Pouring concrete for outside dryers

[sparkey]

I am wanting to move my dryers from inside to the bay to outside the bay in a cold climate area (Ohio). I will be removing asphalt and pouring a concrete pad in a good section of the parking lot exiting my automatic bay. I plan on putting a drain under the dryers and some apron heat and could a use a few pointers. How thick should I pour the concrete? How far apart should I run the tubing for the heat? I plan on laying 2" styrofoam under the tubing is this a good idea? Should I use wire in the concrete or is fiber good enough? Will the concrete last several times longer then the current asphalt? Does the cold weather cause more electric motor problems?

Thanks In Advance

 

[mjwalsh]

How thick should I pour the concrete? 5 inches minumum

How far apart should I run the tubing for the heat? 1 foot on center I plan on laying 2" styrofoam under the tubing is this a good idea? Not sure.

Should I use wire in the concrete or is fiber good enough? rebar is the best

Will the concrete last several times longer then the current asphalt? yes & deicer concrete stays even nicer Does the cold weather cause more electric motor problems? running cooler should help them I would think

Thanks In Advance

Sparkey,

The above in blue is how we would do it for what that's worth. Not sure on the number of days in your local climate data where no freezing while drying will occur & if there will be an outside more dirt in the air issue ... if you have a large enough lot ... I do see your reasoning behind having the dryers outside.

mike walsh www.kingkoin.com

 

[1hawkeye]

Far from a professional opinion but here's my two cents worth--- When I was talking with someone who sells the boilers they told me to go 6" on center outside. (western iowa) When I did my farm shop I laid down heavy plastic, 2" styrofoam, 1/2 inch rebar 2' on center, 6" limestone concrete with fiber mesh. I would definitely do re-bar. If your pad cracks and shifts- you're screwed. Fiber mesh is also really pretty cheap in the long run in my opinion.

Take it for what its worth----hope it helps

 

[wash4me]

In the farm shop you are trying to keep the indoor temp higher than the ground temp so you need insulation. At the car wash the insulation is counter productive because you are keeping the heat fromt he soil away from your slab. This insulationwould give you faster response time if you were to close the wash and shut off the floor heat then want to reopen. Also you may consider edge insulation depending on the circumstances. 5-6 inch concrete with rebar on 2 foot centers and don't let them add much water to the mix onsite ..particularly the water added to finish the surface. Just tell the finishers you would rather have a visible imperfection than water added to finish it. On the tubing uponor has a large technical document that explains a lot but most of it is geared toward ice melt so for fast response time they specify insulation. The motors are fine outside...in some circumstances you can get condensation inside the motor from the temperature change of a hot motor and a cold outdoor temp. I doubt if this is a problem but if you find out it is just run the blowers for 10-15 minutes once a week to get the windings up to temperature. Good luck.

 

[1hawkeye]

That is a good point on the insulation, but I would definitely use insulation on the edge to prevent heat loss out the sides

 

[I.B. Washincars]

I don't understand pouring over 4". Around here, that is pretty much standard. It's not like you are going to have heavy truck traffic. The capacity of the auto is going to dictate that nothing of significant size will run over it. An extra inch of concrete is 25% more to heat. Just my 2¢.

 

[1hawkeye]

Is there ever a chance that a truck (garbage, delivery, etc) could pull up onto the concrete? How about a forklift? They don't get much heavier per sq inch than that. I poured our patio 4" and there is never a car on that. Once it cracks and shifts what do you do? Especially with tubing in it. I realize I might be over doing it, but I want that piece of mind. It is another 1" or so to heat, but is that necessarily a bad thing? Once you get it warm it is a giant heat sink that holds the heat very well.

 

[ToFarGone]

If being inside isn't creating a major problem don't move them. I don't want to add anymore to my floor heat. Utility bills never go down...so why bring on more consumption.

If you do go with the slab, yes, it will last longer than asphalt. However, the concrete outside my autos wears out faster than anywhere else. They are wet all the time and in the winter a great deal of salt is deposited there. I have tried sealers but to no avail. I get about 10 years out of them. Next product I will be trying is called Xpex. When water gets into the concrete Xypex will start to grow crystals. This will seal the compromised area. Pretty neat stuff, look it up. And yes it costs more but should add greatly to lifespan.