How do you keep your water pipes from freezing?.

[elkimmeg]

elk, do you have any idea how much makeup water your system uses?

Here what I did I set up a manifold with a series of ball valves to isolate complete zones and I connected a draw off valve fawcet
First of all I drained the entire system then with an air compressor blew out as much water as possible Next I went to Wall mart and bought 15 gallons of RV antifreeze

withan electric pump and a double end washermachine hoes I attached the pump to the open draw off valve on the other side I connected another hose that lead back to the 5 gallon bucked that pad the pump in. I poured in a few gallons of antifreeze and plugged in the pump filled the system and the over flow came out the other return hose back into the pump bucket I ran it a bit longer which with the return hose below the fluid level it becomes a closed system and all air id bleed out I closed the ball valves and repeated the process to all zones (3 in my case)
Total anti freeze about 5 gallons per zone The way I setup mu manifold made it easy now if I work a zone I have total isolation and do not require a total system bleeding.

Yess it requires soldering and installing valves but drawoff should be present on your original setup . I also installed a ball valve breeded to make it even easier Later I should supply pictires ov what I setup Total time to drain the boiler and zones and charge them 30 minutes once everything was set up. This is the smartest thing I have done gone are the days waking up at night trying to find freezeups gone are the days of the water fall sounds in my walls Gone is the guess work did I bleed all the air out. Finally after all the years doing my own boiler service I hired a tune up and clean out. Really I wanted a second oppinion of my boiler's condition. the burner tech commented it was the best setup he has seen as far as zone isolation and being able to work on indivual zones. Because from day one wood heat this burner is in great shape It never saw full demand full time. The technition did everything I did but Changed the electrode gap to larger fro a hotter spark my 1977 Unica Boiler tested out to 81% effeciency highest it ever tested normal was 78% Another thing is a motorized daper I added on years back.

what this does is hold the heat longer in the fire box instead of it escaping up the chimney. Just before the ignition it opens exhaust the gasses then is closed no heat from the fire box excapes up the chimney Thgis reduces the cycle times to bring the fire box back to temp. No wind flapping the Baro damper drawing the heat out of the fire box. It does have to be wired into the thermostats to receive the demand to open if it does not open there is no ignition. Delay timing can be set for the oil spray to also increas ignition effeciency.

Warning if you are have oil boiler problems DO NOT USE THE RESET BUTTON MORE THAN ONCE. IF IT DOES NOT FIRE WAIT AT LEAST AN HOUR BEFORE HITTING THE RESET BUTTON AGAIN. IF YOU HIT IT CONTINUEOUSLY YOU WILL CREATE A LOT OF EXTRA OIL VAPOR IN THAT FIRE BOX. SHOULD IT IGNITE YOU COULD HAVE QUITE AN EXPLOSION

 

[velvetfoot]

Thanks elk. Do you have any sense in how much make up water is added? I would think that if the system is tight with no leaks it should require any make up water.

 

[elkimmeg]

some fluid loss occures within the closed system the variable fill valve hooked to the domestic water supply adds water to make up for the losses. I have toyed with this idea that I would use a freon tank and remove the domestic watter supply. the freon tank would contain pure antifreeze under air pressure witha pressure gage The system now would be fed pure antifreeze from the freon tank instead of water Once the tank pressure fell to below xx pressure I would know to re fill it and re pressurize it , That would solve dilution Originally my system checked out for -20 +/-.
This year it tested to 5 degrees 4/5 years later. I doubt any pipe is exposed below 5 degree within the structure or cellar, so I have not re charged the system yet. I will probably charge it when it approaches 20 degreees..

AGAIN DO NOT USE COMMON AUTO ANTIFREEZE IT WILL RUIN THE HEATING COILS IN YOUR BOILER

 

[velvetfoot]

Thanks. I was just thinking that if I turned off the water to the house for a couple of weeks would the level in the heating system possibly drop too much.

 

[elkimmeg]

Thats a closed system no water should escape Here is another hint want to find out if you system has a lpin hole leak ? shut off the water supply and if pressure dropps over time your heating coil has a leak. Small leaks the water gets evaporated before it shows up on your cellar floor. If your pressure gage is not between 10 and 15 lbs then either you variable supply valve is faulty or you have a leak If the system holdes pressure with a variable feed valve turned off then chances are the valve id faulty and needs replacement They do crud up with sediment over time and do fail.

there is more to shutting a home down than turning off the water one also has to consider waste water traps contail water that can freeze. one has to have a good system and shut offs to drain and blow out domestic systems. Not a bad ide to inject some RV antifreeze in the system also. It would require draining and flushing it out, before drinking or using it for cooking

 

[velvetfoot]

Thanks elk.

 

[MarkM]

We built a new cape about 6 years ago. We have fhw, but our main heat supply is a woodstove on the first floor. The first winter in the house, I was home one day with my little son. I had heard some pipes banging, but unfortunately didn't heed the warning. A little while later, I heard the sound of water hitting the floor. I was about to get after my son for spilling something, when I saw water running out of the door casing onto the floor. Uh-oh. I ran down cellar shut off the water supply, turned the furnace off, and called the service company. What happened was my inexperienced heating-contractor-brother-in-law ran the pipes for the fhw on the very outside of the kneewall area, near the soffet. No insulation on pipes, at all. The temp outside that day was about 30-40 below wind chills. When I crawled in there, there were drafts everywhere. The pipes were broken in several places. It wasn't a cheap repair, but it would have been MUCH worse if I hadn't been home that day. The woodstove was cranking out the heat, but the furnace hadn't run for several days. Between that and the draft from outside, it was a bad combination.
But I learned a couple of valuable lessons, that day. First, never hire a relative. Second, when it gets real cold, we let the stove die down some before going to bed. That way the furnace will kick on early in the morning. I had to use the oil, but it doesn't use much just to cycle a few times. Plus I feel it's better for the whole system to run now and then. I insulated the pipes real well, and haven't had a problem since.

 

[Henz]

If nothing else, this board makes me realize that I am not the only one out there with these very same problems! ..