Burying oil pipe inside a water pipe... your thoughts...

[wookie]

Hi

The oil pipe to our heating boiler is leaking (again), it's the usual plastic coated copper but the copper has gone thin on the bottom and it keeps developing holes.

My plan is to bury some MDPE water pipe and use that as a conduit for the new plastic coated copper pipe to run through, naturally I'll be burying it deep and with big sweeping curves so it's easy to shove the oil pipe through.

What are your thoughts ? I only want to do this once because digging 22m of trench by hand isn't my idea of fun but it's just not practical to get a digger in. At least this way if it starts to leak again I can replace the pipe with minimal hassle.

I plan to wind black electrical tape around the blue water pipe to make it stripy like a old barbers pole so if anyone discovers it later it's obvious it's not just a water pipe.

 

[davidjohnperry]

sleeving any pipe is good practice for all pipe where the pipe carrying fluid is in contact with building fabric soils xyz but the problem I would imagine to happen is the oil could eat the mdpe I'm sure some one on here with plumbing will be able to conform or tell if I'm talking sh*t I have not been on the tools for a few years

 

[Kayos]

I'm not up to date on oil these days but I thought they were moving to plastic coated stainless?
I know it's used on gas when it's buried in concrete, but that's too big a diameter for oil

 

[123hotchef]

read it again he is going the threa the oil pipe through the MDPE pipe

 

[gaz1]

you should be fine

http://www.oftec.org.uk/consumers/domestic-oil-supply-pipes

or use this

http://www.screwfix.com/p/qual-oil-pipe-100m-x-15mm/46408

if further line an outside pipe say rainwater or underground pipe the 2" is your runner tube but the underground pipe could be drilled and insulated with foam

http://www.buffertanks.co.uk/shop/m...derground-heating-pex-pipe-25mm-duo-per-metre

cable use a green one

http://www.drainagecentral.co.uk/Twinwall-Drainage-Pipe-x-6m?gclid=CN-8hZbsgs8CFbQV0wodl74KKg

personally id design it with being able to rethread the whole lot again as saves digging it again

 

[Kayos]

Yes but is mdpe going to react well if oil contacts it? I know the pipe won't rot but oil tanks are notorious for tiny leaks, they could track into the pipe and collect

 

[gaz1]

this lot would do you

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Variety-o...948135?hash=item2ef3925127:g:s88AAOSwOdpX0TxE

 

[davidjohnperry]

i thought that was the whole point of him putting the mdpe would be a pain if u get a leak in the middle and have to pull the whole lot out to fix it. But mdpe is used for supply of water not sure how it will cope. Oil lines are only 1/4 inch in size so it won't take a massive size in barrier pipe

 

[dobbslc]

Mdpe is used in all kinds of bottles carrying oils and other chemicals, as far as I know the petrol tank on my lawn mower and two stroke motorcycle oil tanks are made of it.
It seems pretty indestructible.....

 

[Arc Tourist]

Not sure about the chemical compatibility of low grade heating oils with MDPE plastic, but sleeving the copper pipe sounds like a good idea. One benefit is that it will prevent electrolysis if an underground installation happens to come into contact with a dissimilar metal in the soil.

When remodelling my house, I ran the main (MDPE) underground water line through a PVC sleeve. I also left a pull cord inside the pipe from one end of the main to the other, so that if there was ever a future problem I could drag a new line through and not have to dig or bust out concrete; something I would recommend.

Regarding digging....... Consider renting a small walk behind mini trencher. It will hog out a trench half as wide as a shovel at an even depth with a minimum amount of spoils, and in a short time; it will save your back for sure.

 

[mike os]

if you want any hope at all of getting the pipe through in one piece you are going to need a fairly large diameter pipe

forget gaining additional protection from corrosion though the pipe will be full pretty much all the time unless you drill weep holes along its length

 

[lshigham]

Do you have really acidic soil or something?

 

[WorkshopChris]

Probably down to some zinc contaminated copper looking pipe made in a far off continent, i have seen old pipe sat in the same place for 50 plus years still in use but coated pipe causing trouble 5 years later.Wonder whats in the plastic?

 

[addjunkie]

I ran my oil pipe through flexible conduit, burried it in pea gravel, make complete sense to me to put it through another pipe.

 

[wookie]

There seems to be a bit of confusion over my plans so I'll try and be clearer...

I plan on using the MDPE water pipe purely as a conduit so I can easily thread a new oil pipe though it if/when it starts to leak.

Mdpe is used in all kinds of bottles carrying oils and other chemicals, as far as I know the petrol tank on my lawn mower and two stroke motorcycle oil tanks are made of it.
It seems pretty indestructible.....

I'm not up on my chemistry but a blue water pipe is made from MDPE (medium density polyethylene) and my Oil Tank is made from PE (polyethylene) so I'm fairly confidant the oil won't cause any damage to the "conduit" pipe if there is a leak.

Regarding digging....... Consider renting a small walk behind mini trencher. It will hog out a trench half as wide as a shovel at an even depth with a minimum amount of spoils, and in a short time; it will save your back for sure.

It's not just a simple case of lack of access, part of the route is down a 45 degree slope, plus I have a fence in the way plus sewer pipes, field drain pipes etc etc it's just easier to do by hand, if I could get a machine in there I would, I've borrowed a friend's 1.5T digger in the past but it's just not practical to get a machine where I need it. I did the field drain behind my house by hand for the same reason, back breaking work but sometimes the only way.

if you want any hope at all of getting the pipe through in one piece you are going to need a fairly large diameter pipe

forget gaining additional protection from corrosion though the pipe will be full pretty much all the time unless you drill weep holes along its length

I plan on making the run as straight as possible, I seem to spend half my life threading cables through boats, getting a pipe up a smooth bore water pipe will be easy in comparison. Also I don't have to worry about water collecting in the pipe, I plan to seal the top end by the tank and it's downhill all the way from there so nowhere for the water to collect.

Do you have really acidic soil or something?

No, it's so I don't have to repeat the digging in the future if I have another leak.

 

[lshigham]

You can use plastic pipe but only underground which would be easier to get down a water pipe, might be worth considering if you struggle to get a copper pipe threaded through

 

[normspanners]

I have a long length 100 ft ish of blue 25 mm mdpe pipe to my heating tank and when i get a few cheap barrels offered to me I pump it from the trailer to the storage tank, save lugging the barrels around, then put a walking stick rubber on each end to seal the pipe so there is fuel probably sitting in that pipe for years with no ill effects.