Quote:
Originally Posted by Mikesolar
I've been called in to fix copper radiant tubing in 60 year old concrete floors and it is not fun when you have to tell the owner that it is not worth fixing.
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I'm surprised the copper lasted so long, because concrete always holds some moisture, and it is very alkaline... both of which should really do copper in.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mikesolar
I am really reluctant to have copper in contact with aluminum for any period of time.
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I realize that aluminum and copper are pretty far aparton the Galvanic Table:
NOTE: The table is for metals in sea water!
But I have always thought that for the galvanic action to work its wickedness, moisture must be present.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mikesolar
I just had to remove a copper sensor well from a 5 year old SS tank because the copper had corroded through. It had a small piece of steel inside to push the sensor to the tube wall.
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So the above statement is very interesting to me... was the tank you are referring to a wet tank or a dry tank, was it filled with some non-aquious fluid?
Reason I'm asking is that over on Build It Solar, Gary tested out a solar heat collector configuration that used stamped aluminum heat spreader plates with PEX pipes, and also an identical unit with copper pipes. The copper pipe version yielded a 15% increase in heat absorption, which in his way of thinking was not enough to justify neither the additional cost nor continuing the experiment, since cheaper PEX panels could be deployed in greater number and achieve more BTU for the buck.
But to my way of thinking, 15% is a really substantial improvement... especially when you are considering radiant flooring, where the option of deploying greater radiant area may not be available as an option.
In fact, I am considering extruded aluminum with copper pipes for a dry system floor.
Your thoughts?
-AC