Boiler Line Through Foundation

[Bud21]

I am looking for ideas on how to set up my foundation on a detached garage for a future indoor boiler install. We are getting ready to break ground and wondered what I need to do to make running the lines from the house to the detached garage easier when I install a boiler, ie some sort of conduit that can be placed before the footers or floor is poured. I know it will be hard work on the existing garage but wanted to save myself some headaches on the new build.

 

[Frozen Canuck]

Insulated conduit run. You can get insulated/water jacketed/pvc pipe complete with 45* & 90* elbows. It is intended for municipal water supply but will work as an insulated conduit for your install. If you can protect the Pex pipe you can install it under the foundation, foam it in place in the trench & leave the exposed ends long enough to attach to the boiler on one end as well as enter the house on the other end, prior to building the garage. I am assuming from your post that neither a house or garage exist at present. Strongly suggest that you read the underground stickie as there is a lot of really go info in there.

 

[huffdawg]

I am looking for ideas on how to set up my foundation on a detached garage for a future indoor boiler install. We are getting ready to break ground and wondered what I need to do to make running the lines from the house to the detached garage easier when I install a boiler, ie some sort of conduit that can be placed before the footers or floor is poured. I know it will be hard work on the existing garage but wanted to save myself some headaches on the new build.

I used a diamond toothed chainsaw to cut through my foundation worked great. There are some pics. of the whole 1-1/4 " buried pex install on the picasa link below.

HD.

 

[bpirger]

I put 6" conduit in when I built, thinking I could slide whatever insulated pex I used someday. Well, I went with microflex, and it wouldn't fit in the conduit. So it is unsued...and I don't think will ever be used. In my experience, buried insulated pex isn't small, it isn't very flexible, and I don't know if you could put anything you "want" inside conduit after the fact. I did pull through two 1" pex lines, insulated with those thing rubber self closing things, through a 4" conduit back in 2003 when I installed my oil boiler....and now that losses stuff is being replaced. So from a guy who has put in over a mile of conduit up here on the hill, and tries to think of everything ahead of time, I'm not sure conduit will work.

Planning where you will put it, and planning how it will come through, and maybe making it easier to dig through/cut through, and making sure you have proper clearance, bending radius etc, that might be the best you can do. Unless you install the line now completely....that'd be better perhaps.

For example, I assume you are going to put pex in the garage....make sure you leave yourself room to bring tubing up without havign to worry about cutting pex. Remember the bend radius is quite long, a few feet or so....no such thing as a 90 degree elbow in this stuff....maybe a very long 90 sweep.

You can run conduit for electric, control lines, temp sensors, etc. and so forth. Make sure you do whatever makes the code guys happy. Some don't like to see low voltage controls in the same conduit as the AC, etc. But for the pex, I don't think you will find a conduit that will work....My two cents.

 

[Tennman]

I have agree with BP above. I have no experience with the preinsulated stuff but bend radius has to be very large. I placed 2 of those 6" black corrgated plastic drains about 8" inside the formers with very generous radii. Poured slab around conduits. It was easy to push/pull the 1.25 pex. We then foamed in place and blew foam up into the black conduits. If you're gonna foam in place it worked great. See underground sticky.