Air Flow Pattern Inside Sealed Pipe

There will not be any air "circulation" inside this closed pipe. There is no heat differential to cause convection, conduction of air/plastic is nil and radiation won't do anything either.

Not sure a fan will keep the water thawed, since we have no idea of soil temperature in the building.

You'll have to take a guess at some soil/air temperatures first.

The Alaska pipeline uses heat pipe technology.

Heat pipe - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Heat doesn't flow without thermal differential and a path. Air won't do it.

Wouldn't the ground heat, say 50 deg travel upwards 6 ft to the metal bowl of water at the top , chilled by the outdoor air temp of say 20 deg , and heat transferred thru the cold water from the earth ?

You have not given a proper explanation. Is your bowl 6 feet deep also?

Think about each piece of the system and describe each one.

"upwards 6 ft to the metal bowl" implies the heat is radiating upward, as there will be almost no convection or conduction through air.

We can't play the tune without the music. This isn't jazz.

Thanks Solar Eagle, That design would capture even more ground heat

Is there 110V AC power in the building? If so, just install a bird bath water heater to keep the water from freezing:

Amazon_bird_bath_water_heaters

Are there any diagram you could give perhaps, to support your query?Picture paints thousand words, you know.

What you propose is possible. There is more to it then just burying a pipe. Heat loss has to be calculated from the bowl. The surface area of the buried pipe has to be great enough to for the heat transfer to cover the heat loss. Also see a problem with the 2 inch pipe not being large enough. Turbulence will be a factor there as the cold air drops and heated air rises. I 10 inch pipe buried would give much more area for heat to transfer and reduce the turbilence. Also plastic is poor choice.

"2ft diameter plastic pipe" not 2 inch.

I my recommendation was for 10 inch pipe. Even in a 2 inch pipe you would have some convection. In a IGU(insulated glass unit) you have convection the space between the glass is about 1/2 inch. I see a problem in the reduction from 10" to 2" causing turbulence and disrupting the covection flow.

It may be necessary that 24" pipe would need to be used. There maybe a need for that much surface area to exchange the heat.

I don't think you are giving enough definition.

Here's what I'd do.

Go to Matweb and look at the thermal conductivity of whatever materials it is that you want to conduct the heat.

You will not have any convection in this system, to speak of. It's conductions and radiation.

Get cracking!