PEX IS IN THE GROUND!

Got most of the pex in the ground yesterday. It's tough to handle because it's stiff in the cool weather. I'll back fill as much as I can now, but ultimately finish that in the spring. To build a high quality, energy efficient, inexpensive to operate shop, takes time. By making use of the wood boiler, in-floor heat along with a lot of insulation in the walls and ceiling, this will be a energy efficient shop.

This where the pex comes into the shop.The yellow tubes are the infloor pex for the floor heat. When I get it finished there will be a 3 port (6 port counting in & out lines) manifold with isolation valves & temp gauges, a thermostatically controlled pump, a relay box and a mixing valve all mounted on the wall here.

This is an outside view coming into the shop. I'll get some help to finish getting the pex inside. It's to stiff to handle alone. The trench going to the right is for the gas line. It shares the same trench as the water lines. The propane tank will sit just to the right of the picture. The trench from the back of the shop is for the gas line from the tank going into the shop for the backup ceiling mount heater.

135 ft away is the boiler. The cool weather makes handling the pex difficult. Ground is frosty about 2 inches deep, trench is about 18 to 24 inches deep. I'll try to back fill as much of the trench as I can but ultimately finish it in the spring.

Boiler sits on this concrete pad, with a formed area for the pex lines to get in. The green lines are for the house where there is a heat exchanger mounted in the furnace plenum. Here is seen the continuously running pump (only draws .7 amps so it very energy efficient and spins at over 3000 rpm!) Ball valves on both side of the pump so it can be serviced with very minimal water loss. The new pump will go on the flanges just above the incoming lines. The silver wrap is the insulation. One line will be shortened and connected to the ball valve just to the right. So the pumps are attached to the high ports taking hot water from the boiler and the lower ports are the cooler returns. Inside the panel are the electronics for the boiler, wiring schematics, on-off switch, micro processor for draft door operation, fuse, pump outlets, and temp sensor for the water in the boiler.