Pump and wire in trench questions

[flyingcow]

i put a 2 inch pvc conduit in the trench with everything else. Way too nice. Not a waste of time or money

 

[pybyr]

I'd lay in some cheap 1" black plastic pipe - never know what you might want to run through there.

I'd second that and suggest that you put in a _couple_ of runs of cheap plastic pipe parallel on the opposite outer edges of the trench. "Regular" 120/240 power is never supposed to be in the same conduit as lower voltage switching lines, and AC voltage can introduce some strange voltages and currents in sensor wire if they are run in close proximity and in parallel to each other. The incremental cost of another line of cheap black poly will be small compared to the options it opens and frustrations that it could save if you need to go in a direction, wiring wise, that neither you nor anyone else may be able to see just yet.

 

[Tennman]

Well, 1.25" PEX is in the ground. WHEW! I'd estimate from boiler to heat exchanger is 180' one-way. The ground is basically level so the boiler sits I'd guess 4-5' above where the HE will be installed on my forced air furnace in the root cellar. I've downloaded the TACO pump program and studied the charts. I've got a Biomass 60 (200kbtu) so I'm estimating I need 18-20 gpm but the head pressure I'm a little gray on. The TACO 1400-20 (1/6 HP) seems to be the leading candidate. I've read about multi-speed pumps. Do people change pump speeds during operation or is this to provide installer flexibiliy. AND what are you guys talking about installing some sensor line in the trench. Haven't completely covered up the PEX so if I need to lay a small sensor line for whatever reason I can do it now. Why would I need to communcate between the house and the boiler barn if the boiler is controlled based on the return water. The trenching job was miserable. Will tell you guys how I did it after I get some temp loss measurements. If its good or bad I let you know the results of my approach. thanks in advance for your inputs.

 

[Tony H]

Not sure what sensor people are using but while you have the trench open you might want to lay a couple runs of CAT5 , coax, romex or anything else you might need in the future for control , camera, alarm, power , phone or whatever.

 

[Nofossil]

I'd lay in some cheap 1" black plastic pipe - never know what you might want to run through there.

 

[sgschwend]

What ever pipe you install in the trench, be sure and tape the ends securely shut. A little bit or gravel pulled down that pipe can cause quite a jam.