Our rural community has a 40' x 25' building that was originally builtbeside a baseball field. The baseball field was tore down (lack of use) but thebuilding remains. 4-H and other clubs use it to meet and people get together toplay cards. May be weeks between uses.
Before last winter the thermostat in the bathroom was shutoff and no onecaught it before a hard freeze. Pipe broke, water prolly ran 2 weeks beforeanyone caught it. Whole building had to be gutted and bleached. Currently waterline comes out of concrete with ball valve 6 inches above concrete.
Getting ready to fix it up and wandering how to do the plumbing so the waterwill be turned on only when people are using the building. That way if heat isaccidently shutoff we will not have a flood. Looking for a option to shut offvalves that anyone can do. Ideas include:
1. Hydrant: Knocking out concrete around water line and installing hydrant.Local plumber said thats against code to have potable water through a hydrant.
2. Ball valve: Digging down below frost line (4 ft) and put in ball valve.Thinking a rod to the counter to turn it on/off is needed.
3. Solenoid: Digging down 4 ft and putting a 2-way Solenoid normally closedvalve. 120 v that will have a light fixture tied to the switch. That wayeveryone knows the valve is on.
First 2 options would require one very responsible person to check and makesure valve is shutoff after each use. Might as well just shut off breaker atwell if that is the case.
Any other ideas? How long would a solenoid last mounted vertically?
