Earth Tubes IN the Culvert Pipes and UNDER the Driveway

The Earth Tubes are now under our driveway.  There are two 'bundles' of air pipes, seven 6 inch PVC Schedule 40 pipes in each bundle.  Each bundle goes thru our 'heat exchanger' culvert pipe which is 40 ft long, to scavenge heat from each other and to be extra-protected from vehicular traffic above. These air pipes include kitchen and bathroom vents and the dryer vent as well as earth tubes.

West 7 pipes w clean out for dryer vent pipe

 Unfortunately, the plumbers covered the pipes as they were working so we don't have a picture of all of the pipes on the West side.  One of those pipes (west-most) was very deep so it was better to fill the ditch before working on the pipe above it. They are the earth tubes from the West Annex.

East 7 pipes

In this picture of the East air pipes, you can easily see all 7 pipes. You can also see four of the five 12 inch 'pillars'  that will support the grade beam that will be under the sidewalk and posts for the balcony/deck. The air pipes were relatively at the same depth under the house slab.  The  East culvert is about 14 feet from the house.  The West culvert is about 18 feet from the house.

Working inside the house while this was going on was detrimental to one's health because of the glue fumes.  We opened the doors to the South and North promoting air flow and helping the air quality without losing too much heat.  Once they finish the pipes, extending them another 30 feet into the woods, we should have good air flow without opening windows or doors. And the air pipes being under the dirt will exchange heat with the soil. We expect this to keep the house temperature relatively constant. 

Looking into the ends of the culvert pipes, they are packed with pipes and insulation.  And there is 2 inch blueboard insulation over the pipes as they go into and come out of the culvert pipes.

East end of culvert pipe close to house

End of West culvert pipe far from house

 At this point, each pipe has a wire in it which will be replace with parachute cord.  This cord will be used to enable cleaning the pipes as needed, if needed.