Trough Heat

[washtubman]

For those of you in the cold Northern parts of the country, how do you heat your hose troughs in your attics? I currently heat mine with a run off my floor heat, however, thats not ideal because there are times when I need the heat in the attic, but not necessarily the floor heat or vice versa. Do you have dedicated heat just for the troughs, etc. Thanks.

 

[Waxman]

I have no attic; just an insulated trough and i run a floor heat tube in it.

 

[cantbreak80]

The area of the ceiling is always the warmest place in the equipment room. You could fabricate a blower system (such as Grainer?s 4C818 flange mount) to a length of 2? conduit. Penetrate the ceiling and secure the end of the conduit into the roof trough with a 2? box coupler and nut. Plug the blower into an electrical outlet, or connect it to Output 2 on your Weepmizer. Forced air heat for your trough.

 

[Jeff_L]

I use the heat from my anti-freeze system for my foaming brushes. I circulate warm anti-freeze through the lines for the foaming brush system and just bundle all the other hoses in the trough togther with those hoses. I just installed the system last year, and didn't have one freeze up all winter long. In the past my low pressure functions and foaming brushes would freeze, along with the occasional bay freeze. Now I have no worries!

 

[washnvac]

All mine are separate systems. I use a 12 gallon electric water heater with a small circulator. Tubing in trough is copper, except one location it is pex. Circulator is on a t-stat. Fluid is 50/50 mix of water and RV anti-freeze. Works like a champ. I have a digital sensing device with a 10 foot lead. I hang the read out close to the office desk, so I can montior temp. on those cold days. The one wash that has pex, I bought that wash, and it had the pex hooked to the floor heat. I unhooked that and added the separate heater and circulator. I just placed the heater in the actic.

 

[Eric H]

My presoak is on an open loop with a centrifuge pump and a heater in the make-up tank. This loop heats all of the LP lines which are bundled around it. The tank heater really isn't needed because the friction in the pump is enough to keep the presoak temp @ +80*. The downside is that the pump runs 24/7 even in the summer.

 

[I.B. Washincars]

I just weep warm water. The plumbing's already there as well as the water heater.

 

[Earl Weiss]

1. I weep warm water.
2. Seperate 40 allon Gas water heater with circulator pump. Use floor heat type pex tubing split in 2 loops , one for bays on each side of equip room. Use mix of RV Af as well. Trough is metal like a HVAC duct wih removeable lid insulated all 4 sides with ridgid foam.

In Chicago. Trough does not freeze. but even with weep, in extreme cold we may freeze were line exits trough into the bay.

 

[Jim Caudill]

I have been using a warm air circulator for quite a few years. I'm sure I wrote about it in the past. Just like "cantbreak80" says, the air in the equipment room is warmest at the ceiling, so that becomes the heat source.

First step is to make the trough "air circulation" friendly. To do that, I used foam insulation panels to completely line the bottom and sides of the trough. I left a 2" gap at the top of the sides to allow my top panels to sit down inside the trough. I have the foil side facing the interior. I just pile on the old fiberglass insulation on top of the trough for a little extra insulation.

Next I used plastic down-spout to run a tube from the equipment room all the way to the far-end of the trough - I think I ended the tube a couple of feet from the end. I used a circulation blower that has a square discharge to connect to the down-spout and turned the circulator blower so that it sucks air from the ceiling. I then sealed up the trough opening into the equipment room except for about a 4" square to allow the exhaust air from the heating system to discharge back into the equipment room.

The air circulation path is:
1. Heated equipment room air is picked up by the blower and forced thru the plastic tube to the far end of the trough.
2. The air can only escape by making the return trip thru the trough and exiting the opening left into the equipment room.
3. This insures that heated air makes its way all the way to the far end of the trough. There is some heating from the warmth of the tube as the air passes thru, but the majority of the heat is carried by the circulating air.

I left my underfloor heating circuit installed in the trough, but I seldom use the underfloor heat anymore. I have not had a trough freeze-up since I installed the blower system.

 

[ToFarGone20]

40 gal water heater, 2 Bell and Gosset pumps, and stainless pipe. I run heated antifreeze down the trough and back with the one of the pumps and the other pushes it out to heat the rail in the auto. I lined the whole trough with insluation too...2" thick foam on bottom and sides and fiberglass on top. Mine runs on my roof exposed to the elements...AND sunlight...so I painted it all black and it absorbs that sunlight very well. Even in the winter it still makes heat...melts off almost immediately. I have both pumps on timers too...if its gonna get real real cold I may let them run all the time.

 

[soapy]

I use Raytheon heat cable called winterguard wet. It is self regulating and has its own GFI. Been using it without problem for over 10 years in some locations and have to replace or repair it.

 

[Waxman]

I looked it up and it is expensive. But 100' (for $315) would do my overhead door tracks as well as my foamy brush lines.

Is it easy to connect and use, etc.?

thanks soapy!

 

[soapy]

You buy the cable in bulk and cut it to your needs. They sell a kit that has a GFI breaker with a plug in that goes on one end. THen on the other end is a water proof termination end. It comes in both 220 or 110 volt so make sure you order correct for your application. It might be cheaper to buy a whole roll than 1/2 a roll. You can also use it in rain gutters to keep them ice free. It is simple to make the connections. The winter guard wet has an extra layer of rubber for added protection. You can get the regular cable cheaper but I would get the added protection of the extra layer.

 

[Waxman]

Soapy.

Thanks for the info. I've read your posts long enough to know that you don't half a$$ things and run a top notch operation. I've copied many of your ideas w/success!

 

[washtubman]

Do you have the cable hooked to a thermostat or other controlling device? Also, how insulated is your trough?

 

[soapy]

The cable is self regulating so it won't overheat. I use it troughs that are insulated and some that aren't. THe troughs I use are just 4 inch pvc pipe anchored to the exposed ceiling joists. Some I have insulated with urethane foam and others are just exposed pipe. Even the exposed pipe troughs have never frozen in the trough.

 

[JMMUSTANG]

Where are you finding Raytheon heat cable winterguard wet?
I found it but it was like $625 per 100ft. not $300.

 

[Top Notch Auto Wash]

ToFarGone20,
We are new to this, we just bought our first wash this past August and are trying to get things ready for the winter. Could you send me info on the pumps you use and maybe even some pics of how you have things set up? The previous owner had a very small water heater set up and pex tubing running through the bay trough and auto rails. Any info would be much appreciated.

Todd
Top Notch Auto Wash

 

[2Biz]

I tackled this a few years back in which this thread helped me make the decision. I went with the Raychem Winter Guard Wet heat tape. I also have a loop of floor heat tubing going through the trough for added flexibility. The Heat Tape is activated with a relay and the weepmizer secondary output. You might also want to put a switch inline for more flexibility. When the tape is on, it keeps my troughs a toasty 70-80°. 75 feet only uses 450w...I think I paid about $2.00 a foot for it, so the price was right. Hope this helps with decision making...

 

[JGinther]

We have employed the air blower systems, floor heat tie-ins, anti-freeze recirculators, and self-regulating electric heat cable. While all of them have worked just fine, the following seems to be my favorite because the upgrade was cheap and killed two birds: I had some small recirculating pumps (like 1/10 hp or something) laying around, so I put one on the hot water holding tank and ran a flexible hose through the trough. I wired the pump with a t-stat (weepmizer). To keep the water hot, I installed an immersion heater in the holding tank. Now the water in the holding tank never cools down (everyone gets hot water all the time), and the trough is heated. I guess I don't care if I loose power and the hose freezes... Never happened yet anyway.