underground piping [RE-wrenches]

[Andrew Bortz]

The 12" wide adhesive aluminum tape is available from now from Solar depot.
And anything underground must be protected by sealed PVC or equivalent.  the
best closed cell insulation in the world can't stand up to soil organisms in
the earth for extended periods (unless you are running in pure dry sand
perhaps?).

Andrew

----- Original Message -----
From: "Graham Owen" <graham at solarexpert.com>
To: <RE-wrenches at topica.com>
Sent: Sunday, June 30, 2002 9:46 PM
Subject: RE: underground piping [RE-wrenches]


> Gator Tom,
>
> You are right.  Flat plate collectors have proven themselves over time.
> Stagnating panels and constant over heating takes its toll on the
> overall system and valving.  I have never used or even seen evacuated
> tube collectors in action and it appears they are not necessary in the
> southwest.  In fact in Los Angeles it is best to use black paint
> absorbers as opposed to black chrome. From my experience I have noticed
> that black chrome systems get the water in the storage tank up to the
> high limit shut off temperature too early in the day.  I set my high
> limit in the controller at 180 F. and systems that limit and shut off at
> 1:00 pm on summer days produce extreme temperatures and increase
> pressure.  If there is no check valve on the cold feed, before the
> tempering valve, it is possible to get hot water in the toilet, when
> flushed.  I like to install 2 4'x8' glazed black paint panels matched
> with an 80 gallon Bradford White solar tank and a Grundfoss pump.  With
> all that said I have never seen Rubbatex melted, even on piping that has
> experienced extreme temperatures.  There used to be a product available
> in the 80's called Sun-Shield.  This was a paintable adhesive aluminum
> tape about 12" wide and came on a roll.  Richard at Sun Cycle used to
> buy wide rolls of this tape from 3M, then he would cut the rolls into
> different width's for different pipe sizes. This product worked well and
> kept the sun from ageing closed cell pipe insulation.  Due to the fact
> that all pipe insulation shrinks when exposed to the sun, I cut the
> insulation a couple of inches longer than necessary, glue the ends, and
> force it into place.
>
> While on the subject of direct burial, Windy's suggestion of Type K soft
> rolled copper is great advice.  This advice should always be followed
> when plumbing pipes through attics.  I drill a 1" hole in the roof and
> also at the exit point, hopefully in a garage.  Have one person unroll
> and feed the copper up into the attic and the attic guy carefully pulls
> it to the roof penetration.  This eliminates any possibility of water
> leakage into the attic, even in the event of an earthquake.
>
> Graham
>
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