Live in Canada, looking to run about a 12inch section of copper water pipe in the attic for a rain shower. What is the best way to do this? We have about 4 solutions right now, but none of them are the best looking.
- add a self draining tub faucet, this will help to drain the pipe and stop it from freezing.
- box the pipe in the attic and open to indoor air to allow air to flow and keep pipe warmer.
- bring the ceiling down, but again, will have to ensure that there is proper air flow
- use pipe heating wire.. Worst idea - running 12 months etc... What if it breaks down.

Obviously you could just insulate the hell out of it, but I don't think it would be enough.

Help.

In my opinion, dropping the ceiling, or boxing into the attic would be the best bet. If the attic is well insulated, just drop the ceiling enough to run your water line in. In this case, you would not insulate the dropped ceiling, which would allow the dropped area to remain warm (same goes for boxing). Also, if you are really worried about freezing, I would suggest using pex pipe vs copper. At least this way the line won't burst if it does freeze. Heat tape would work, and you could get a low temp activated heat tape, so it would only run when the line gets cold enough, but I wouldn't go that route because heat tape will fail over time. A tub spout would also work great, but who wants a tub spout in a shower stall, right? Basically, boxxing, or lowering the ceiling, to keep the line in an area that will stay above freezing is really the only professional way to do this. Good luck, and please let us know what you decide.

I agree with the drop ceiling idea, but looks like with the pot lights etc, its going to cause too much trouble. Also agree that the tub faucet, however its nice to only wash feet, or women to shave legs.

Hmmmmm...

Why expose the pipes to freezing at all? Why not install a exposed shower.(see image) That way your freeze worries would be taken care of. Sound like a plan ? Let me me know what you think. Tom.

Toms got another solution for you. Let us know what you decide. If your not opposed to the tub spout, then that's your best bet. Just slope the copper pipe back towards the fuacet, and it will drain out the spout, problem solved, as long as your diverter is on the spout. The rest will drain out the shower head. Ill buy that. I have actually installed spout in strictly showers before for customers that want it for a number of reasons. Please let us now what you decide.