The customer’s recently purchased home had some disturbing history: a water leak in the slab had precipitated moving the water line up to the roof to service the bath rooms. However, when the pipe was moved to the roof, standard foam insulation was applied. by now that insulation had deteriorated away leaving the pipe exposed to sun, wind,and cold.
Currently, the water to the property was turned off due to a split in the pipe. Additionally, the pipe showed multiple repairs that had been necessary after freezes had split the pipe in the past. Our goal was to complete a long term repair, that would survive both the heat of the sun, and the cold of our rare cold snaps that could drop temperatures into the freezing range.
The first step was to replace the damaged pipe and get the water flowing in the home. There were multiple repairs, and a current split exposed to the weather. The split, and multiple repairs were cut out, and replaced with a single new piece of pipe.
One flaw of the original installation was that foam pipe insulation had been placed to protect it, but foam, and pvc pipe are subject to deterioration in the Arizona sun. Thus a multi-layered approach was necessary to prevent needed repairs soon.
First, the copper pipe received foam insulation, just as before along its full length. This will protect the water in the pipe from freezing on the roof during those rare Arizona cold snaps. That being said, it will not protect the foam from deterioration from the constant sun every day.
Another cover is added to protect the foam, Thin wall PVC drain pipe is split down its length, and the halves are used to cover the foam, extending the life of the insulation. The PVC is anchored to the occasional wood blocks using metal strapping, as well as an occasional wrap of strap, to keep the pipe, foam, and PVC together as a unit. But now, while the PVC will last much longer than the foam, it too is subject to drying and cracking in the sun. The metal strap is also subject to weathering from rain and sun.
The final piece was a coating of spray paint to protect the PVC and metal from the weathering effects of Arizona. The final result is an installation that should last through many years of Arizona weather.