I have a central boiler 5036, 100ft of foam filled. (I like its performance) My buddy is installing a boiler soon and I'm curious on performance of the foil wrapped pex. I see they offer 3 wrap, 5 wrap, 9 wrap. I am skeptical if foil wrap can be better than foam filled. Whats everyone's experience? I have googled and haven't found any charts with heat loss? So what do you fine people think?
Well, foam, if unsealed can allow water in. Cold water can and will suck a ton of heat out. You want stuff that has no seams. It seems that a combination of foil wrapped and foam insulated is best. There's been some great advances since I last dealt with owb tubing. I recall a few bad installs I worked on trying to fix others mess ups. Choosing the Right Underground Pipe for Your Furnace | Hawken Energy
From everything I have read about the stuff (wrapped) by people that tried it, nobody would buy it again
I have foam filled. There is no measurable heat loss (maybe 0.1 - 0.2 degrees, but my thermometers aren't that precise to say exactly how much) on the way to the boiler and back over a 60' loop. Closed cell foam is waterproof, so you never have to worry about water intrusion and the heat loss it creates. As with anything, probably not all foam filled is created equal. I have ThermoPex, but have read great things about Logstor too. I have 2 sets of inlaws with boilers running huge amounts of wrapped pipe. It seems fine, but they are the type that wouldn't really notice anything going on...just throw more wet wood on the fire.
I have the foam filled myself. someone close to me thought it would be a good idea to save a few $$$f and went with the foil wrapped. BIG mistake! I told him that underground is not the place to skimp, but...........
