planting trees in a lawn that hass geothermal pipes....

LithiumKid1976

hi

our garden has the geothermal pipes installed in it.

we are thinking about planting some trees in the garden (oak, Birch, ash)

should we be worried about possible damage to the pipes, via the roots when the tress grow?

(not sure if this should be in construction, but if any one has any advice, id appreciate it)

Oldtree

Thats a very interesting question. I dont have a specific answer for you but I would hesitate to plant trees anywhere near underground pipes as the roots can be very invasive. The main problem is if there is a leak and the roots can find their way into the pipes, or roots can grow around the pipes and crush them.

If you know exactly where the pipes are the you could easily plant tall shrubs with shallow root systems instead.

What are you trying to achieve with the planting? privacy/shade/shelter?

LithiumKid1976

Oldtree wrote: »

Thats a very interesting question. I dont have a specific answer for you but I would hesitate to plant trees anywhere near underground pipes as the roots can be very invasive. The main problem is if there is a leak and the roots can find their way into the pipes, or roots can grow around the pipes and crush them.

If you know exactly where the pipes are the you could easily plant tall shrubs with shallow root systems instead.

What are you trying to achieve with the planting? privacy/shade/shelter?

thanks for your reply.
well, its a big lawn, and its not really about privacy or shelter, just to have a few nice trees around the edges really.

i wasn't on site the day they put down the pipes. but i think if i keep to the edges, we should be ok.

Ill give the installer a call to see if he remembers where they are and how far down they are.

_Brian

LithiumKid1976 wrote: »

hi

our garden has the geothermal pipes installed in it.

we are thinking about planting some trees in the garden (oak, Birch, ash)

should we be worried about possible damage to the pipes, via the roots when the tress grow?

(not sure if this should be in construction, but if any one has any advice, id appreciate it)

There are many reasons this could be a problem.

Over time as the trees grow they will extract significant moisture from the ground. The dryer ground will conduct less heat as a result. Then the heating needs to run longer to extract the same energy so costing more.

You would need to get advice from a competent geothermal engineer. And I mean competent , I had three companies price for a geothermal system, not one of them looked at the site never mind investigate soil type and suitability for the system.

Oldtree

another thought occured to me in that the soil texture and structure will have been completely destroyed by the excavations and could take anything up to 10 years to recover, so not the best place to plant trees either.

You could go for a few shrub beds to break up the lawn, in the lawn or out from the edge. With a blank canvas the world is your oyster in terms of design and plant choices. It also cuts down on the mowing

LithiumKid1976

_Brian wrote: »

There are many reasons this could be a problem.

Over time as the trees grow they will extract significant moisture from the ground. The dryer ground will conduct less heat as a result. Then the heating needs to run longer to extract the same energy so costing more.

You would need to get advice from a competent geothermal engineer. And I mean competent , I had three companies price for a geothermal system, not one of them looked at the site never mind investigate soil type and suitability for the system.

Cheers, some good points to consider.
if there's one thing my soil has its moisture! and bad drainage!

Reggie.

Oldtree wrote: »

another thought occured to me in that the soil texture and structure will have been completely destroyed by the excavations and could take anything up to 10 years to recover, so not the best place to plant trees either.

You could go for a few shrub beds to break up the lawn, in the lawn or out from the edge. With a blank canvas the world is your oyster in terms of design and plant choices. It also cuts down on the mowing

Not a good idea. I have a geo system and you can't have anything other than grass above them or you reduce the effectiveness of the heat source

Reggie.

LithiumKid1976 wrote: »

thanks for your reply.
well, its a big lawn, and its not really about privacy or shelter, just to have a few nice trees around the edges really.

i wasn't on site the day they put down the pipes. but i think if i keep to the edges, we should be ok.

Ill give the installer a call to see if he remembers where they are and how far down they are.

Its a 2 inch very thin walled pipe. It should be a metre deep with a gap of a metre between each row of pipes. It's a continous line with no breaks. If the pipe is damaged or leaks the whole lot has to come out.

Oldtree

Reggie. wrote: »

Not a good idea. I have a geo system and you can't have anything other than grass above them or you reduce the effectiveness of the heat source

Can you explain further on that point please? Are there specific instructions? From what I have seen grass roots can go as deep as shrub roots.

Reggie.

Oldtree wrote: »

Can you explain further on that point please? Are there specific instructions? From what I have seen grass roots can go as deep as shrub roots.

Its not about the roots.

It's to do with the depth of the pipes if you cover the area with anything other than grass then the heat of the sun can't penetrative fully so decreases the efficency of the system. If you put in a bed you are adding soil to the top making the depth deeper and the scrubs are higher than grass so won't allow heat into the ground

These were instructions left by the installers.