Weep water time of year almost back

[starion]

We have set up the weep feed to our filtered rainwater/ice melt system. At least as long as we have rainwater in the tank we won't pay for the weep water. We currently store 600 gallons. This is the first year we are trying this, so we'll see. Also thought about doing some kind of air purge, but like mjc3333 I hadn't thought it all the way out yet. Nothing like waiting for the last minute to try something new!

 

[Jeff_L]

Don't worry about last minute stuff, we all have them. At least I do. I'm still struggling to replace a connector for my floor heat system. Just so happens that it's one of the middle connectors on the manifold and is a pain in the butt to get your hands in there and turn a wrench. Not to mention it's down in a hole. I don't know who built the place, but if I ever built my own, I would make sure I put all connections in a reasonable location for repair work.

 

[mjc3333]

Don't worry about last minute stuff, we all have them. At least I do. I'm still struggling to replace a connector for my floor heat system. Just so happens that it's one of the middle connectors on the manifold and is a pain in the butt to get your hands in there and turn a wrench. Not to mention it's down in a hole. I don't know who built the place, but if I ever built my own, I would make sure I put all connections in a reasonable location for repair work.

Kind of like some new cars today; to change all six spark plugs sir, we will have to drop the sub frame, disconnect the transmission, and lower the engine just to be able to reach the back row of spark plugs!!

If these same brainiacs had to service what the built, they would think twice about how and why something should be put together.

 

[packerscw]

They are saying this weekend in michigan a low of 32. Weep waste season is closer than I thought.

 

[packerscw]

Do a lot of people use hot water in their self serve bays? Just wondering I stopped in a car wash near me and noticed they were using hot water

 

[Randy]

HOT water!! No way, too expensive.

 

[MEP001]

Customers here expect hot water. Most of the washes have it; the ones who don't have customers that don't care as much about getting their cars clean.

 

[Randy]

Are you talking about weeping hot water or hot high pressure soap? I don't know of many washes that don't use hot water on high pressure soap.

 

[packerscw]

High pressure hot water. I notice around me a few people use the hot water for weeping which i dont think makes much sense.

 

[Bubbles Galore]

I just contacted Polar Freeze Guard and will report back once I talk with them.

Bill - They list their pricing on their website which is a refreshing change from what I have seen on some of the other sites.

 

[MEP001]

I ran an old wash that weeped hot water. It was nice because the lines were all bundled together and the heat kept all the other functions working. It also used a lot less water.

 

[packerscw]

MEP001

What were you using to heat your water? (nat gas/propane) ?

 

[Jeff_L]

With a system that weeps cold and no temp sensors except for the one(s) on the side of your building measuring the ambient temp, all your doing is throwing water down the pipe based on a formula. Here's an analogy...doing this is like putting the thermostat to your house outside and asking your furnace to keep your house warm?

I weep hot water, for I believe you use a lot less water in the wintertime. Yes, you do use gas/propane to heat that water, and one could debate that all you're doing is moving the cost from one utility to the other. However, I believe you'd still be money ahead weeping hot water even if your boiler has to turn on every now and then. Think about the side benefits, heat in your trough keeping your other lines warmed...just bundle them together with velcro straps.

In order to weep hot, you need to do it intelligently, and it's not cheap to set up. Each one of my bays has a temp sensor as far out on the pipe as I can go (right before the swivel in the bay at the boom). You measure the temp of the pipe, and when it falls below whatever you set it to, your plc (or whatever you use) turns on the hot water. When the sensor is satisfied, the water turns off. Works really well.

 

[packerscw]

Michigan might get clost to our first week of possibly freezing cold temps. Ready to try out my new system

 

[old goat]

does anyone have in service or plan to install a polar freeze guard or similar system to totally eliminate their weep water?

 

[Sponge Bob]

I have a 4&2 in Ohio. The 2 are Oasis Monsoon's, so I have experience with blow down. i am also a mechanical engineer that likes to tinker. My weepmizer lost it's marbles last winter on x-mass day and thought is was 80F outside. Needless to say that caused problems. I have a good friend that's an excellent control's engineer and he loves to stand near the beer fridge at the wishy and tinker too. We built a simple SS blow down system using an exexpensive programmable relay, an analog temp sender and some Kip valves. We setup a variable blow program based on temp and fired by bay on a variable "x" second delay after the bay meter went signal low and stopped blowing if the bay went high during the routine. We also initiated the routine if the temp dropped into the cold range and the bay meter was signal low (no money deposited). This would potentially initiate a blow of all 4 bays simultaniously. We had many bugs at launch, but eventually it worked fairly well. I stopped using it because it took a temendous amount of air over a long on-off duration to purge all the water from the low points in the hoses. Compressed air is a very, very expensive utility. And my compressor would get smoking hot and blow the breakers on occasion. I sent the weepmizer back to Dixmor, paid the $25 to recalibrate it and went back to the old faithful solution, dripping water.

 

[Bubbles Galore]

Sponge - Given the alternative that polar freeze guard is using (the air/antifreeze purge) doesn't that seem more feasible than just an air purge? I can't argue with your statement that a singular air purge didn't work, but I would think that regardless of the low points when mixed with antifreeze would remain viscous enough to not freeze the lines up. Just a few thoughts.