My OWB install Job.

It seems like it's been a long process getting everything together but I've got everything done except installing the pump and my final connections to the OWB. My OWB is supposed to be delivered today so hopefully he gets here soon. Many thanks to all the members and forum posts as well as guys I work with. I have read alot on this site and have learned much.

Here are some photos of my install job.

Here are a couple more of my slab. It is 8 x 12. I poured it right before thanksgiving and had to cover it right away. We were getting snow just about every day. The finish turned out a little rough because of the tarps on it.

November Wolf said:

It seems like it's been a long process getting everything together but I've got everything done except installing the pump and my final connections to the OWB. My OWB is supposed to be delivered today so hopefully he gets here soon. Many thanks to all the members and forum posts as well as guys I work with. I have read alot on this site and have learned much.

Here are some photos of my install job.

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The only thing I would question is from my experience: I kind of questioned to myself why my installer cut the pex line so close to my basement wall. Since the boiler is running with the 180 degree water it is now expanded to about 1' sticking inside due to expansion. My question is will it happen to yours? Not a critique by all means, just may be bringing something to light instead of a problem for you and twisting the nice copper lines you have plumbed to it.

Then again maybe I should ask the question......is there any way to combat this?

Nice clean trench! Did you do that with a ditch witch type digger? If not that is super clean!! Nice install!

modn said:

The only thing I would question is from my experience: I kind of questioned to myself why my installer cut the pex line so close to my basement wall. Since the boiler is running with the 180 degree water it is now expanded to about 1' sticking inside due to expansion. My question is will it happen to yours? Not a critique by all means, just may be bringing something to light instead of a problem for you and twisting the nice copper lines you have plumbed to it.

Then again maybe I should ask the question......is there any way to combat this?

Nice clean trench! Did you do that with a ditch witch type digger? If not that is super clean!! Nice install!

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I left 4 1/2" of pex though the wall. I guess I will find out soon enough if it expands or not. I never did think of that.

I dug that ditch by hand. It is 2 feet deep. I was going to rent a trencher but I had to first dig up my sprinkler lines and by that time I was on a roll so a digging I went. Thanks for the compliments.

Nice work. I have the same concern as modn. That pex is going to get longer. I read somewhere what the rate of expansion in length was but I can't remember. It will be worse as the length of the underground run increases. Some of the instructions with the premade stuff tells you to lay the pipe in a zig zag fashion in the trench. I guess this lets the pex just kind of zig zag on its own even more inside the curragated outer pipe when it needs to.

I thinks its a good idea to make a loop or turn 90 degrees before going rigid. I also think its a good idea to have extra pex inside so you can cut it shorter if there are any problems with leaky fittings. Blah blah blah. Please don't get the impression that I think I know it all. I have just been giving it alot of thought since I am about to do the same thing. I just hope mine looks as good as yours when I am done.

P.S. I can't believe you dug that trench by hand. You must be a glutton for punishment.

That install looks nice!

I would put caps over the "boiler drains" where the pex goes into the wall. Just to make sure they did't get turned on.

The Pex tubing I used was called Dual Pex-Flex made by Logstor. Their was no way I could zig-zag the lines but I know what you are talking about. This pex is 1" but it is not the same diameter as regular pex tubing. I had to buy special brass compression fittings to connect it to copper. I guess if it does expand I can cut some off and go from there. I should of put some unions in there. I did think about that but copper fittings are to expensive. I have around $400 in copper fittings alone and that don't get you much. I will defenatley put some caps on them boiler drains. I don't need 400 gallons of water in my basement.

That trench was not to bad to dig really. We have nothing but sand here.

How far is the boiler from the house? From the pics it looks like a long way. but it's hard to tell for sure.

November Wolf said:

The Pex tubing I used was called Dual Pex-Flex made by Logstor. Their was no way I could zig-zag the lines but I know what you are talking about. This pex is 1" but it is not the same diameter as regular pex tubing. I had to buy special brass compression fittings to connect it to copper. I guess if it does expand I can cut some off and go from there. I should of put some unions in there. I did think about that but copper fittings are to expensive. I have around $400 in copper fittings alone and that don't get you much. I will defenatley put some caps on them boiler drains. I don't need 400 gallons of water in my basement.

That trench was not to bad to dig really. We have nothing but sand here.

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I didn't realize you had Logstor. It would be nice if you could pull some of the extra Pex tubing that is sticking above the slab back into the house. Probably not possible with the way its constructed though. That way you could make a loop or bend that could just adjust automatically when the pex goes back to its original length when it cools down.

I know what you mean about the fittings. I am using a product by Mr. Pex. It has an aluminum layer so it doesn't expand that much. The fittings are very high. A 1" PEX compression to 1" copper socket adapter is $12.75.

Biker Dude said:

How far is the boiler from the house? From the pics it looks like a long way. but it's hard to tell for sure.

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The boiler will be 110 ft from the house.

i'mstihlaguy said:

I didn't realize you had Logstor. It would be nice if you could pull some of the extra Pex tubing that is sticking above the slab back into the house. Probably not possible with the way its constructed though. That way you could make a loop or bend that could just adjust automatically when the pex goes back to its original length when it cools down.

I know what you mean about the fittings. I am using a product by Mr. Pex. It has an aluminum layer so it doesn't expand that much. The fittings are very high. A 1" PEX compression to 1" copper socket adapter is $12.75.

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That logstor stuff was a bear to get in that trench. It wanted to keep rolling up out of the trench. There is no way now to pull extra in. That stuff is so rigid I don't think it bends like the other pex. From the Logstor brouchure it says PEX-FLEX is " self compensating" with respect to expansion and contraction... just uncoil and snake into trench , then backfill. ( what ever that means?)

Anyways those brass compression fittings were $14 something from the dealer and I was supprised that a 1" union at home depot was $16 something. I sure am glad Im not building a house these days.

My boiler did not show up yesterday. Hopefully it will be today.

Looks like you did a great job.

Nov Wolf - Nice install, to bad you didn't get the outside stuff done before the cold weather. What OWB are you going with? That cooper work and everything else your doing looks top notch, great work !!!

Those inside temp guages will be handy.

iCreek said:

Nov Wolf - Nice install, to bad you didn't get the outside stuff done before the cold weather. What OWB are you going with? That cooper work and everything else your doing looks top notch, great work !!!

Those inside temp guages will be handy.

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Thank you. I am getting a Central Boiler 6048.

I have 60 acres here and all the free wood I want. I just have to finish cutting it. My next purchase is going to be a Jonsered.

I wished I would of done this years ago but It was a hard sell to my wife.

November Wolf said:

Thank you. I am getting a Central Boiler 6048.

I have 60 acres here and all the free wood I want. I just have to finish cutting it. My next purchase is going to be a Jonsered.

I wished I would of done this years ago but It was a hard sell to my wife.

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Wasn't a hard sell for me at all. We burned wood indoors fro many years. When I built my house my wife made it real clear that there wasn't going to be wood in the house (not even a real fireplace). I then made it real clear to her that we were heating with wood. Kind of an uneasy truce!

abohac said:

Wasn't a hard sell for me at all. We burned wood indoors fro many years. When I built my house my wife made it real clear that there wasn't going to be wood in the house (not even a real fireplace). I then made it real clear to her that we were heating with wood. Kind of an uneasy truce!

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kind of like an irresistible force meets an immovable object...

abohac said:

Wasn't a hard sell for me at all. We burned wood indoors fro many years. When I built my house my wife made it real clear that there wasn't going to be wood in the house (not even a real fireplace). I then made it real clear to her that we were heating with wood. Kind of an uneasy truce!

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I guess I can always tell her " I told you so". If I would of done this in 2005 like I wanted it would of paid for it self buy now. We use around 1500 gallons of propane a year.

November Wolf said:

That logstor stuff was a bear to get in that trench. It wanted to keep rolling up out of the trench. There is no way now to pull extra in. That stuff is so rigid I don't think it bends like the other pex. From the Logstor brouchure it says PEX-FLEX is " self compensating" with respect to expansion and contraction... just uncoil and snake into trench , then backfill. ( what ever that means?)

Anyways those brass compression fittings were $14 something from the dealer and I was supprised that a 1" union at home depot was $16 something. I sure am glad Im not building a house these days.

My boiler did not show up yesterday. Hopefully it will be today.

Click to expand...

"Snake into trench" means zig zag from one side of the trench to the other repeatedly. Kinda like a snake. That's what they mean by self compensating. The Pex with just snake even more inside. I think I even read in another post where one guy clamped his lines right where they came in to make sure all of the "compensating" was done outside.

I worked on my lines today but ran out of Solarguard insulation. Looks like its gonna be a few more days before its complete. Man it was cold.

i'mstihlaguy said:

"Snake into trench" means zig zag from one side of the trench to the other repeatedly. Kinda like a snake. That's what they mean by self compensating. The Pex with just snake even more inside. I think I even read in another post where one guy clamped his lines right where they came in to make sure all of the "compensating" was done outside.

I worked on my lines today but ran out of Solarguard insulation. Looks like its gonna be a few more days before its complete. Man it was cold.

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You can't zig-zag this stuff. It has foam insulation around both lines and is encased in a 4 1/4 plastic pipe. I talked to the dealer and he said this stuff will not expand that much. If it does I will run a short piece of pex from the tee's to allow for expansion. It's got me a little worried now.

Anyways It will probably be tomorrow or the next day when I get my stove. It just too much like a blizzard out there right now.

Good luck on your install and post some pictures when you are done.

November Wolf said:

You can't zig-zag this stuff. It has foam insulation around both lines and is encased in a 4 1/4 plastic pipe. I talked to the dealer and he said this stuff will not expand that much. If it does I will run a short piece of pex from the tee's to allow for expansion. It's got me a little worried now.

Anyways It will probably be tomorrow or the next day when I get my stove. It just too much like a blizzard out there right now.

Good luck on your install and post some pictures when you are done.

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Looking at your pic on where it comes through the wall....maybe you could release it from the bracket holding on to the wall to allow for some movement? My lines are not the foam filled pipe, but it is the wrapped pipe which is loose in the 4" pipe which I think will allow it to move a lot more. I'm at 95' also, so I think you will be less than the 1' expansion I had. I would prepare for the most movement but would guess that the dealer is right on your application expanding a little. Sorry for alarming you, I just don't want that good work you did twisted up is all.