OWB lines melting the snow

[troy3300]

I made my own. It cost about $4.50 a foot. I get about half an inch spots where the insulation meets in the pipe of snow melt with unburried pipe. The spots take about 24hrs to appear.

 

[iCreek]

My Pex is about 42" - 48" deep, in a 4" conduit, wrapped in an cheap insulation, bought at Lowes. Last winter I never saw any snow melting, will keep an eye on it once we start getting some snow. Every region will have different frost line depths, your local water districts and farmers should know what depth you should be. Get some temp readings to see how much temps your losing, not a good way to fix the problem though.

 

[blakey]

I installed my Central Boiler in 2001 and on my dealer's suggestion I got my lines sprayed with urethane foam insulation. The preinsulated Logstor type wasn't really popular yet. I hired a guy with a skidsteer with a backhoe attachment and the timing worked out perfect. He dug the trench at about 2 ft, then put the bucket back on and dumped a few inches of 3/4 stone in the trench. I followed him unrolling the pex and the insulation guy showed up. He had done owb lines before and walked backward in the trench shooting urethane between, under and ontop of the lines while holding the lines a few inches apart with his feet. By this time the skidsteer operator is ready to dump stone on top of the insulation, then backfill the trench. The skidsteer was cheap, maybe $200, the insulation not so cheap, I think about $7/ft but it was done quickly and I have not seen any snow melt. We did about 250 ft of trench and were done by noon.

Not saying this is the best way but I hadn't heard anyone else on here doing the same.

 

[AIM]

buy a good one!!
I spent $200 and it was worth it as I can find all kinds of cold spots in the house and fix them.

new window sill is +16 when it is - 35 outside
old one in bedroom is - 30 when it is minus 35 outside!!

WOW! -35.... That's just friggin COLD! I think the coldest I've ever felt was like -10 or so. I hope northwest Ohio never sees those temps.
I even had to convert it from Celsius to Farenheit and it's still -31 F.
I feel for ya man.

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

it doesnt take much heat to help the snow melt.

WRONG! It takes a LOT of energy to melt snow. An amazing amount.

I would think that any detectable melting would indicate a LOT of heat loss, not just a little?

Yep!

It snowed before I finished burying the pipes and the snow didn't melt off the outside of the PVC, even with them exposed.

Obviously, you used good pipe! It's just flat amazing to me how many people don't think this is important!


From another thread:

On the subject of insulation, always go heavy on that. Way back a long time ago, I worked for a manufacturer's rep in the plumbing industry, and one of our lines was insulated copper pipe. I learned about heat loss in underground pipes. I hear people talking about putting pipes in drainage tile with some fiberglass, and I just shake my head. OR talking about their pipes melting snow above them, and I know how much energy that takes. All that effort to gather and split wood, stoke the stove, not to mention the investment in equipment, and they are throwing away half their heat because they are too cheap to insulate!

 

[cityevader]

Let me preface that I've only been around snow three times my whole life.

But I was absolutelty amazed at how readily snow melted from a mild heat source....like a branch sticking out of the snow. A 1/2" twig would have a 4" circle around it melted away.

 

[Haywire Haywood]

I'd think that burying the lines deeper would only mask heat loss by getting it farther from the surface so it didn't melt the snow.

Ian

 

[hypothesis]

I have 6" schedule 40 PVC buried 40". Inside are two 100' bundles (one feed and one return) consisting of two 1" PEX and one 3/4 PEX double wrapped with solar guard insulation and then duck tape. From the cheap thermometer gauges I have attached to the lines, I have am loosing approximately 2 degrees. Seems to be doing the job. I'll be building a wood deck over the lines this summer and with the 6" PVC, if I ever need to service the lines, I can just pull em' out and not bother the deck. I have not seen any snow melting on the ground above the lines. It is possible that the lines are deep enough that the heat loss is dissipating and not making it to the surface. But I can live with what appears to be a 2 degree loss over 100'.

 

[John D]

I have 6" schedule 40 PVC buried 40". Inside are two 100' bundles (one feed and one return) consisting of two 1" PEX and one 3/4 PEX double wrapped with solar guard insulation and then duck tape. From the cheap thermometer gauges I have attached to the lines, I have am loosing approximately 2 degrees. Seems to be doing the job. I'll be building a wood deck over the lines this summer and with the 6" PVC, if I ever need to service the lines, I can just pull em' out and not bother the deck. I have not seen any snow melting on the ground above the lines. It is possible that the lines are deep enough that the heat loss is dissipating and not making it to the surface. But I can live with what appears to be a 2 degree loss over 100'.

You did what i should have done,I used the 4" black ribbed crap,I should have used the 6" so i could pull them later,and to ensure they stay dry.I have the 3 wraps of solarguard and oxygen barrier pex,seems to be dropping about 3 degrees for the 100 ft run i have.I just wish I'd done the 6" sch 40,its much stronger,and like mentioned you can slide in new lines if needed.Beings i only have 60ft underground it wouldnt have cost much more than the 4" crap i used.