Heating and pex pipe

Lou_5

Dear experts,

We accidentally used 50 feet of 3/4" non barier for a heating loop in a basement. The rest of the house is also new and the proper pipe was used. Is there anything we can do besides removing the pipe. Walls are closed and we would like to know the long term effect.

Thank You,
Louis

Brad White_203

A small

heat exchanger to isolate that loop is all I can think of if you want to keep that loop active. There will be a parasitic additional circulator for that second circuit.

The effects are hard to say but you will over time get O2 corrosion you would not otherwise see. How badly depends on a host of factors, few of which you can control.

As another thought, if this is not buried radiant but rather you used PEX for conventional branch piping: Could you abandon it and pipe it anew in parallel? That would be best in the long run. That zone does not seem very large at 50 feet, might that be worth considering?

Rod Kotiga

Do you have a water make up or a feed tank with glycol? A little gycol will help to combat the o2 corrosion over time. Keep up a maintenance on the ph of the system once a year or so. I wouldn't sweat it much.

Rod