Rain for the last few days, and nothing has happened...
We didn't have hardly a drop of rain this summer, and it was smokin' hot. Dried everything out and was really hard on everything alive..
Fast forward to December. We keep getting cold fronts sent from the North (can't blame you Yankees for that, this stuff comes from Canada) and that meets our rather warm, humid Gulf air, which produces rain. We have not gotten hammered from total rainfall, just drizzly wet often enough that we can't surface dry things out.
Was supposed to have the forms set for the concrete this morning. But I called them off for another day, and glad I did because it was pretty slimy on top. I don't think that crew was too excited to be swinging 20 pound sledge hammers in the mud. So, tomorrow we try again... They say they can have the job done in a matter of a couple of hours... Would take me weeks.
In the meantime, we made another run to town for other things. Looks like iphones are in our future. Since my puny brain can only store just a fraction of what it should, these should help... Anybody have an iphone case they really like?? Needs to have a screen protector build in and still able to dock the phone easily...
Oh, got home and decided to take a stab at my next project for the house. I will be installing a "Hydronic Radiant Heating" system myself in this abode... What that means is warm water circulates through PEX (crosslinked poly pipe) embedded in the concrete slab, thus warming the concrete and keeping your pigs warm.
I bought this tubing from an online retailer. Couldn't support the local economy on this one, because the tubing needed to have an "oxygen barrier" which normal PEX doesn't have. It turns out, that when you have hot water in a closed pipe, it sucks oxygen right through the walls of the pipe, which builds up in the water and causes things to corrode, as well as eventually forming pockets of oxygen gas which mess up the flow of water. The pipe with the oxygen barrier keeps this from happening. Only you Yanks seem to really know about this, and I thank you for your expertise in figuring all this out.
Ok, back to my point... I bought the pipe in 1000' lengths, but it is installed in lengths in the neighborhood of 250' per circuit. So, to save time later, I had the bright idea of cutting this stuff to length and rolling it up in giant rolls that would be more manageable for installation... Good intent. So, tonight, I get a roll, open the box, and I am staring at a 1000 foot red slinky. Hmmm.
OK, two ladders, an old wire spool, put the red slinky over the wire spool, put a shovel handle through the wire spool, suspend the apparatus between the two ladders, attach C clamps to the shovel so it can't move, and cut the straps holding the red slinky together. HOLY CRAP!!... Red slinky everywhere. My neighbors are driving by... slowly, with looks of wonder in their eyes. They probably think it is some Christmas decoration...
Long story short, after much aggrevation, I get my first 262 foot piece rolled up into a nice neat 6 foot diameter loop, with cable ties holding it together about every 50 feet. Wifey is completely pissed off at me, because she just isn't capable of reading my mind. Daughter too, who tried to help tame the 262 foot Hula Hoop... Not fun.
OK, for you techno savy pipe nerds out there... I have a question. I have observed that granite countertops are cold to the touch in winter. So, since I already have warm water circulating and pumps why not run a circuit to two places... 1. The eating island, where people will have their arms resting whilst eating and doing homework, and 2. Pissed off wifes makeup counter in the master bath... Why??? Because I can...
I can easily run pex tubing over to each location and supply hot water, but how do I circulate it under the countertops... The island countertop presents a special challenge, because the wood base under the granite also adds some support to the part cantilevered part that hangs over the edge about 16 inches. If I cut into this too much, I run the risk of a structural failure...
Here is my idea...use some plumbing adapters to convert the pex to a 1/4 inch flare copper coupler, then use a router to make a 1/4 inch channel that snakes from one side of the island to the other. Snake the copper tubing into place and secure into the tracks with silicone. Then, the granite gets installed on top of all this and subsequently is warmed whenever the floor heat is on (all winter long, in my case) to a temperature of about 80 degrees.
Since I am the "hypercomplicator" according to my first wife (actually, the wife I have now that is pissed off at me...did I mention that?), I am not quite satisfied with this design. I feel the head loss from the copper tubing will be too high and I will end up with an island that is cold on one side and warm on the other... So, why not split the tubing and come across the island from either direction, thus reducing the head loss and increasing flow, and having a more uniform temperature gradient across the island...
I take your comments on this... Anybody with a better idea wins... Just don't try to sell me on the electric resistive mats under the countertops. I know this can be done but it costs too much to operate regardless of it's simplicity... I can make hot water with my GSHP at a COP (coeffecient of performance) in the range of 4.0 and higher, 4 watts energy for the cost of 1.
Sorry, should have taken a picture of the red slinky... I promise to construct a better design to do the rest of that project...
I wonder if the iphone has an app for that?
