Water pipes through concrete - spacing etc.

[chrisser]

We have a well and a soon-to-be utilized cistern. I also want to put in yard hydrants. We also have a large detached garage.

Currently the well output pipe runs into the garage where the pressure tank is. The PO put the pipe through the garage floor about 8" from the wall and only buried it about 12" deep. Ditto the cistern line. A few years ago we had a very cold winter (single digit temps) and I had pipes freeze to the house. I temporarily ran some insulated PEX with a heat tape and built an insulated box around the pressure tank and pipes that I can heat in the winter. I'm working on something more permanent.

Digging a trench for another purpose that happens to be the same path that will work for relocating water pipes and burying them deeper. I plan on moving those pipes and adding some new ones and having them come out of the floor in another area of the garage over which I'll build an insulated room just for plumbing which I can heat. We're very rural so I have multiple potential water sources.

I'm going to end up having 8 pipes coming out of the floor. Well out. Cistern out. Cistern in. Spring out. Feed to yard hydrant 1. Feed to yard hydrant 2. Feed to house for regular water. Feed to house for spring water. Lines will be mostly 1" black poly with some 3/4" PERT and 1-1/4" black poly for the cistern fill.

My questions are about how to properly arrange these pipes coming out of the floor. How far away should they be from the wall? What spacing is required between them? Should they be in a row or can they be clustered? Should there be sleeves or can I concrete them in? Are valves required on these lines (most will have them, but a few probably don't need them for my purposes)? Do they need to be supported once out of the floor and to what extent?

I'm happy to look this up if someone can point me to a source to determine this. I've come up empty researching myself.

 

[chrisser]

BTW, the garage is a pole barn with a slab using 6x6 poles so the exterior wall will have 5-1/4" of insulation under OSB and vinyl siding. Plumbing room walls and ceiling will probably also be 6" deep and insulated as the garage is currently unheated.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Sylvan]

How about considering a pipe chase so your piping is not embedded in concrete where they cannot be serviced

 

[chrisser]

I'd consider a pipe chase. Is that something that requires fabrication or can they be bought off the shelf?

My understanding is the dirt and concrete insulate the pipes. Would insulation get stuffed into the pipe chase?

 

[John Gayewski]

For geothermal pennatrations (the configuration is similar what you describe) the issue is more about the concrete and your ability to finish it. Also you'd want to plan out this "mechanical room" with as much detail as you can. Know where things will sit and where they need to be hooked up so you can pennatrate the floor in a way that makes sense. I would want valves in places that make sense which seems obvious but people leave valves out frequently and then I get there to work on something and wonder what they were thinking (they probably weren't).

Pennatrate the concrete with a PVC sleeve. Then fill the sleeve with foam and pipe. Center the pipe in the sleeve and let the foam hold it away from the PVC sleeve. Keep your sleeves distanced so you can trowel the concrete around them and have enough concrete thickness so it's doesn't crack and crumble into a mess. This spacing will depend on your concrete thickness and where you want the pipes to go.