BURY HEATING PIPES NEAR BASEMENT EXTERIOR WALL IN CLOSED CELL SPRAY FOAM

FeelingColdColdCold

Finishing basement and want to place copper and pex heating pipes close to the exterior wall of the basement to maximize space with new walls in front of them. Planning to have someone spray closed cell foam 2.8" on wall walls so the pipes can be buried/insulated in the foam and behind framing. Plumber concerned with pipes close to basement wall. In Northeast, basement rarely drops below 55. I think plumber is lacking testicular fortitude. Is this ok to do?

Jamie Hall

Are these below ground or above ground? If they are below ground, I don't see a problem -- other than the minor detail of if you have a leak you won't know about it until you need a boat. If they are above ground, there is a distinct possibility that they will freeze, as they will be insulated from the relatively warm basement -- but not from the now cold foundation wall.

JUGHNE

I would not bury them in insulation.

Rather insulate on 3 sides and have the 4th side face the heated area

hot_rod

He is maybe erroring on the safe side instead of being called incompetent if they were to freeze🤓
If this portion of the wall is above ground, that is not aloof rvalue protecting them.
Using Pex would buy a bit more safety factor.

EdTheHeaterMan

Some confusion in the way you are wording the question and title of this post.

Am I to understand that the pipes are going to be on the interior side of the basement foundation wall? Are the pipes going to be hidden behind the finished basement wall? Are you proposing that the pipes have foam insulation sprayed on then prior to enclosing them behind the finished basement wall? If you are saying YES to to all three questions, then I see no problem with your idea. As long as you are prepared to break open the wall when ever you have a problem with those pipes.

Otherwise everyone would have second floor bathroom piping and drainage exposed in the first floor rooms below. I know that the pipes to my bathroom are behind the ceiling sheet rock in my dining room. I even had to open the ceiling to remodel the bathroom 10 years ago. The Big Box stores still sell the same specification sheet rock as the one that I needed to remove. After the pipes were replaced, the ceiling was recovered and you can't tell if there was ever a problem. Paint does amazing things.