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[gmviso]

Hello,

I just purchased a 5 year old CL-5036. It included 3 heat exchangers, and a tube in tube domestic hot water exchanger. It came with 8 feet of chimney. The outside of the chimney will clean up nicely, but the inner pipe is badly deteriorated at the bottoms. Is there any way I can repair these, such as get a new inner pipe?

It came with a single pump. I think I see a plug that I could remove to add a second pump but if so, I am not sure where to find the plugged return hole and don't want to just start digging away at the insulation till I find it. Anyone got a photo with 2 pumps installed, or better yet a dimensioned drawing?

Also how deep does insulated pex need to be buried and how does one normally bring it into a basement?

Thanks in advance for your help.

[Scott7m]

Not sure on your second pump placement but there is a lot of diagrams at central boiler's website.

As far as your underground pex package you should generally run it 24-36".  If you live in a far northern climate maybe a bit more. 

As far as getting it into your basement, the best is to get a 4 or 5" hole saw bit and go straight through the walls if its a poured wall.  If its a block wall I knock out one section of one block and pull it through. 

I have also been in situations where the pex package had to stop outside and simply bring the two lines through the wall through 1 1/4" holes. I dont reccomend this as its to big of a risk on getting your insulation wet. 

[Ridgekid]

Welcome!

Having a 5036 I can offer this:

Using this link to a picture in my gallery: http://outdoorwoodfurnaceinfo.com/forum/index.php?action=media;sa=media;in=31;preview

The top port is 8.5" directly accross from the supply line.
The bottom port is 3" towards the right and up at a angle.

Here's a link for recommended PEX depth: http://www.centralboiler.com/Tech/C080.pdf  FYI- I went 18" to the top of the pipe for the Thermal-Pex. It was covered with sand before backfilling.

And other technical data that might help you: http://www.centralboiler.com/otherExamples.html

To prevent water from going into the open end of your pex, they recommend caps. Those and other material you might need for your install can be found in thier catolog: http://www.centralboiler.com/parts.html You can also find sections of chimney pipe in the parts manual.

If you need anything: We are all here to help. Just post away!

[gmviso]

Thank you so much Ridgekid! This is exactly what I was looking for for the location of the second pump.

[Ridgekid]

To add to Scott's comments on knocking a hole through your basement wall. I have 10" cinder blocks. If you ever saw a cinder block, not installed, it has two hollow holes in it. You want to go through one of those holes. After marking your intented location (Slighlty larger than what you need) SLOWLY start chipping away at the block using the mark you made as a guideline. Hitting it directly with a hammer will knock (and break) the cinder block leaving a ugly hole. So go slow!

I was fortunate enough to have a shop air compressor and a angled pnuematic chipping chisel. I just shipped away slowly and came away with a almost perfect circle. After pipe installation I used UGL fast plug to fill the gap.

If you have a solid poured wall, you might want to rent a hole saw. Others might have comments on "How to" to do this.

[gmviso]

So let's say I have a poured concrete wall and enough water around the foundation in the wet spring months that my two sump pumps are pumping a total of 10,000 gallons per day. I really want to avoid boring a hole through my foundation if at all possible. Is there a functional and esthetic way I can bring the thermopex out of the ground at the house and enter above my sill plate which is about a foot above grade?

[Scott7m]

Yes, just bring the pipe out of the ground and go in above ground level.  There are no set rules, I have had to do it like your saying for various reasons. 

 

[Ridgekid]

Scott- Would you recommend extra insulation on the exposed pipe?

[gmviso]

How tight of a radius can thermopex be formed into? Does the outer shell have U/V inhibitor. By the way, as regards additional insulation above ground I live in Northeastern Indiana.

[Scott7m]

Scott- Would you recommend extra insulation on the exposed pipe?

Well....   it's insulated really well..  I'm sure there is a point at which it would freeze but with this 3 n  5 wrap pipe and the CB stuff it's good.  Of course that would be in times of a power outage.  I wouldnt be concerned other wise. 

Often people think we bury the pipe to help insulate it, thats so wrong.  Once your heat has left the pipe its gone no matter if its to the air or to the ground.



My biggest concern with exposed pipe is actually the sun hitting it,  if you could come straight up and in and only have a couple feet showing it would be best.  You can bend this stuff, it just takes a couple strong people to do it lol.

On the exposed pipe I would probably reccomend wrapping it was somethiing, just to keep the direct sunlight off of it.

[Ridgekid]

Unfortunately you need a long radius with this pipe. It's very stiff.

With some creative engineering you could cut the pipe and use some 90 degree elbows. How you would insulate the elbows? Especially the set of elbows that could be underground? Put it in a PVC pipe and fill with neoprene? I don't know, just thinking outloud here.

[Scott7m]

Unfortunately you need a long radius with this pipe. It's very stiff.

With some creative engineering you could cut the pipe and use some 90 degree elbows. How you would insulate the elbows? Especially the set of elbows that could be underground? Put it in a PVC pipe and fill with neoprene? I don't know, just thinking outloud here.

I have done that on one job...  I hated doing that and I think it crosses my mind everyday. lol 

It's just not how it should have been done and it makes me worry about it.  I guess it can work though, i just dont have enough faith in it to do it again

[gmviso]

Thanks Scott. I notice you have a store url in your signature so I assume you own it or work there. You also mention "3 n  5 wrap pipe and the CB stuff" in your posting.

I assume CB refers to Thermopex. Is the "3 n 5 wrap" the stuff shown at http://www.freeheatstore.com/Parts_and_installation.html

I know this stuff is significantly cheaper than the Thermopex or other similar foam filled pipe. I want to do this right the first time but want to save as much money as I can but am a little concerned about pipe that uses wrap insulation in case the drain tile which it is in gets perforated and gets filled with water.

Can you please comment?

thanks

[Ridgekid]

To Scott-

I guess if you did go this route you could test run the system (at temperture) to check for leaks before backfilling?

[Scott7m]

Yea ridgekid you could do that, its just over time that i worry about. it's just a touchy situation for me as a dealer to put my faith in it. 

gmviso, Yeah i own the business and deal with this stuff everyday.  As far as your triple wrap and 5 wrap pipe it's not regular drain tile that it's in.  At least not in some cases!  The triple wrap i usually use comes in a white pipe, its tough as nails, i take pieces of it and set on sharp rocks and stomp it showing my customers how tough it is.  I've ran over it in rocks, stomped it, you name it, and have yet to tear it up.  Of course I was just running over the white casing around the triple wrap. 

Now was far as your quality of line, your going to pay a lot more for thermopex or logstor or something like that.  Performance wise, I'm not sure if your ever going to get your money back.  I've seen water in triple wrap go over 100' and leave the stove at 180 and still be upper 170's 100' later.   Sooo..  How good is good enough?

If you want the absolute best line available, you need to look at logstor, its pretty amazing stuff.  You can run it like 150', water temperature at stove will be 180, and 150' later the water temp will be like 179.7.  It's just crazy good.  But expensive.