Under roof trough?

[Noob]

I’m trying to figure out how would be the most cost effective and simplest way to heat my lines in the winter to keep them from freezing. Here’s a pictures of my manifolds. All of my lines are ran under the room through pvc. I think I could put some heat tape in the pvc? Not sure what to do about the manifold. Anyone have any suggestions?

 

[slash007]

I’m trying to figure out how would be the most cost effective and simplest way to heat my lines in the winter to keep them from freezing. Here’s a pictures of my manifolds. All of my lines are ran under the room through pvc. I think I could put some heat tape in the pvc? Not sure what to do about the manifold. Anyone have any suggestions? View attachment 2092

My ceilings are exactly the same, but instead of PVC I just have all of the lines bundled in the metal truss with a board covering the face. Then just one line for the HP hose runs to the boom, all CV's are in the truss as well. I ended up covering them with insulation under the board and adding heat tape. Has made a huge difference. You could do the same or switch that PVC to a much larger one and add heat tape then put insulation where the opening is for each bay.

 

[Noob]

My ceilings are exactly the same, but instead of PVC I just have all of the lines bundled in the metal truss with a board covering the face. Then just one line for the HP hose runs to the boom, all CV's are in the truss as well. I ended up covering them with insulation under the board and adding heat tape. Has made a huge difference. You could do the same or switch that PVC to a much larger one and add heat tape then put insulation where the opening is for each bay.

slash thanks for the info. I had never thought about that. Are your trusses the same size as mine? Could you send me a pic?

 

[soapy]

I use 4 or 6 inch PVC pipe and run them into large electrical boxes with hinged lids for the manifolds and only one line comes out of the box. I started using Raytheon WInterguard wet heat tape over 25 years ago and it is still working great.

 

[Noob]

Soapy, another great idea. Any idea what size box you have? Im thinking it would need to be a decent size to house the manifold.

 

[cantbreak80]

Here’s another way...
an insulated metal trough on TOP of the roof.

 

[Noob]

Can’t break 80, any idea where to source something like that?

 

[MEP001]

It should be easy to find someone to make that enclosure. It's basically the same as what Coleman does, except they just dump the hose, tubing, and manifolds in it.

 

[cantbreak80]

Yeah, we have it formed by a local sheet metal shop and add the Formular PolyIso.
And, we don’t “dump“ the stuff into it.

 

[Earl Weiss]

Noob - If you can pull the raytheion heat cable thru your PVC that may solve your issues. How cold does it get were you are? If it gets really cold I expect you could also make a Plywood trough, line with ridged Foam insulation for the roof.

 

[Noob]

Earl mine are currently just running through 3” pvc. I’m going to check today and see if I can fit the tape in there. I’m in East Tennessee. We typically don’t have winters like the Midwest or north do. We do see some prolonged periods when temps will dip into the teens and occasionally single digits.

When you guys run your heat tape do you do you just run one strand to the end of the trough/pvc or do you run it to the end of the trough and then double back with it to the starting point?

 

[Noob]

Also what kind of thermostat are you using for the heat tape?
I see several different variants of wintergard available. Anyone have any suggestions?

 

[Sequoia]

I have an enclosed "trough" under the roof, with lines plumbed similar to yours except no PVC.

I'm thinking of re-doing my setup to build a trough on top of the roof, not under it. I really dislike having to do any maintenance on lines jammed into a trough above me. I'm high up on a ladder, at first fighting with the cover to get it opened up. Then when I do, some insulation invariably falls out and down, usually on me. Then to troubleshoot or do a repair I'm reaching above my head while balanced on the ladder to unscrew anything that might be leaking, like a fitting, or replacing something like a backpressure valve. I can do it, but I'm tired of it being overhead which makes any such work more difficult.

I'm thinking of changing all of it out to a roof mounted trough. If I had that, I could be standing on a roof, open a top hinged piece, and have access to everything without having to reach up or have insulation or liquids spraying onto me.

 

[cantbreak80]

Also what kind of thermostat are you using for the heat tape?

I typically use Output 2 on a Dixmor Weepmizer to power a 120vac relay...which in turn energizes an outlet mounted under the equipment room ceiling.

 

[Noob]

Any idea what it would cost to get a rough trough made?

 

[Noob]

Cantbreak80, what are the dimensions of your trough? Im thinking 8x8. Also how are you mating the 2 pieces together? With a hinge or are they just laying on top of each other?

 

[soapy]

Heat tape is generally self regulating and comes with its own GFI plug in. Electrical boxes are pretty pricey so just giving you heads up. Price will vary on the size you go with. I mount mine so the door is on the bottom and swings down so it is easy to work inside.

 

[MEP001]

Cantbreak80, what are the dimensions of your trough? Im thinking 8x8. Also how are you mating the 2 pieces together? With a hinge or are they just laying on top of each other?

Coleman troughs are about 12" wide by 8" tall. That's the minimum I would do - I've worked on a lot of those, and there's barely enough room.

 

[slash007]

I like the room trough idea, would make work on lines/fittings much easier. My heat tape does not loop back except on the last bay where there was some extra. I use output 2 on the weepmizer as well. I'll send a picture when I find one of my trough.

 

[Noob]

I’m assuming it’s ok to just lay the heat tape in the trough? It’s not necessary to wrap the lines? My ER is in the middle of my wash. Is it ok to splice the tape and run it both directions?