When it comes to underground water lines I think Logstor might be the best underground water line there is but it’s very costly and hard to work with. I do not know what type of foam is used inside the casing so if the casing were to crack down the road would the foam absorb the water? I don’t know..
I was the person who wrote to look in to ThermoFlex . I for one would never tell a person what to do and I would never guess a any product. I can only tell you what I did and what I found out.. After doing 8 months of research and my Micky Mouse Testing, I decided to go with the ThermoFlex Water Line by GTGlobe Ind. ThermoFlex water Lines use a Polyethylene Closed-Cell type foam so it will not absorb water even if the outer black casing were to be punctured by a rock down the road. My water lines run 145 ft to the house and most of that line (except for 18 ft) are 24 inches underground. The water line that runs to the garage is 35 ft and 18 inches underground (except for the 2 ft shown in the pictures below.
Before I ran my water lines, I did a test. I had several types of water line and insulation that were 1 ft long. I first weighed each piece. I put all of these in a 55 gallon barrel of water, I sealed the top of the barrel and put in 20 PSI of air. I let the test barrel sit for one week and then removed the test pieces and weighed each. Like some said in the posting on here; a few of the pieces of insulation test pipe were saturated with water. Some of the wrapped type bubble insulation were holding water between the wraps so I wouldn’t be to sure how well this insulation would work. The ThermoFlex had no water in the poly foam and weight the same as it was dry when installed. After doing my test, I went with the Thermo Flex or the (Polyethylene type foam)
When looking for an insulation I read this about the Poly Type Foam.
“Polyethylene is closed-cell foam, meaning its structure is made of millions of tiny bubbles, sealed off from each other. This provides a resistance to water, in addition to a strength and rigidity not present in open-cell foams. It is also resistant to solvents, petroleum products, and is antimicrobial as well, inhibiting the growth of mold, mildew, and bacteria. A resilient material, polyethylene returns to form after compression, while still yielding enough to provide cushion and security where it is needed. It is these characteristics, combined with its versatility and customization possibilities, which make it useful in so many applications.”
It was -3º F when I woke up this morning so I went out to take a picture of the underground water line going to my shop and garage. When I installed the OWB I didn’t want to dig under the shop slab make a hole in the floor so I ran the water line up from the ground, along the outside of the shop and through the wall. This line has been this way for several years now and I do not see any heat loss through the pipe. You can see how the ice is formed around the outside of the black pipe. This was frozen water from the melted snow from the roof. The second picture shows Frost on the outside of the pipe.
For some reason my pictures do now always work but I'll give it a try.
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Congrats on the new boiler.
