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[Gibson]

Hi All,

Looking for potential causes of some ground melt I got during my first season with my new Heatmaster MF 5000E. Other than this, I absolutely love it? Great to look at the oil and not see it move for months!

The installation was done by the dealer, he used Thermoflex pipe, with no extra insulation I am aware of.

I am pretty sure something is wrong here, but I am looking for the most likely causes of melt like this and what I should do.

Darren

[AirForcePOL]

Welcome to the site Gibson!  I believe the thermoflex is a product constructed of field tile material with foam covered pex on the inside. Is that what you have?  That's not normal. From the looks of it I would say your pipe has already failed.  Have you told your dealer about it yet?

[mlappin]

Is this what your installer used?

 
http://www.gtglobeindustries.com/insulated-pex.php


Unfortunately if so I have a bad feeling that it has already failed either from poor installation or a manufacturers defect that has allowed water in.

[intensedrive]

I'm in a similar situation.  If your grass is growing faster around your pipe install, it means excess heat is penetrating the ground.  During spring time is very obvious. 

[yotehunter66]

Keep in mind you will get snow melt on newly disturbed soil before the rest of the surrounding soil does. But! if it is melting on 25 degree days with no sun out you may have a problem.

[AirForcePOL]

Keep in mind you will get snow melt on newly disturbed soil before the rest of the surrounding soil does. But! if it is melting on 25 degree days with no sun out you may have a problem.

Very true! 

Gibson, Do you know what your temp loss is from the boiler to the house by chance? 

[mlappin]

Keep in mind you will get snow melt on newly disturbed soil before the rest of the surrounding soil does. But! if it is melting on 25 degree days with no sun out you may have a problem.

Good point, I missed the first season part. If you can get a reading on the difference from the stove to the house. Too large a differential and you have a problem.

[kommandokenny]

Hi All,



I am pretty sure something is wrong here,
Darren

Me too.... how deep down is the pipe??
I f it's shallow,, maybe .?
The Experts on here will know.

[kommandokenny]

Oh ya welcome

Where are you located?
You still got snow?
kk

[coolidge]

Put some pavers on that and use it for a walkway.

I have some Logstor, about 30ft laying on top of the ground, it didn't melt any snow.

[hoardac]

Just verify the temp coming out of the boiler and the temp going into the house that will let you know for sure if there is a problem. it does not seem to continue under you snow pile, when my old pipe had heat loss it would melt the snow under where i piled it up.

[mlappin]

Put some pavers on that and use it for a walkway.

I have some Logstor, about 30ft laying on top of the ground, it didn't melt any snow.

I didn’t have that much exposed, but I had about 10-15 foot of trench left open over the winter as we had to wait for the ground to resettle before repairing the tile for the foundation drainage on the house. Not only did it have snow on it that never melted but before the snow it had some ice on it as well that never melted.

Logstor be good stuff Maynard. I’ve stored the extra 13 foot in the rafters of one of the barns, I cut a few chunks off to run my own experiment with, gonna see just how heavy a load it can take before crushing. No point in starting out with the skid steer, it’s tracked and floats over about anything, may start with the industrial loader and go up from there.

[slimjim]

 Pictures Please! I have tried with my 416 Cat and a full bucket of gravel on a gravel drive to crush or damage it,  no damage here!

[mlappin]

Oh I plan on it. First I’ll just run over it as deer’s are usually heavier than kitty’s. Then I’ll grab one of those 1700lb silage bales with the loader and run over it, if that doesn’t work grab two thousand bales on the front and try it. All the other tractors are too light form running wide tall radials. May load the semi up with 60,000 pounds of corn and see what happens if the Logstor lives that long. Our driveway is like cement now that all the frost is gone.

[coolidge]

That 3 pound foam is strong stuff, and as we know round is stronger than square.

60000 pounds just might do the trick, but I wouldn't be surprised if it held up.

Photos and video will be needed for that experiment.