Insulated Pex Shortage?

[Medman]

I just spoke with Dave at Cozy Heat. It seems that there are problems getting the insulated pex he usually supplies, and backorder could be up to six weeks. Since I am having the trenching done today, I decided to go with a different product that is in stock. I feel for Dave; he has a lot of customers waiting for the pipe, by the sound of it.

Anybody else out there waiting for insulated pex for their install? Are there other options for purchasing this pipe? I am going with another product now, but others might benefit from the information. I have seen some pipe on eBay, but by the time shipping is added in it turns out to be more expensive than Cozy Heat, and I worry about the quality of pex and the amount of insulation in the eBay product.

 

[Tony H]

I looked at the stuff folks are selling on eby and it's even a stretch to call most of it insulated its some pex wrapped in bubble wrap in a sewer pipe.
There is a solution alot of folks here have written about using spray foam insulation that they say works great and should be available

 

[jpowell1979]

What I did was place spacers mode of 2" rigid insulation in my trench to keep the pex off the dirt and called a spray foam insulation company and they basically filled the trench for less than $200 for about 60 feet. All areas were at least 4" and some were probably closer to 10" of insulation. There is negligible heat loss on the underground portion of my run.

 

[leaddog]

spray foam--------spray foam----------spray foam
Must I say more.....SPRAY FOAM
The most insulation for the buck you can find. DON'T go with the bubble wrap, or plastic foam (it will melt at high temp)
The next best is the foam in the pipe stuff but it costs more for less insulation and is harder to work with.
I say it again.......spray foam
leaddog

 

[Medman]

Wow - way to pull up an old thread!

I wrote this last year during install, when there was a shortage. I don't know about this year.
There still is not a contractor within driving distance of me who does the spray-foam. Too bad, because I am working on my storage now and would love to have foam on the tanks.