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[BIG AL]

So I tried to save myself some money a while back and put together my own version of insulated pipe for my owb installation. So I looked around the interweb to see what other people or companies were building. I live in SE Mass so i figured i didn't really need the best insulation if i buried it deep enough and moved the water fast enough. So I bought 2 100' rolls of pexworks 1" pex-al , 1 24"x100' roll of reflective insulation , and 100' of 4" black drain pipe. We used 2 tractors to hold the pex stretched out and taped it together. Then we cut the roll of insulation into 25' pieces and wrapped it around the pex giving us about 4 wraps and we taped that together. We took that and slid it through the big black snake and done 100' insulated pipe. I buried it 4' deep and I thought / think I was very careful with the back fill. I thought everything was going fine until my wood usage more than doubled and I couldn't figure out where I was loosing all the heat. my 2400 taco pump flows 30+ gal/min so I wasn't seeing the heat loss between the owb and the gauge on hx supply. It finally came to me what was happening when i started getting snow melt in a strip of my yard over where the pipe is buried. Apparently I have water in my piping and I have created a really nice snow melt system that I don't need. I never considered this could happen when I built this pipe system. So next weekend I am laying down some logstor temp. and i'll get it buried in the spring. This type of piping may work good in some climates not here. Wish I had come here for information first instead on looking around the web

[kommandokenny]

Can't  scrimp on the pipe,for sure.
Some diys projects, do backfire.

[Roger2561]

BIG AL - Thanks for sharing your experience with us, perhaps someone will learn from it. 

I think everyone wants to save a few $$$ here and there but this is one place where you don't want to skimp.

Roger

[mlappin]

I tried something similar, except I wrapped my bubble insulation around a 4” pvc pipe, then slid that inside a 6” PVC pipe.

For the corners I used 45’s and filled them with foam from a can.

Worked great for a lot of years, then the heat finally broke the foam down and the inner pipe cracked at the corners from expansion and contraction?

This allowed the heat off the pex to migrate the entire length of the run between the 4 and 6” pipe, had a strip 2 foot wide showing grass most of the winter.

Just buy a high quality underground line to start with and save yourself a lot of grief at some point in the future.

Takes an obscene amount of wood to keep the snow off a 117 foot strip when it’s zero out.

[coolidge]

Unless your a small engine guy repairing mowers in the winter, then at least you got a test strip.

[Roger2561]

Unless your a small engine guy repairing mowers in the winter, then at least you got a test strip.

There's always a bright side to everything.     Roger

[mlappin]

Unless your a small engine guy repairing mowers in the winter, then at least you got a test strip.

LOL, thats funny crap right there, fire up the snowblower or plow truck and plow a strip to the grass so you can mow in the dead of winter.

I actually mowed the lawn about the third week of November, partially because it it had grown a little and mostly to mulch the leaves.

With as green as the cover crops look now, if I still had my old underground pipe the grass above it might actually still be growing.

[BIG AL]

that is pretty good guys. Funny thing is it is so damn cold here right now that without the snow melt I don't seem to be using nearly as much wood. still going to change to logstor next weekend

[patvetzal]

I have seen/heard of a lot of people who make their own main lines, but every set that worked involves encasing them in closed cell foam. In other words, building a form, laying in the lines and then injecting foam....
I have never heard of anyone being happy with foil wrap, or bubble wrap lines that were anywhere close to ground water. It only takes a few years before the grass turns green....

[kommandokenny]

Bush and rock sounds like here??  [ and swamp]

[rims421]

I have 115' of logstor left over from our install if you are interested.
Located in SE CT

[BIG AL]

Thanks rims I would be interested but I got some already and I put it in this weekend. Took advantage of the 50 deg weekend if Feb.