Winter – an ounce of prevention… Cold Weather Advice for Pumps
If you have water storage on site during the colder months and it’s aided by on-demand pumps, we always recommend you do some preventive maintenance before winter really kicks in. This is to save inconvenience and damage to the pump.
On-demand pumps are not designed to operate in sub-zero or frosty conditions. A frozen pump can be an expensive problem, as water expands it can cause damage to internal workings.
If the temperature falls to 1 Celsius or below, you should take the pump out of service.
Remove it from the water supply line, drain it and store it in a warm environment, ideally indoors, until the temperature rises again.
When it comes to pipework, we recommend lagging to minimise the chances of pipework freezing up. The pipework we use on site is 25mm dia, and so 27-19mm lagging is ideal for the purpose.
Lagging should be applied to the entire pipework route, from the exit point of the water storage vessel, past the pump and into the cabin or appliance.
Pipework will begin to freeze at around -2 degrees Celsius.
Water bowsers or tanks themselves will rarely freeze to the point of being rendered useless due to the large body of water inside them.
On-Demand Pump Protection Box
- Our pump protection boxes are designed to house 110v and 230v electric pumps protecting them during colder and wet weather.
- On-demand pumps are not waterproof and must therefore be kept dry.
- The box offers protection whilst also allowing ventilation to the pump motor.
- The boxes are not suitable for protecting the pumps from freezing conditions.
We’d always recommend adding a pump protection box to your hire request.