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[hen house hansen]

I Finally Got To See The P&M BL 3444 In Person .. I Liked What I Seen > Was Very Nice. Was Told Thats The Size Unit I Would Need For My Install. Now For My Question To You Pros On Here. I Have Been Looking At The 5 Wrap For My Underground Piping Made By Badger Pipe Co. Have any of you used this in your install ? I need 250 ft to the House and 30 ft to my shop. My soil conditions are very good here. Thanks in advance guys i have been reading alot on this site for months now. Tons of GREAT INFO on this site 

[mlappin]

I think I'd look at Zsupply if you want a wrapped pipe, their stuff is sourced as much as possible from the USA, heard not so much from Badger.

[hen house hansen]

Thanks . I will check into that pipe.

[martyinmi]

You'll not be disappointed with the 5 wrap from Zsupply.

I replaced my Thermopex with it early this past spring.

I bought mine through RSI, and since I bought a 150' roll, I got a heck of a deal.

[mlappin]

You'll not be disappointed with the 5 wrap from Zsupply.

I replaced my Thermopex with it early this past spring.

I bought mine through RSI, and since I bought a 150' roll, I got a heck of a deal.

What happened to the Thermopex if I may ask? Thought it was supposed to be a close imitation of Logstor/Rehau.

[Jwood]

You'll not be disappointed with the 5 wrap from Zsupply.

I replaced my Thermopex with it early this past spring.

I bought mine through RSI, and since I bought a 150' roll, I got a heck of a deal.

What happened to the Thermopex if I may ask? Thought it was supposed to be a close imitation of Logstor/Rehau.

[martyinmi]

What happened to the Thermopex if I may ask? Thought it was supposed to be a close imitation of Logstor/Rehau.

Nothing happened with it.
It had a couple splits in it toward the end that I had caused from forcing it too much too fast when un-rolling it, but the water penetration was minimal.
There is a lot of heat loss associated with insulated lines like Thermopex because there is no conductive break.
I believe that if Thermopex, Logster, or Rehau were pulled through Sch. 40 pvc, heat loss would be very,very minimal.
Check out link below.
http://www.forestryforum.com/board/index.php/topic,48429.0.html
I gained about 1.5 degrees (measured with Maverick electronic thermometer that has been in place for 3 years)from my boiler to my house (100'), and although I didn't measure, I'm sure the return temperature was a bit higher as well.
I had a buyer for my used Thermopex, so I'm only really out my labor and a little beer for my brother who came over with his digger.
Zsupply has a GREAT video, and part of it deals with conductive breaks and why they are important in limiting heat loss.
I was skeptical at first, but now I'm a believer in QUALITY wrapped insulated pipe.
I picked up my pipe myself in Muskegon (here in Mi where it is made) and had the opportunity to talk with one of the owners for a while.
What an intelligent person!
I also got to meet Phillip (RSI) while I was at Zsupply. He's really shy in person, but one of the most honest and descent salesmen you'll ever encounter.

[GCTerpfan]

I gained about 1.5 degrees (measured with Maverick electronic thermometer that has been in place for 3 years)from my boiler to my house (100'),

Can I ask what your heat loss was with each pipe?  You state you gained +1.5 degrees but how much heat loss were you having with the Thermopex?

[martyinmi]

Can I ask what your heat loss was with each pipe?  You state you gained +1.5 degrees but how much heat loss were you having with the Thermopex?

I have no good idea what my actual heat loss was with the Thermopex.
A few years back I bought a couple of Taylor candy thermometers, and I one weekend I taped them in strategic locations to my lines to see what kind of heat loss I might have. No matter what I did, I couldn't get the line thermometers to come close to matching my actual boiler temperature (seems like it was about 10 or 12 degrees off?), so doing a heat loss calculation using my redneck method would not work.
What I did learn was that there was a definite, measurable temperature drop (almost exactly 2 degrees) from my boiler to my home.
A temperature drop surely signifies heat loss, but there are too many variables that are out of my control for me to accurately calculate line heat loss with a good degree of certainty, much less put a number on it.
I dug out the thermometers last spring (after swapping out the lines) and did my makeshift-redneck-test-procedure again, and this time I had roughly a half degree of heat loss from the boiler to my home instead of the two degrees.
Now once again, I have no way to accurately measure how much heat the earth is stealing from me, but I'll GUESS that that loss has gone down by at least 50%, probably closer to 75%.
One of my hvac friends estimated my flow rate based on the head in my system, then he took the temperature drops into consideration, and his less than scientific conclusion was that the new line should save me at least a half cord in wood consumption, possibly as much as a full cord(based on 8 full cords/year usage).
I don't know what test procedures Central Boiler employed at the time my line was new, nor what independent lab they used, but the literature said that it only lost a bit over one degree in 100' (1.17 I think?).
I do know what the test method is that zsupply employs, and the independent lab they used said that under a given heat load with a fixed flow rate their insulated pex (5 wrap) lost less than .5 degree in 100'.
Their test results jive with this northern redneck's results, or do mine jive with theirs?
Whatever the case, as I implied in a post above, I'm a believer!!!

 

 

[hen house hansen]

Well I went to z supply web site to look at there 5 wrap pipe and there price is 9.29 per ft plus shipping. Also i went to badger pipe site and there 5 wrap is 5.28 per ft with free shipping. Well looking at a $4.00 per ft difference in the price i will be going with badger pipe co for my underground tubing... So now my next question would be . My run to my house is going to be 250 ft is 1" tubing big enough It will be supplying hx in forced air furnace and my Hot WH .

[mlappin]

Well, could the lower price be because the materials are $4 a foot lower in quality? Just saying.

[Jwood]

How about 3.69 per foot for a 5 wrap with 1" Rehau pex

[1ELVIS]

The zsupply outer case is much thicker than the other wrapped piped I have seen. I think that's what makes it better. I also went with a double tile.

[automan77]

you will be happy with it. I'm glad I went with the double tile.