frost-proof pipe?

[Amanda_931]

I forgot to empty the roof washer down at the barn before a hard frost the other day.  

To no one's surprise the big ball valve broke apart.

I've replaced it with the same PVC pipe and valve, but I was wondering.....

Are there some big 2"-4" freeze-proof (not to mention lightweight, easy to use, inexpensive etc.) piping systems?

This is only the first of 3-6 rainwater harvesting systems.   And while I'd be willing to use one of the store-bought versions--buried or semi-buried, patented washer affairs, for a BIG system, not sure I want to do it right now down at the barn.

[glenn kangiser]

Is this for switching from dirty water to clean to save - If so I bought and  read an old book the other day that has a way to handle it automatically without a valve.  It uses barrels and floats and a diversion plate.

[Amanda_931]

The first stuff off the roof fills up a 6" pipe (around 6' long), then the rest goes into the tank--and after that fills up then to the overflow.

Ball valve is kind of nice to have at the bottom of the pipe, so that one can empty that out in stages--if there's not too much in the way of leaves and such use it for non-critical tasks--the dogs drink it, for instance.

some people put  a planned leak in instead of a ball valve.

It's definitely the poor man's (or woman's) way to do that--until you have to replace all that stuff that was glued together.  Two-inch ball valves are not cheap.  Neither are the two adaptors to go from 6" to 4" and then to 2"

The 6" pipe is about the right size to do the job of collecting leaves and other debris.