Plumbers and my OWB

Wesspur
Rugged made
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BTW, how big are these lines? Might be a good idea to upsize while at this too, depending what you have or have been using. I would consider 1" to be minimum. You mentioned 4 lines - are they all going to the same place? Or are you using heat in 2 places?
 
I lose 1 degree or less in a 100' run of thermo pex. It's a pain in the ass to work with but for that type of performance I'll get over it. Burning wood ain't easy. It takes lots of labor and time. You sweat, your back hurts, and it is a year long process for most. I don't farm worms so I ain't heating the ground.
 
The price on ThermoPEX is insane! I'm sure it's worth it, but, wow! It looks like 2 lines run through it though, right? So if I'm running 4 water lines, I would need 2 sets of ThermoPex? Or can I get 4 lines wrapped in it?
 
Wayned24 said:
The price on ThermoPEX is insane! I'm sure it's worth it, but, wow! It looks like 2 lines run through it though, right? So if I'm running 4 water lines, I would need 2 sets of ThermoPex? Or can I get 4 lines wrapped in it?
Click to expand...

You can't wrap in it, so no.

We don't know anything about the rest of your system, but if it was me I would consider just a two line setup. I don't really see a reason to use 4 lines. That's why it is 2 lines - that's usually all that's needed. Mine would be 1" at minimum. 3/4" pex doesn't have a whole pile of heat moving capacity over 100' and the pumping load with it would be pretty big. Actually 100' would have me thinking about 1-1/4" - but 1" might do.

What kind of price did you find? Even at 12/foot (I think someone mentioned that?), 1200 for something that will last for likely as long as the boiler or maybe more would be way worth it considering the wood it will save over its lifetime. It's pricey, but not sure I'd put it in my 'insane' category.

How much wood do you use in a winter?
 
Are you burning a hardy? Maybe that’s why he has four lines. I got my thermopex for 12. Foot, if you use it. Trench it deep if you plan on making a bend with it. I only have a 30 foot run and have no heat loss coming into my house.


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But is it required to run 4? Thinking since most use 2, a Hardy should be able to also. Might require some change in the house, still dont know how that's set up. 4 lines is like double the underground heat lost potential.
 
I do have a Hardy H4...This is only my 2nd year really running it. I just moved into the house with it last year and I was trial and error a lot with stuff. I'm pretty green when it comes to the OWB, but I love learning about it. Last winter I probably went through about 7 cords of wood. I get it free from a family member. He likes to cut wood bc it keeps him in shape, so I benefit from that. We heat the house and our DHW with it.
 
Wayned24 said:
The price on ThermoPEX is insane! I'm sure it's worth it, but, wow! It looks like 2 lines run through it though, right? So if I'm running 4 water lines, I would need 2 sets of ThermoPex? Or can I get 4 lines wrapped in it?
Click to expand...
Why do you need 4 lines? Run 2 lines to the house and make a small manifold to branch if you need hot water to go to different spots. Running multiple lines from the boiler to individual loads is insane.
 
Hell, I don't know...There were four lines when I moved in...They're all hooked to something inside the Hardy, so I figured they must be important.
 
Hardy’s have an internal DHW coil that sits on top of the fire box. So two lines for the DHW and two lines for what ever the heating lines are going to. We need to figure out how you are heating your house before you go trying to only use two lines in the middle of heating season.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I just took a quick look at the Hardy site and it appears as if they run a separate set of lines for the domestic hot water and it's a closed loop so that the domestic water is heated by the owb itself instead of a plate or tube water to water exchanger. This saves cents but costs dollars. It doesn't have to use the separate lines but you would need a plate or tube water to water exchanger.
 
If underground lines are being replaced now, now is the time to get this sorted. I am surprised you can get by with 7 cords though. Although we dont know anything about the system or heat load. I would definitely use only the 2 line thermopex underground, but, well, different strokes and all that...
 
So it sounds like you guys are saying domestic water is piped to the OWB and heated by a heating coil in the boiler jacket then it returns to the house as domestic hot water. Imagine the lag time. I agree, we need more info about the system before you go switching to a 2 line config.
 
Our boiler water runs around 180F. Domestic hot water should be around 140F. How do you regulate the temp of the hot water with this setup? Sounds like it would send you to the Shriners institute.
 
I'm not going to switch to the 2 line method. I just talked with the plumbers and asked for the new PEX wrapped and insulated as well as we could get it. He said he would come out next week to get a game plan. I really can't switch to ThermoPEX bc It's probably 100' with a sharp angle and it goes under concrete. There really isn't another route to take with the lines now with our pool in the back yard, so we will just insulate the regular PEX and deal with a little heat loss.
 

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