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I am installing a outdoor shower on the exterior wall of my house to go with my new pool deck. I have a built-in grill that has an enclosed cabinet underneath.

I have a way to run a hot water and cold water line for the shower, but I would like to run this line through one exterior wall into a cabinet area for my grill and then out the perpendicular exterior wall to the shower (see image it'll be clearer).

My question is this: that water line will probably be only six inches from the grill and the grill obviously gets hot. I'm thinking CPVC will not work because it would melt, but would copper work? Should I do some sort of insulation to try and block the heat and if so what?

Oh and for clarity - obviously I could just run the pipe alongside the entire exterior of the wall around the corner, but my wife would prefer it be "hidden" if possible hence the question.

Thanks in advance!

Desired plumbing sketch

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If it's going to get that hot in there you should be insulating the pipe regardless. Foil and fiberglass would do.

If it gets hot enough to damage pvc with water in it you have bigger problems. Have you ever seen the styrofoam cup with water experiment? Granted, you don't want the water in the pipes to be the only thing saving your pipes, but if the space inside the cabinet gets hot enough to melt pvc you're putting your entire home (and its occupants) at risk.

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  • Well I just read that the melting point of the CPVC is 200 degrees - my grill gets 400 degrees easy (of course that's inside it) so I figured it would melt since it would only be six inches away. I don't think the whole cabinet gets that hot - it's kind of like if you hold your hand six inches from a fireplace of course it's hot but that doesn't mean the whole room is that temp. Does that make sense?
    – Element Zero
    Commented Apr 25, 2017 at 4:22
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    What about running the pipe below the level of the grill? just a few inches below would help. I would insulate exterior pipes and have a winter shutoff so there is not a freezing problem in the winter.
    – Ed Beal
    Commented Apr 25, 2017 at 13:14
  • More than that, lay out and grade the pipes so they're easy to drain. A little forethought leads to every winter, 2 buckets, 2 faicets, done.
    – Harper - Reinstate Monica
    Commented Apr 25, 2017 at 13:59
  • I live in Florida so winter freezing isn't something I really need to worry about :) How much heat would the insulation block roughly? Basically all I'm worried about is that I run these pipes and then next time I go to use the grill it gets hot enough that it melts those pipes.
    – Element Zero
    Commented Apr 25, 2017 at 14:10
  • A fiberglass wrap with foil would go a long way to protecting the pipes.
    – isherwood
    Commented Apr 25, 2017 at 14:27

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