Print

[sw18x]

I’m getting ready to dig my trench for a thermopex install for the OWB. I’m leaving the old lines in place, and digging above them for the new thermopex. The trench will be relatively shallow but within recommendations: 10 – 12 inches. I know some guys go deeper, but for a number of reasons I’m leaving the lines shallow. My main concern is that the lines don’t sit in water, and that’s where my questions start.

I had assumed digging the lines shallow would guarantee water wouldn’t be an issue, since our house sits above a downhill slope in the backyard. The bottom of this slope is at least 5 feet below grade, and this is where all the water, including my underground gutters for the house, drains into when it rains. Therefore, my 12” trench can’t be below the water table, right?

Well, I was playing around with the bucket on the tractor and ended up digging a small 16” test pit next to the concrete slab for the OWB. You can see this pit in the photos – the garden hose is sitting in it. It rained a couple days ago and I noticed that the pit immediately filled with water and then took almost 24 hours to completely drain. This concerned me, because if the drainage is that poor, I’m worried about the lines sitting in water every time we have a thaw or it rains.

My first thought was put some stone in the bottom of the thermopex trench, but as my neighbor pointed out, the water still has to go somewhere. Should I dig another trench heading west toward the slope, fill this with stone and tie it into my main trench to give the water someplace to go? There’s also a buried pvc pipe that drains the house gutters, and my neighbor mentioned digging a channel from the thermopex trench to the pvc pipe and drilling some holes in the pipe to allow the water from the thermopex trench to seep in. As you can also see from the photos, the south gutters for the garage do NOT go underground, but spill out right next to where the thermopex trench will be dug, which probably contributed to most of the standing water in my test pit.

How would you guys handle this? I’m a newbie when it comes to excavation and know next to nothing about drainage. I want to avoid fancy solutions since I’m just using the tractor bucket and a shovel to dig, but I also want to get this right the first time. Suggestions?

(I also posted on another forum and included some detailed photos of the job site - you can see the photos here:

http://www.arboristsite.com/firewood-heating-wood-burning-equipment/241846.htm

[Scott7m]

Well....   Just do what you can to get the water away from your trench, filling with gravel below the pipe will definitely help but you have to make an exit for the water at the lowest part of the ditch. 

Have you already purchased your thermopex?  As someone who carries thermopex and logstor both I'd like to recommend logstor over thermopex, it's a far superior product and I've shown pics of thermopex failing on this forum several times. 

Either way, ditch prep is key, get the water away if at all possible, wet soil is a heat robber

[slimjim]

I would absolutely agree with scott on the Logstor, I have used it many times in wet ditches, if you use it I would not be concerned at all about water drainage

[sw18x]

I've read up on logstor on this site and saw it was highly recommended, but don't know of any dealers nearby. I live in the Rochester, NY area and we have a dealer that carries Thermopex an hour to the east and an hour to the west. If anyone knows of a dealer within 1 hour of Rochester I would certainly consider taking a look at logstor. I even did an internet search looking for a nearby dealer and came up with nothing.

[Scott7m]

I ship logstor all over the country, I retail it for $12.90/ft plus shipping....     

I do thermopex for 11.90/ft for thermopex, but when folks want foam filled lines, I never push them towards thermopex! 

[Ohiowood]

Hey Scott

What is wrong with thermopex? 

Had mine installed 2 years ago.

Just wondering, thanks

[Scott7m]

Nothing really wrong with it. 

It's just when we are comparing it with a similar foam filled product it doesn't compare as well.  The shell on logstor piping is much tougher "twice as thick", the foam inside is of a higher grade and it has a membrane barrier, and then a big plus is the larger diameter line inside, moves more but's and is less restrictive on the system.  So like for me I sell thermopex for 11.90 plus shipping, logstor is 12.90 plus shipping, for $1 dollar more no one ever turns it down once they are looking at the product

I posted quite a few pics last winter of a forum member martyinmi, who's thermopex failed after a few seasons and finally had to be torn out this year, the casing on it was splitting, his dealer gave him pitches but it continued to spread and get worse over the length of the trench