible.


Olli

One thing to consider is that circulation will run continuously for the hot water and will consume a lot of electricity and heating energy. You should seriously think about electric heating (infrared, underfloor heating, etc.). However, with that, you probably won’t have hot water in the bathroom yet.