Inherited an OWB/heat system mess !!!

Hmmm..... check the temp at one of the metal fittings inside or shoot the bare Pex. I wonder if the heat loss was due to the water in the trench? That'll suck heat out of the best pipe. Was the trench flooded when you dug it up?

 

A 30-40' section was only buried 6" and there was 1-2" of mud on top of ground when I started digging . A week ago it was standing water
The open trench is dry now

 

I'd check temp drop with the trench dry, but I'm betting you've found the problem. My trench is 5' deep in gravel & I lined it with pea stone. 1-2 degree drop between boiler & building. That's assuming that my aquastat & IR temp gun are equally calibrated.

 

By the sounds of it I don't think there is any way I would re-use that pipe. It won't matter how much you drain the soil or how deep you bury it, it is still going to leak all kinds of heat to the ground. The outside of that pipe should be the same temp as the ground it is buried in.

 

Replacing the pipe is outta the question.
Thinking about wrapping with under slab insulation and/or spray foam it (I have a few other foam projects to do anyway)along with the drainage and burying it a lot deeper. I think I got a little give in the pipe. It was buried 6-12" deep with the contour of the ground. Straightening it out should make for a little slack.
I'm gonna filter fabric over the whole works and top with 8-10" of sand before burying.

 

If you can't replace the pipe then you just can't. Work with what you've got. Any chance you can wrap the pipe as you describe & then slide an 8" plastic pvc type pipe over it? The corrugated pipe is pretty inexpensive & would provide an air gap before any ground contact to slow heat loss. Also keeps any water away from the lines.

 

So you are talking about making a trough with rigid foam and then filling it with spray foam? As long as closed cell foam is used, I hear this works pretty well...especially with drainage in the ditch line.

 

It's not that I can't . I'm not gonna drop the coin on this place with the plan that I'll only be here 5 years. If I didn't own the equipment and a gravel pit I wouldn't be doing any of it.
60+ Amish kids are getting married in this community in the next 3-4 months and there are school issues which may make property less desireable to anyone else. There are 2 houses and 2 shops on 16 acres. Ideal for Amish . The Amish won't give a rats behind about the heat system so I'm not dumping a ton of money into it. I'll put $ into insulation if I have to. There's also 5 + years of wood on site so if some is wasted so be it. I'm just trying to load this monster LESS .

 

Understood, I wouldn't either. Hence the thoughts of " wrapping " the existing pipe in something cheap to keep an air gap around it. That to my mind would be worth doing just to save loading time/trips.

 

If the OWB is near the end of its life I'd just remove all the hassle and put in a boiler or furnace and rent the place.

 

It isn't .
Not gonna happen. 2004-2005 was the last time this place was fueled by fossil and it took $6000 to keep it warm. That's why dad put the OWB in. I get processed wood delivered free. There's easily 100 cord here now .I do very little cutting to make stuff fit in the door.
No fossil heating appliance wil go in this place! If anything I'll put a small addition on andinstall the old wood furnace from my old house.
I'm just trying to improve the heat to the house without sinking a ton of $ into a house I'm only going to live in for 5 years .. Not reinvent thewheel.
With a 20+ degree drop from boiler to hot water tank I'm starting there and it's also the cheapest route to go.

 

Update
Wrapped the line with under slab insulation and boxed it in with 2” polystyrene insulation
Drain tile and stone
Filter fabric and buried
First 30’ out of boiler I triple wrapped
All materials were scrounged other than stone and drain tile.
Ended up having to go under driveway due to grade/depth of ditch. Had to buy 40’ of schedule 40
All told $145 drain tile and sched 40
Stone insulation and fabric were left over from another project or scrounged
Mad a big difference . This morning outside temp was 17. Boiler was set at 172 and inside temp was 69.
Now also heating upstairs bedrooms 24/7.
This never would have been possible even with the boiler set at 195 prior to the improvements .
Next will be hanging the lines and finish insulating in the crawl space.
Glad I did it.

 

Sounds like a lot of work... great that it's doing the trick...

 

Hope things stay good for you. Sometimes it takes moisture a while to get into piping, so here's to that not happening.

 

Definitely sounds like labor & money well spent. You’ll be able to reap the benefits of your job all winter!

 

Got new batteries for IR temp gun yesterday and checked things out last nite.
Only losing 6* from boiler to house!

May stop at Home Depot on way to hockey game tonite and grab some more styro pipe insulation for the crawl space.

 

If you keep a semi-regular eye on that, or say start/middle/end of season, you should be able to tell if moisture ever gets to be a problem.

 

That's great news JustWood ! Glad that fix made such a difference. Well worth it.

 

Glad it worked