Worst pipes layout?

[mogga]

... er innovative way of putting pipes in.

[Adrian C]

Nah, just the mere beginnings of underfloor heating. All the posh houses have that.

[ericp]

I thought it was a work of art!

Obviously the house was not lived in by a woman who likes stiletto heels. :))

[ARWadsworth]

Or by a bloke that like his women to wear stilletos.

Adam

[JimK]

well there was a ref to hidden leaks...... JimK

[Jules]

Here's the nice, neat, graceful lines of the stuff in our basement:

pipe running to the foreground on the left side of the picture runs through the wall from the well pump and is the main cold feed - it loops through about 50' of copper and a couple of baseboard radiators before returning (on the right side of the picture) to run through the wall and supply the water heater.

They did it that way because there used to be a wood-burning furnace below that spot (you can see the capped feed which runs through the wall to the chimney) and so the idea was that furnace would pre-heat the feed to the water heater, and the rads, at least so long as there was a tap running somewhere :-) (How well it ever worked, I don't know - the furnace was totally home-made and had a split all down one side, so it was all torn out.)

US houses with big basements often seem to be cursed with stuff like that

- out of sight, out of mind I suppose, and the space to just run anything anywhere with little in the way of actual planning.

It's a real interesting mix of copper and galvanised pipe on the potable side too, and plastic / iron on the waste side (the translucent coiled pipe that you might be able to make out is the consendate drain from the pump on the gas furnace).

One day I'll re-do the lot, although a shorter-term project is to ditch that crazy 50' loop and tap the feed for the water heater from a more sensible spot closer to the well pump...

cheers

Jules

[Graeme]

In message , Jules writes

I thought all US houses filled their huge basements with either a home cinema or giant Lionel train set :-)

[John]

I would love a basement.

Boiler - Laundry - hobbies......

[Clot]

Now that is plumbing!

[Jules]

It's certainly something ;)

[Jules]

Yeah - when I lived in the UK I always wanted a place with a basement. About 90% of the house 'footprint' is usable space, split into three rooms (and a further large crawl-space which I suppose could be dug out).

re. trains, not really my thing, although the vintage computer collection will end up down there... :-)

I need to dig a sump and then get the washing machine down there sometime. And tidy up that bloody plumbing... ;)

Then it's a case of putting insulated walls and floors in (can't decide whether to mess around with some under-floor heating or not) and it'll all be quite habitable.

cheers

Jules

[Lobster]

If you saw the state of my lovingly laid reclaimed pitch-pine dining room floorboards, you'd understand why I'm not of them... :-(

David

[terry]

Suggestion: Our opinion is that the laundry equipment, if at all possible, should be as close to the bedrooms (and bathroom) as possible! After all that's where the clothes/bed-clothes to be washed come from and have to be hauled back to and sorted out! We know of a family that has that arrangement; another who a clothes chute to their basement laundry area.

Admittedly our laundry is and always has been in our large unfinished and cluttered, almost fully in the ground, Canadian basement (Approx.

47 by 32 foot internal dimensions with various supporting walls etc.). And it's certainly quite a long haul from the furthest of the main floor's four bedrooms to the stairs, down the stairs, to the laundry, which is located under bedroom #3; then back all the way after washing and drying.

Also when it is possible in this eastern Cnadain climate to dry stuff (towels/Blankets etc.) on the two clothes lines outside, damp and heavy it has to be hauled up those stairs and out through the family room onto the deck, where some can be hung; then the rest round the corner to a longer line which is supported by a bi-pod tied back to a tree.

Reason for bi-pod is; it's simple/easy to adjust line tension and it can quickly be laid flat on ground allowing pickup truck to be backed in to that area to allow anything destined for or from (through a six foot wide by two foot high window) basement to be unloaded/loaded. It's quite interesting wangling, say, a lawn mower down through that window, repairing and the getting it back up again!

We do have an unused (dead) space between bedrooms #1 and 2 because this 40+ year old house design; from British Columbia, allowed for a chimney for an oil fired furnace.

We built this all-electric. A decision that has worked out well, maintenance since 1970 virtually nil and since 90% plus of electricity here is hydro generated more ecologically favourable. Also no messing around with gas lines, oil tanks, furnaces/burners or chimneys. That space should be turned into more closet space or it might be possible to fit an 'over-under' laundry pair; opposite the bathroom door and have then concealed by a set of those louvred bi-fold doors to match the main closets doors in the hallway. At that they couldn't be much closer to where the unwashed clothes come from!

BTW the unfinished basement allows repairs rearrangements and changes to be done easily and with careful measuring to come up into wood stud walls etc. as required.

Cheers.

[Jules]

I'd thought the other day that a laundry chute would be a good idea once I get the washing machine to join the drier in the basement - but then it occurred to me that I'd still have to haul clean clothes back *up*...

Maybe I should DIY a 'clean clothes elevator' :-)

[js.b1]

Canada? What price are the CO2 heat pumps going for re 9kW & 14kW Sanyo-Daikin etc?

They are still =A33-4k in the UK re economy of scale and the more expensive 2-stage DC-compressors, although that will change once volume ramps. CO2 works well at low temperatures with CoP of 1.0 only coming up at -25oC and at a more typical -10oC "floor" they give very good efficiency (CoP of 2.6-3.0 is 3-4p per kW). The unknown is lifecycle although 10yrs is more likely with far lower future replacement cost - unlike increasingly junk discount gas boiler offerings, maintenance & depreciation.

Still no change to UK regs re Permitted Development putting ASHP under PP re noise standards, so moot for now.