Is installing a Slinky Loop in a "vertical" orientation: acceptable, taboo, not recommended or just a plane bad idea? I have access to a D8 Cat and a riding trencher. Was thinking about pushing a couple of feet of dirt "off the top" then running the trencher down another 6-8 feet and installing the slinky in that. Is this viable or am I dreaming?
I have not done it, but if I did, i would have ample H2O and a 2" water pump right there during the back-fill /compaction to get it nice and full and compacted.
If you have the room and easy access to the equipment, I would consider running two trenches offset as far as possible down that dozer blade width cut if possible - this is assuming the width of the trencher is less than the width of a D8 dozer blade. You might have to trench one, lay the pipe, backfill that trench, then dig the other trench. I know a slinky puts a lot of pipe in the ground for a given area, but it is generally the earth that is the limiting factor. If using a trencher in good ground where the digging is easy, I would do more trench and less pipe/ft of trench. I would run a single pipe out in the bottom of the trench, then backfill a foot or two and loop the pipe back over the fill and run it back to the header. Pay extra attention to the loop at the end to avoid kinking the pipe. Then backfill as usual. This should work assuming you have ~300' available for trenches and enough width to accommodate 1 trench per ton of heating/cooling. This would give you ~600' of 3/4" loop pipe in each trench for each ton of heating/cooling. You might be able to get by with less trench and pipe if you have exceptional soil conditions.
We used slinkies in vertical applications, but went back to put them flat on the ground, for ease of installation.
