Pressurized Manifolds in the Cold
Woke up this morning with an idea.... Yesterday, we ended up kinking a tube, the very last one, just as we were finishing up... It kinked right where the tube went into these bend supports... Since I wanted to protect the tubing anyway from random hazards, why not use some "smurf" flex pipe, which fits right into the bend support, and would help support the tubing so it couldn't be kinked... So off to HD before anything this morning...
By the time we got to the lot, the cold front was really coming through... Nasty wind and rain. Things at the lot were just nasty. Mud, water on all the plastic, everything was cold and blowing around. That first picture up there was from the ice the other day, I just threw it in for effect...
I have to tell you about the coolest tool I bought... It's a plastic pipe cutter that cuts pvc, pex, etc up to about 1.5 inches in diameter. You open a knife and the thing then rachets back down as you cut, and the knife goes right through just about anything... If the mob ever finds out about these things, they will be taking fingers off with ease...
Anyway, at each manifold, I cut the tubing to the same lenght, then installed the smurf pipe, then copper crimp connectors, and then finally the manifold on top of that. I used a "pocket crimp" tool to crimp everything together. I am such a tightwad I didn't want to buy the full blown tool, and I thought the "pocket crimp" thing would work out well. It's kind of shaped like a clamp with holes for 3/8, 1/2, and 3/4 inch size crimps and you basically just squeeze the crap out of it with a pair of vice grips. So, 38 crimps later my hands are sore like all getout....
This really organizes things, though, so the pipe looks a lot better. Then we hooked into the neighbors power and ran 300 feet of extension cord over to my little baby air compressor, and pressurized things to 80 PSI... We did notice that the tubing bacame much stiffer and actually popped up in a couple places (it needs to remain below the level of the finished concrete, but not too low). So, a few repairs to that, but the tubing is now holding it's 80 PSI nicely. I think before the pour I will back that down to 40 or so, but for 24 hours I would like to see it hold it's pressure just to be sure... Eventually, the operating pressure can be quite low, just whatever it takes to get the water around the circuits... The tubing really did stiffin up (if that was any more possible) with the pressure inside. Also, I think the volume is something like 90 gallons, so my little compressor got a workout on a 300 foot cord...
And finally, the radiant floor is ready for the pour... A task MUCH larger than I predicted.
So, the only thing left to put into the slab is the electrical floor boxes. That is scheduled for tomorrow. There will be ice on top of the slab, but at least everything is marked out.
My wife spent the day today helping me with things, mainly, she put 500 plastic "chairs" under the tubing in spots where we thought it would get mashed down too much. This should greatly help keeping it in the correct position when they pour.
As I write this, the wind has died down, but there is now ice forming on the playhouse in the back yard. It's sunny out, just cold and windy...
OK, have to verifiy with the electrician for tomorrow...
Later...
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