Boiler's on it's way, and I'm considering using 1" Fostapex in a 4 or 6" line back and forth to my EKO 40 which will be 90' away in a shed. If I can devise something to hold the pipes in the center of the corrugated pipe, I want to use Great Stuff or similar product to insulate the lines. Of course I would drill holes along the way large enough to fit the "straw" into the pipe, and then cover them to prevent water from entering. Great Stuff is marketed as a closed cell foam, so I think I'd be alright. Though Fostapex itself is not cheap, I really like it and have my entire house plummed in it (aluminimum jacketed). Anyone else do something similar?
Anyone ever make their own Boiler Supply Line using canned foam?
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markpee said:
That's an awful lot of foam.
I'd doubt that it would be cheaper than just buying a quality, pre-made insulated piping system.
Joe
I used the spray in foam to insulate a small part of my storage tank.A can doesn't go very far.I aggree with Joe,It would take an auful lot of cans and would not be very cost effective.Just my 2 cents
not sure how the prices compare but you can also buy larger quantities with a product like tiger foam. prolly cheaper than cans, but not sure how they compare to pre-insulated pipe.
My underground pipe is going to be made the same way as High E’s pipe. He first used 1” foam sleeve then three wraps of bubble wrap then 4” drain tile slid over the insulated setup. There is one insulated pipe in one 4” drain tile. We figured the cost @ $3/ft. He used a long rope attached to one end of the pipe and the other to a tree in the yard. He then pulled it tight and slid the drain tile over the pipe onto the rope and then proceeded to insulate the pipe and then pulled the drain tile back over it. Its a pretty slick setup and seems to be insulated very good.
My run was only 25' and used about a dozen cans of foam. I had two 1" pex tubes with pipe wrap. Then I slipped 4" PVC pipe over it and glued all joints. I then drilled and tapped the PVC approx every two ft. so the foam straw was a tight fit. Starting at one end I foamed until it came out adjacent hole pulled straw and installed a set screw and foamed next hole and repeated. I don't know if it's as good as the high dollar stuff but I would have had a hard time using the really stiff good stuff due to a pretty sharp turn required at foundation. I run some pretty low temps, approx 130 to 140 deg F so the pipe wrap should be ok, could be a problem at higher temps.
Are you all accounting for the expansion of the foam? I'm going to do a test run with a piece of pipe to see just how many cans it will require.
By my calculations - 300' of 1" Fostapex (I'm doing around 100' run) = $500, 100' roll of 4" corrugated = $140, Homemade plywood spacers = $14 for two sheets of OSB, and ?? cans of foam at about $7 for the large ones. Even 20 cans of foam is $140. This is still cheaper than logstor at almost $3,000 for 100" run or so.
By my calculations - 300' of 1" Fostapex (I'm doing around 100' run) = $500, 100' roll of 4" corrugated = $140, Homemade plywood spacers = $14 for two sheets of OSB, and ?? cans of foam at about $7 for the large ones. Even 20 cans of foam is $140. This is still cheaper than logstor at almost $3,000 for 100" run or so.
markpee said:
Check out Rehau's insulated pex. Should be significantly cheaper than $3k for a 100-foot run.
Joe
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