Underground Pipe - everyone contribute

[builder1101]

From what i've gathered. there's several types. (besides buying the pex and going homestyle...)


Thermopex
Centralpex
logstor
Flexsul
Insulseal
Timesaver

I'm sure there's more, but these are the top ones i've come across ( feel free to post other's if you'd like)

honestly, timesaver is the cheapest, but, i think it's the less effective one to choose from. First one to scratch off the list to 'use' would be timesaver, unless someone here has had good results with it. I call one place they say ours is better then this type, i call another place and get the opposite. i call a 3rd place and they say both brands suck and you should use mine. (!!) The best people to ask are those who've acutally had field results, and not take the word from some dealer who needs to sell their stock....


Post what you've used, how many feet, zones, and BTU's you supply and draw, how deep, size, etc, the results and if you are satisified. Also post if you've made a mistake (I know some have tried to save $500, ended up digging it up, and putting down the right stuff for $1300. Not only out the $500, plus the $1300, but digging and covering it twice!! 30Ft? no big deal. 130Ft...that'll make anyone unhappy...)


I'm sure it'll help alot of folks here trying to pick out what they want to use for their setup, their area, and their situation. A southrener may not need anything fancy to heat their DHW, but us in the Dakotas, Mn, or Michigan may need something a bit more hardcore to fight those -30F nights...

Maybe fire up a poll or something?

 

[Lurch16th]

Being brand new and knowing no better, I used the Timesaver from my Dealer for a 135 ft run. The Timesaver IS NOT insulated between hot and cold pipes. Both hot and cold(Supply & Return) sit side-by-side, against each other and the insulation is wrapped around them. They will exchange heat before they get to the house. Whether it can have a significant impact can depend on other factors.

If i had known from the start and was unable to return my Timesaver, i would have unwrapped it carefully, insulated the Supply line and re-wrapped it.
(Not much of a Timesaver)
Since it is inserted in 4" corrugated plastic pipe, i could, if necessary, wait until summer and pull the pipes out and re-wrap then.


In my case, so far, there doen't appear to be any significant impact. But I inadvertently wrapped the outside of the 4" corrugated Pipe with rolls of foam sill seal from Lowes, the entire length, to protect it from damage during backfill. But it alos serves as an insulator.

Without knowing the accuracy of my temp guages, when Supply fitting at furnace reads 175, Guage inside house at copper reads 172 - to 175 deg.


But this is spring. Next winter will tell the tale.

If i had it to do over from the beginning, i would have bought my own pex somewhere, wrapped it myself and used 4" or 6" sced 40 pipe.

 

[Butch(OH)]

I used Urecon, which is an insulated conduit that you put your own Pex in. Mine is buried 30" deep and in 3 years I have never been able to detect the pipe location due to snow melt. Our runs are about 70' to the house and about 25 to the shop. The pipes touching each other in the conduit is really a non issue unless your run is Very long and is iffy in it's ability to deliver BTUs other wise the heat that transfers is going back to the boiler, not lost. All I know is we don't even begin to use the capabilities of my system. With the house drawing heat and the shower running you can detect no difference by hand in the pipe temps, coming in or going back out. Never had a temp probe on them. Urecon is not the cheapest route but I like mine and I can pull my lines without digging anything up.

Urecon is under the boiler
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[rx7145]

I used logstor. It was $11.50 a foot but it works good. I have a 15ft run and a 60ft run.

 

[troy3300]

I made my own. 6 inch drain tile. 5 3/4 in. insulation I found on ebay and pex . I did it late so it is still above ground. Works great. Only snow melt I had was where I did not secure the insulation pieces together good enough ( about 1/2 inch every four feet). Other then that just when the sun came out and heated the black pipe up. One bad thing is the insulation is styrofoam and does not bend much. The best things are great to keep the heat and only costs $4.65 a foot.
I have about a 70 ft. run.

 

[MS-310]

Microflex is a 5" tile filled with pex foam.... Best out there as far as I know.
We have it in MI or call a dealer near you. Remember water is the biggest heat stealer....Keep it dry.

 

[bassman]

250ft roll from free heat 4 u on ebay.

good price and my 150ft run has no heat loss .

all over again I would like to go with the thermopex as it is sealed well to not take in ground water.

but $15 a foot.....