Gives Steerage on Choosing and Putting in

The Plastics Pipe Institute’s Constructing & Building Division has printed a serious revision of PPI TN-55 “Plastic Piping Supplies for Floor Supply Geothermal Heating and Cooling Purposes”. Initially issued in 2018, the most recent version of TN-55 was printed in August 2024 with the enter of business consultants together with PPI members and the Worldwide Floor Supply Warmth Pump Affiliation (IGSHPA).

In response to Lance MacNevin, P. Eng., director of engineering for PPI’s Constructing & Building Division, “As a result of the piping materials is vital to the general success of the bottom warmth exchanger (GHX) in a geoexchange system, PPI TN-55 focuses on piping, fittings, and manifold supplies. TN-55 lists the technical necessities for programs utilizing HDPE, PEX, and PE-RT piping, plus necessities for PP pipes used as indoor piping, headers, and manifolds.”

A coil of PE4710 HDPE floor loop piping configured as a premanufactured U-bend meeting. Picture courtesy of Centennial Plastics.

The brand new technical word describes eight kinds of set up methods, similar to vertical boreholes, inclined or angled configurations, horizontal directional drilling (HDD), and power piles, and discusses design matters, similar to the consequences of borehole depth on static water column stress. It additionally addresses why oxygen diffusion barrier layers are sometimes not required for floor warmth exchanger piping.

MacNevin continued, “The brand new TN-55 is meant to be a worthwhile useful resource on piping data, however that is simply one of many newest instruments obtainable to specifiers and designers of geothermal heating and cooling programs. Particulars about pipe set up and stress testing are present in PPI Mannequin Specification MS-7, which printed in 2023, and business codes similar to CSA/ANSI/IGSHPA C448 and the Uniform Mechanical Code.”

PPI is the non-profit North American commerce affiliation representing the plastic pipe business, together with a number of producers of geothermal pipes, fittings, manifolds, and vaults. PPI fashioned its Geothermal Steering Committee in 2018 to develop business publications, collaborate on codes, and create academic details about these programs.

A HDPE vault for connections of floor loop piping. Picture courtesy of PPI.

The revised PPI TN-55 is obtainable immediately from PPI at: www.plasticpipe.org/frequent/Uploaded recordsdata/Technical/TN-55.pdf

Extra data and information about floor supply geothermal programs can be found from the PPI Constructing & Building Division at www.plasticpipe.org/buildingconstruction