The pipes in the heating system are of key importance. The speed of movement of hot water, heat losses and hydraulic resistance in heat supply depend on them. Along with steel and copper pipelines, polymer pipelines are widely used. How to make a polypropylene heating system with your own hands for a private house and apartment? To answer this question, you should familiarize yourself with the characteristics of this material.
Properties of polypropylene heating pipes
Polymerized ethylene and propylene are used to make this type of polymer. As an improvement in performance, you should choose reinforced polypropylene for heating. It contains an amplifier layer that maintains the rigidity of the structure when exposed to high temperatures.
Before making water heating with your own hands from polypropylene, you need to find out the technical qualities of these pipes. Unlike cross-linked polyethylene, they do not allow oxygen molecules to pass through, they have the lowest specific gravity with sufficiently high strength characteristics.
A properly installed DIY polypropylene heating will have the following properties:
- High degree of thermal insulation... This allows you to reduce heat losses in the lines. But at the same time, one cannot count on the heat transfer of pipelines in heat supply;
- Smooth inner surface ensures minimal hydraulic losses... This also contributes to the absence of scale and deposits inherent in steel lines;
- Fairly good indicators of maximum pressure and temperature... A two-pipe heating system made of polypropylene will function normally with pressure surges up to 20 atm. and when exposed to a hot coolant with a heating rate up to + 90 ° C;
- Minimum requirements for installation and maintainability of pipelines... If you have a special soldering iron, emergency situations can be solved independently.
Since polypropylene heating can be installed using the pipes intended for this, you should first familiarize yourself with the adopted classification. With the wrong choice of the model, the probability of depressurization of the heating will be quite high.
Before making heating from polypropylene, it is necessary to calculate the optimal thermal regime of the system. It should not exceed the operational parameters of polymer pipes.
Types of polypropylene pipes for heat supply
Professional installation of polypropylene heating begins with the selection of pipes. They differ not only in diameter and wall thickness, but also in other technical qualities.
Truly high-quality heating of a private house with your own hands from polypropylene is possible only with the use of appropriate pipes. Almost all information about their properties can be found from the markings applied to the outer surface. Some of the points do not need decoding. But special attention should be paid to the following parameters:
- Manufacturing material... For heating pipes, PP-R polypropylene is used. It is heat resistant. In addition to it, you can find pipes of the PPH and PPB brands.With their help, you can organize a cold water supply system;
- Rated working pressure... It is designated by the symbols PN-10 (16.20 or 25). For autonomous heating, you can install glass fiber reinforced polypropylene for heating PN-20. In centralized systems, it is recommended to install PN-25 pipelines due to possible pressure surges;
- Range of diameters, wall thicknesses and maximum permissible temperature exposure... The data can be taken from the table below.
| Pipe grade | Diameter range, mm | Wall thickness, mm | Maximum water temperature, ° С |
| PN-10 | 20-110 | 1,9-10 | +20 |
| PN-16 | 16-110 | 2,3-15,1 | +45 |
| PN-20 | 16-110 | 2,6-16,1 | +60 |
| PN-25 | 21,2-77,9 | 2,8-18,3 | +80 |
All polypropylene pipes for heating must have a reinforcing layer. It is made from aluminum foil or fiberglass. The latter are characterized by higher reliability, but also a higher price. If the technology of applying aluminum foil is violated, it is possible to separate the outer or inner layer from its surface.
This phenomenon is quite common for handicrafts. Therefore, it is preferable to purchase reinforced polypropylene for heating using fiberglass.
There is a color marking of polymer products. Fiberglass-reinforced polypropylene for heating will have a red longitudinal stripe on the surface, indicating the possibility of using it in heating.
Accessories and rules for soldering polypropylene pipes
The connection of polymer pipes can be done in several ways - by soldering, detachable or one-piece fittings, gluing. To install water heating with your own hands from polypropylene, diffusion welding is best suited. The main connecting element in this case are fittings.
It is important that the quality of the purchased components is not inferior to the pipes. All fittings for polypropylene pipes for heating are not reinforced. This is offset by a thicker wall. They differ in appearance and scope:
- Couplings... Designed to connect individual pipes into a single line. They can be either of the same diameter or transitional for joining pipelines with a tapping section;
- Corners... Scope - production of corner sections of highways;
- Tees and crosses... Necessary for dividing the line into several separate circuits. With their help, a manifold for heating is made of polypropylene;
- Compensators... Hot water provokes thermal expansion of pipelines. Therefore, before soldering a polypropylene heating, you should install compensation loops that do not allow surface tension to appear in the line.
Before starting the brazing process, it is recommended to calculate the amount of all consumables: pipes, fittings and valves. For this, a heat supply scheme is drawn up with an indication of the configuration of each unit.
During the installation of polypropylene heating, it is necessary to use a special type of shut-off valves designed for soldering.
Self-soldering of polypropylene pipes
In order to make heating from polypropylene, you should purchase a minimum set of tools. It includes a pipe soldering iron, special scissors and a trimmer. The latter is necessary for stripping the pipes from the reinforcing layer in the soldering area.
Before soldering polypropylene heating, cut the required pipe size. For this, special scissors with a base for the nozzle are intended. They will provide a smooth cut without skewing.
For self-installation of polypropylene heating, you will need to perform the following steps:
- Degrease the soldering area on the branch pipes.
- Remove the reinforcing layer from the heating zone using a facing tool.
- Turn on the soldering iron and set it to a certain temperature.
- After heating the mirror, install the branch pipe and the sleeve into the attachments. Do not do axial rotations while heating polypropylene.
- After a certain period of time, dock the branch pipe and the coupling together.
- Wait until it has cooled down completely.
Using this technology, you can make a reliable heating system from polypropylene with your own hands. The advantage of this method lies in the possibility of soldering on already mounted sections of the line. In this way, you can quickly repair the heating of a private house with your own hands from polypropylene.
An important point during the self-soldering of water heating from polypropylene is the heating time of the workpieces. It depends on the pipe diameter and wall thickness. With insufficient material melting, the diffusion process will be low, which will eventually lead to delamination of the joint. If the branch pipe and the coupling are overheated, some of the material will evaporate, and as a result - a strong decrease in the external dimensions. Therefore, for the installation of polypropylene heating, you should adhere to the recommended heating time for plastic, depending on its diameter and wall thickness.
During self-installation from polypropylene with your own hands, good ventilation in the room is necessary. When plastic evaporates, its volatile components can enter the respiratory system.
For a small amount of work, you can purchase a non-professional soldering iron worth up to 600 rubles. It can be used to solder a polypropylene heat supply system for a small house or apartment.
DIY polypropylene collector
A manifold is required to complete the collector heating. It is a pipe of relatively large diameter, on which there are several branch pipes for connection to separate highways.
The manufacture of a polypropylene heating manifold can only be used for small water-heated floor systems. This is due to the relatively small pipe diameter and design requirements. When self-manufacturing a collector for heat supply from polypropylene, you will need the following components:
- Tees with transitional size 20 * 25 * 25 or 25 * 32 * 32;
- Shut-off ball valves 20 or 25 mm;
- A section of pipe for connecting tees to each other.
With the help of a soldering iron, a collector is formed from polypropylene tees and pipes. Ball valves are mounted on each outlet. The disadvantage of installing such a design for heating made of polypropylene is the discrepancy between the dimensions of the cross-section of the pipes - the rule of 3 diameters is not observed.
That is why homemade collectors made of polypropylene components are not widely used. Exceptions are prefabricated structures in which all design rules are observed.
For a two-pipe heating system made of polypropylene, a mixing valve can be installed instead of a collector to regulate the temperature of the heating medium.
In what schemes can polypropylene pipes be used
Due to its high quality and reliability, reinforced polypropylene for heat supply is used in almost all types of systems. But is it always advisable? To resolve this issue, all factors affecting the installation, operation and maintainability of the future scheme should be analyzed.
Completing a two-pipe heat supply system with polypropylene makes it possible to solve several problems at once. First, the reliability and service life of pipelines will increase. However, this will only be relevant if the technology for connecting pipelines has been followed.The second advantage is the reduction of heat losses during the movement of the coolant through the pipeline.
But experts do not recommend doing the heat supply of a private house with their own hands from gravitational-type polypropylene. This is due to the following factors:
- Polypropylene pipes are required for heat supply of large diameters - from 40 mm and more. To connect them, diffusion welding is not suitable - docking will be required using a special installation;
- Increased labor intensity of installation;
- Increased costs through the use of a profile welding machine.
From this we can conclude that glass-fiber-reinforced polypropylene for heating is applicable for all heating systems except for gravity. But even in this case, the limitations are not due to technical characteristics, but to rational considerations.
Concealed installation in polypropylene heating walls is not recommended. It has a relatively high coefficient of thermal expansion, which can lead to an increase in the load on the outer walls of the pipeline. Therefore, it is best to use schemes with an open installation or make false walls.
The video material tells about the methods of self-diffusion soldering of polypropylene pipes for heating:
