How to Keep Barn Pipes Thawed

Frozen barn water pipes prevent you from watering your livestock or pets. When the pipes thaw, they can burst and require costly repairs that must be made quickly to enable watering your animals. Barns are generally not placed in close proximity to your home due to the animal waste, so carrying water to the troughs from your home would entail a great deal of effort. Installing heat tape on barn pipes keeps them thawed in the winter and provides fresh drinking water year-round.

Things You'll Need

  • Heat tape
  • Electrical tape
  • Foam pipe insulation tubes
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Instructions

    • 1

      Look for leaks on all of the exposed water pipes inside and outside of the barn. Check each junction of two-pipe sections and slightly pull them away from each other to make sure they are not loose. Repair any leaks in the pipes.

    • 2

      Wrap heat tape around the pipes or lay it on one side of the pipes according to the manufacturer's instructions. Some brands stretch in a straight line on one side of the pipe and others recommend wrapping it in a circle around the pipe with specific spacing between wraps. Start at one end of the exposed pipe and work to the other end.

    • 3

      Place the free end of a roll of electrical tape over the heat tape and make two to three revolutions of the roll around the heat tape to secure it to the pipe. Tear off the electrical tape and secure the heat tape with electrical tape. Space the tape according to the manufacturer's guidelines.

    • 4

      Open the slit in a tube of foam pipe insulation. Place the insulation over the top of the pipes with the opening on the bottom. Start at one end of the pipes and work to the opposite end. Secure each tube to an adjoining one with electrical tape at the junction.

    • 5

      Plug the power cord into a GFCI electrical outlet.