My house has a separate water line coming off the meter for irrigation vs house water. That is, there's the meter with a ball valve hanging off the end covered by some dirt in a concrete box, and then the pipe splits into two branches. For some reason whoever designed the system saw fit to make the irrigation branch extend up above ground for 1.5 feet or so, run a couple feet, and then go back below ground. The horizonal portion has the shutoff ball valve on it and the vertical section on the outlet side has a hose spigot.
I drain it for the winter, and both winters I've lived here now the valve has burst on the side where water is trapped between the ball and the outer wall when the valve is shut.
Maybe there's a better method to drain the valve itself that I'm not aware of, or maybe I can find a stronger one or one with a drain vent on it or something. But, it seems like replacing it with a gate valve instead might be a simpler solution. Note the problem is not the pipes freezing (they are wrapped) just the little bit of water trapped in the valve.
Would replacing this with a gate valve just be asking for worse trouble or would it be a "normal" thing to do? Surely there's a simple solution for this problem!
Note I may surround the whole thing with an insulated box in addition to whatever I do with the valve. But, I need to replace the valve anyway now and I figured I should replace it with something better if I can.
I drain it for the winter, and both winters I've lived here now the valve has burst on the side where water is trapped between the ball and the outer wall when the valve is shut.
Maybe there's a better method to drain the valve itself that I'm not aware of, or maybe I can find a stronger one or one with a drain vent on it or something. But, it seems like replacing it with a gate valve instead might be a simpler solution. Note the problem is not the pipes freezing (they are wrapped) just the little bit of water trapped in the valve.
Would replacing this with a gate valve just be asking for worse trouble or would it be a "normal" thing to do? Surely there's a simple solution for this problem!
Note I may surround the whole thing with an insulated box in addition to whatever I do with the valve. But, I need to replace the valve anyway now and I figured I should replace it with something better if I can.