Finish Installing Pex Snow Melt Loops for my Concrete Heated Driveway

Finish Installing Pex Snow Melt Loops for my Concrete Heated Driveway - Day 5, Episode 6 [7-20-2019]

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3 жыл бұрын

Day 5 started off pretty much exactly where we stopped on Day 4 by finishing up the remainder of the 13 snow melt loops. Once all of the loops were installed, I took some time to add extra zip ties, making sure all of the pex was perfectly straight. I installed a Tekmar socket just in case I decide to add automatic controls at some point down the road. The socket was fairly inexpensive ($100) and I only have one chance to put it in (can't go back and add it once its poured). I ran a conduit across the front of the garage in case I wanted to add electric to the other side of the driveway after the pour.
The walkthrough was never meant for youTube but more of a reference video for me, however I thought I would include it as some may find it helpful.
At the very end of the day, all of the pex loops were connected together and pressurized to 50 PSI. It held this pressure for 3 days before we poured and did not move.
This video is part of a Heated Driveway / Snow Melt playlist that can be found here: • Heated Driveway / Snow...
#heateddriveway #snowmelt #buffalo #concrete

Пікірлер: 18

@charlesalcott7885 Жыл бұрын

Wow that looks so cool! I'm only half way thru this video. I'm gonna stop and go back to episode 1 on the driveway and start watching from there. I really appreciate ur hands on involvement in the project and jumping in there and doing a lot of the work also! That is not easy physically. I won't forget to hit the like icon and I already subscribed last week. Thanks for the video!

@flinch622 5 ай бұрын

Its late to observe this, but... concrete always needs replacement at some point. In that light, I would think to have pex under the wire mesh. Maybe a layer of sand for separation about 1.5" and use mesh-ups to get grid in the pour? Some transfer efficiency is lost, but that can be compensated for by shooting spray foam first before laying out pex. For those who never heard of mesh-ups, they are extruded plastic pieces the wire mesh snaps into at the top, which accurately sets the depth of reinforcement. They are an open sided pyramid shape, allowing voids to fill during the pour.

@supercoupe08 2 жыл бұрын

I just finished a snow melt install at my property in NE Indiana. My concrete guys did a large job, and had Indiana Warm Floors do my PEX Rough In. Sort of wished I did my own install. But at the time, I had a contractor telling me I had a boiler that I could add a 3rd zone and be good. I was no where close to good as far as BTUs

@DeckerChristopherJ 2 жыл бұрын

Ugh, sorry to hear that @supercoupe08. I was afraid of this when I designed mine. The general consensus from my research online is that you need 150 BTU's per sq ft to melt snow. I had one online design company tell me I could do it with 50 BTU/Sq Ft. It might've worked, but I didn't want to take the risk. If the boiler is running balls to the wall for hours on end, and it can never catch up and melt the snow, what's the point? Your just wasting natural gas. In the end, I decided to do all of my own calculations, and ultimately went with (2) 200,000 BTU Heaters to provide plenty of power if necessary (check out my other videos). Depending on the size of your melted area, you may be able to just put the slab on it's own heater and still salvage the pex in the slab? Maybe some of my other videos can help you, and I'll be uploading more shortly. Thanks aging for watching!

@spacecoastkid5033 Жыл бұрын

I live in Florida, so this is really interesting to me. First watched your 3 storm event video then wanted to see how the driveway heater was installed and what exactly it is.

@DeckerChristopherJ Жыл бұрын

Thanks for watching the rest of my videos, they will definitely show you how the heaters and everything else are installed 😊 Just comment in them if you have any questions! 👍

@Beniamin6665 5 ай бұрын

Really nice work.. It’s important to use automation.. Type B is really never ever allowed for hydroponics

@kangaroogod 3 жыл бұрын

👍

@mattjarchow4965 3 жыл бұрын

Nice job! Have done my share of crawling around on my knees with zip ties. Curious, any particular reason you went with 5/8, instead of say 3/4?

@DeckerChristopherJ 3 жыл бұрын

@Matt jarchow Thanks for the compliments! Sounds like you're familiar with the process! The crawling around and bending over is the hardest part, otherwise its not really complicated. So to answer your question, I had a couple of reasons for using 5/8" vs 3/4". First, I was worried about being able to bend 3/4" on a 6" or 9" radius without it kinking. I have a lot of experience bending 1/2", but I had read 5/8" can be a bit more difficult, and 3/4 - 1", forget about it. I would say that is correct. My second reason was that I needed to be able to fit all 13 loops of 5/8" (26 pipes total), plus the 3 loops of 1/2" going to/from the garage (6 pipes total), as well as 2 more 1/2" lines for my hot and cold water lines to the garage, ALL into that 6" PVC pipe coming through the basement wall. After having done it now with the 5/8", there is NO WAY I could've gotten all of these loops in 3/4" through the (2) 4" wyes, and I don't think they all would've fit into the 6" PVC either. Not sure if you watched the video to the end, but you can see how tight it was with just the 5/8". Hopefully that answered your question, and thanks again for watching!

@mattjarchow4965 3 жыл бұрын

@@DeckerChristopherJ Thank you, I understand. With a condensing boiler, with a bit higher temp, you could go with 3/4 and 12" spacing.

@kelstr Жыл бұрын

awesome video !!! Do you happen to remember exactly what pex that is?

@DeckerChristopherJ Жыл бұрын

Hey Kelstr, thanks for the compliment. I used 5/8” x 500’ Rolls of Oxygen Barrier Pex for this project, and cut them in half for my loops. PexUniverse had the best price at the time, so that’s where I purchased it. That was 2019 and may have changed. The brand was “EverHot”. Here is a link: www.pexuniverse.com/bpr5850-5-8-x-500ft-oxygen-barrier-pex-tubing Hope that helps, and thanks for watching!

@Jerry-ko9pi Жыл бұрын

An easy way to uncoil any tubing like this , is to get a large lazy Suzan, piece plywood and a trash can that fits inside the tubing. Put plywood, trash can on lazy Suzan and add some weight inside the trash can and push the tubing over the can. As you pull the tubing, it will unwind and spin around. Just make sure you don't pull too quick or hard. You can reuse everything too!

@dylansalant1898 3 жыл бұрын

Why not include heated sidewalk?

@DeckerChristopherJ 3 жыл бұрын

Hey @dylan salant. So I will explain this in a future video, but basically the sidewalks are not my property, they are owned by the town. I am responsible for maintaining them, replacing them, clearing them, etc. but I don't own the sidewalks and the apron. The town, electric company, gas company, sewer, water or anyone else can come through and cut them up to work on the utilities underneath them, and if they cut all of my loops when I wasn't around to tell or stop them, I would have no recourse. The end of the driveway is where my Right of Way stops, so if anyone cuts into my driveway without my permission, I can go after them legally and financially. In hindsight, I could have run a separate 1" pex line to the end of the driveway, and installed a manifold in an irrigation box in the ground, and run the sidewalk / apron lines to that. That would have allowed me to melt the sidewalk / apron on a separate zone, and if someone cut it or the tree roots heaved it and broke something, I could easily just replace it without touching the driveway. It only takes me about 5-10 minutes to clear them by hand, and considering the entire driveway is already done without lifting a finger, I'm OK with that 😁. Thanks for watching!

@Danmc-li3pg 2 жыл бұрын

It’s against code to put sealtite in a concrete pour.

@DeckerChristopherJ 2 жыл бұрын

Hi Danmc9999! I did not know that, and it's good info for my viewers to know. Thanks! Luckily I am only using the conduit for low voltage lighting and gate wires, and unfortunately its to late to replace it! Thanks for watching!