I had another post about my slab leak (thanks for all the comments),but I wanted to hear specific comments about rerouting my currentunder-slab hot water line around the back yard, underground a foot orso.My house is about 40' long, so the current run from the heater to thefar side of the fouse is about37'. The plumber would rather reroute the line outside the houserather than tear out ceilings, etc. And he has a bit of aphilisophical problem with running pipes up into the attic and downagain (I'm not too thrilled with that either).This reroute would add several feet to the run (10-15' or so).Currently, if I haven't been using hot water for a while it takesabout 1.5 minutes (timed this last night) to get hot water.I haven't seen a lot of posts about rerouting "around" the house,though I have seen posts about running hot water between houses andout buildings.As long as the plumber uses high quality copper (and I know some ofyou recommend PEX), is this a reasonable solution? I would assume thatthe temperature a foot down is the same whether outside or under theslab (constant 55 degrees?).Thanks.

use the super insulated PEX, it comes in a 2 line version, 2 lines inheavy insulation inside a 4 inch flexible drain pipe, with foaminsulation all around the lines. this not only insulates it butprovides a recurcliating line for install later, instant hot water,and a selling point at home resale time.where do you live? that outside ground temp can vary a lot.I THINK you said texas. in texas the hot attic would help keep the hotwater hot at no extra cost of energy.I HIGHLY recommend you call at least 3 plumbers and get freeestimates, on site.water lines run in second stories nationwide without a problem and PEXis so easy to use, I suspect your plumber is going to overcharge you,even with the previous discounts included.

Running a hot water line outside???

Jul 13, 2007 21 Replies

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Joseph Meehan 19 years ago

snipped-for-privacy@mail.com wrote: ..

Not helpful since the soil under the slab is going to be exposed to concrete at room temperature. Outside it may be exposed to below zero temperatures.

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noonehere 19 years ago

There is a lot to think about. Maybe since they "patched" the last leak, I should slow down a bit and evaluate all alternatives. It's not leaking right now, so no point in jumping into something I may regret.

Thanks to all of you for your input.

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