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[Sluggo]

Not trying to stir any pots but for first time installs take this advice for what it's worth.  I have a Heatmaster 20,000 heating my house (20') from the stove and a shed (200') from the stove.  The twenty foot run to the house is supplied with the silver foil wrapped junk encased in 4" drain tile.  I have a 4-5 degree heat loss on that twenty feet.  Tonight,FreeHeat, a fellow forum member picked me up a maverick thermometer for use in my shed.  The shed is supplied with two hundred,yes 200 feet of thermopex line.  We checked the temp on the stove to guarentee calibration then headed to the shed.  Once we had the thermometer taped to the supply line in the shed I called my wife at the house.  She went to th stove(making fun of us woodstove nerds) and read me the stove temp.  To my pleasure and FreeHeats dismay (he didn't use thermopex) the temps were both at 167 degrees.  No heat loss on 200'!  I couldn't be happier I just wish someone would have told me about this stuff when I hooked my house up.  The price diffence is negligible considering the lifespan of underground supply and return lines.

[Jwood]

Is what you have a 3 wrap?

[free heat]

He has thermopex to his shop and a basic 3 wrap to his house. He's right folks don't skimp on your underground water lines. The more heat loss below the ground means more wood in your stove. Over the course of even a year can add up to be quite abit of wood. I'm amazed of what I seen tonight absolutely no heat loss on a 200ft run wow.

[Jwood]

Obviously a 3 wrap is like comparing apple's to Oranges as far as foam filled line is concerned thermopex is definitely not the best Logstor and Rehau will beat it due to the thicker outer jacket.

[Sluggo]

The only way way you could beat no heat loss on 200' of line is if it heated on the way to th shop.  How can you get better than no heat loss?

[Jwood]

Where are you located sluggo and how many gpm are your pump pumping?

[mlappin]

As much as it made my *ss pucker I bought 250 foot of Logstor earlier this year. When it was still below zero last year and I still had some snow melt and could see grass in one spot it was obvious what I buried fifteen years ago took a dump.

[fryedaddy]

How long do lines last?

I have (5) wrap thats about 20yrs old and 30" underground.

Its hard to establish a heat loss because I have (4) lines with 5 wrap in one line.

I think some of the heat loss may be atributed to cold and hot lines running together.

Is my theory correct?

[Sprinter]

More importantly what circulators do you have on each line? What is the flow rate?

I can take bare pex laying on the ground , run 180' water thru it with a big circ and show no heat loss when water velocity is above 5' per second.

Meaning if I turn that circ to low speed and slow the water down it will show a higher temp loss than on high speed moving fast.

A good simple test is does it melt snow, either buried or where it comes out of the ground. It shouldn't.

[Chicken farmer]

My local supplier carries both Thermopex and Logstor. I had about a 40' run. He told me that considering the short run, the Thermopex would work just fine, and the added cost for Logstor was not needed. He also said that if I had a long run, he would have recommended the Logstor for volume considering the larger ID.