Who burns with no backup heat source?

[tom dee]

nope in a normal Cold area plumbing system right by crawlspace door theres a knurled fitting on cold shut off valve you tuir off valve oplen this fitting water runs out of house pipes to floor or bucket now nothing can freeze fore i leave i crack open a hot faucet nearest hot water heater not the one on the heater , not really winterized just no press in pipes mean any residual water in line can expand with cold temps and not bust anything , has somewhere to go as it expands then contracts while freezing n thawing .. walkin out flus toilets .. never had an issue even in alaska..

 

[jharkin]

Interesting. If I told my wife we could never go away for any longer than one night in the winter months shed probably divorce me! I guess its different as much of our families are out of state so long distance traveling is a necessity for holidays, not to mention vacations.

 

[BrianN]

Have you had one? I won't have another because of a few issues.
The heat output seems disappointing to me.
The amount of maintenance that is required.
The cost of fuel!! Natural gas is cheaper to run than pellets!
I hate the idea that you are at a pellet manufacturers mercy and that a simple blower motor could shut you down for a week or more in the dead of winter. It's not for me!

We ran a pellet stove last year. Did not like it at all. Over $700 for pellets, our hydro bill sky rocketed up to about $200/month, plus, as mentioned, the maintenance was insane. We had to stop the stove at least once a week and let it cool down to clean out the ash and tear it apart once a month to do a major clean. Then, there was the loud fan going 24/7, making the air really dry and causing us to have electrical shocks every time we touched anything. Also, the pellet stove could barely keep the living room at 20 (68), never mind the rest of the house.

 

[webby3650]

nope in a normal Cold area plumbing system right by crawlspace door theres a knurled fitting on cold shut off valve you tuir off valve oplen this fitting water runs out of house pipes to floor or bucket now nothing can freeze fore i leave i crack open a hot faucet nearest hot water heater not the one on the heater , not really winterized just no press in pipes mean any residual water in line can expand with cold temps and not bust anything , has somewhere to go as it expands then contracts while freezing n thawing .. walkin out flus toilets .. never had an issue even in alaska..

What?

 

[tom dee]

Well i live in a vacation state beaches mountains theme parks etc

 

[tom dee]

What?

draining pipes to go away fo longer than a day without normal heat system on ..

 

[tom dee]

We ran a pellet stove last year. Did not like it at all. Over $700 for pellets, our hydro bill sky rocketed up to about $200/month, plus, as mentioned, the maintenance was insane. We had to stop the stove at least once a week and let it cool down to clean out the ash and tear it apart once a month to do a major clean. Then, there was the loud fan going 24/7, making the air really dry and causing us to have electrical shocks every time we touched anything. Also, the pellet stove could barely keep the living room at 20 (68), never mind the rest of the house.

no real wood stove not pellet things buy pellets heck just pay gas bill

 

[begreen]

we have natural gas but its never on in the decade we lived here.years ahead on wood and this year we dipped into our savings to replace the dragon with an epa stove and do nor see turning the gas on.hopefully it will stay that way.

Running the system for 30 minutes, once a month or so is not going to break the bank and is actually a good idea, especially with gas system. The last thing you want is to have an actual need for the system (to prevent pipe freezing or because of an emergency hospital visit or illness for example) and find out the furnace won't run because of a spider nest in the orifice.

 

[webby3650]

draining pipes to go away fo longer than a day without normal heat system on ..

I understand, it's just super hard to read. Are you using a phone or something?

 

[dylskee]

I use the wood stove as my main heat source but I still have my oil fired furnace incase something happens. I just choose not to turn that money sucking machine on at all costs!

 

[USMC80]

all wood here. wood furnace and insert

 

[STIHLY DAN]

Always thought they could come up with a self igniting stove. Fill a cold stove to the hilt, have a timer set for 36 hrs for it to ignite. That could give me a 5 day window.

 

[toddnic]

We are heating entirely with wood! We have a propane furance but I don't plan on using it at all. The only time that we might use it is if we go on vacation at some point over the winter but a vacation is not planned at this time.

 

[Bster13]

Well there comes a time in a man's life when his wife nags him enough to light the traditional heating source. In my case, quite possibly the least efficient natural gas boiler in the United States.... behold!

And the thing was bought in 2011 by the previous owner, what a cheapskate! (well at least he paid for the conversion from oil to gas, can't complain there.)

 

[Bster13]

Here we go folks:

 

[Charles1981]

It is very easily to winterize my house and leave for a period of time if needed. Well and septic. Turn off the well valve. turn off the pump. Run the water till it doesn't go anymore, then open the relief valve on the water reservoir to empty residual water in the tank. Flush the toilets until empty. Board the cats and dogs if necessary. turn off the main breaker ready set safe to go.

 

[STIHLY DAN]

What about drain traps, in the sinks, tub, wash machine. If Water does not freeze to least resistance, It expands in all directions, You could have an open ended u, if it freezes it will split.

 

[Charles1981]

oh..a few glugs of antifreeze down each toilet, sink, and tub...

 

[Winged Pig]

We have an oil furnace for the whole house, but mainly use it spring and fall when it's just not cold enough for the wood stove. When it's cold the wood stove as our primary source of heat, but I do keep the furnace on with the thermostat turned down. Some mornings the furnace kicks on just before I get up. After I put wood in the stove it stays off the rest of the day. I have only had one oil delivery in over three years, so I'm happy with my set up.

 

[BrotherBart]

With any backup heat source keep it serviced and run it every once in a while to keep it in good shape. It is easy to ignore it and have it die like we did back in the nineties.

 

[Sprinter]

With any backup heat source keep it serviced and run it every once in a while to keep it in good shape. It is easy to ignore it and have it die like we did back in the nineties.

Here's a little anecdode. We spent the winter one time in SoCal when we lived in a small house on the coast with a LP furnace. We came home after 4 months in the sun to a dreary, rainy, cold, miserable night completely exhausted from driving and couldn't wait to get warm. Turned the t'stat up. Nothing. Then more nothing. I spent the next couple of hours figuring out that a safety device that monitors air flow was physically stuck just from being left for so long (damp climate). I did fix it, but it was not a fun night.

 

[HotCoals]

Here's a little anecdode. We spent the winter one time in SoCal when we lived in a small house on the coast with a LP furnace. We came home after 4 months in the sun to a dreary, rainy, cold, miserable night completely exhausted from driving and couldn't wait to get warm. Turned the t'stat up. Nothing. Then more nothing. I spent the next couple of hours figuring out that a safety device that monitors air flow was physically stuck just from being left for so long (damp climate). I did fix it, but it was not a fun night.

Sail switch!
Had it happen in a rv once.

 

[Sprinter]

Sail switch!
Had it happen in a rv once.

Yeah, that's it. I couldn't remember the name.

 

[rkusek]

Surprised to see so many able to get along without a backup heat at all. What happens if you get in a car wreck or something that puts you in the hospital for a couple days? A couple of those oil filled electric heaters on the lowest setting would probably keep the place from freeezing up until you or a family member can return.
I usually burn 1-3 loads a day from late Nov to early March but with working 12 hr shifts backup is a must. Hoping to finally utilize some stored hot water this season that would get me close to the 16-20 hr time frame. Heat pump only seems to take another $60-70 a month they way I do it now though. My fireplace would keep the LR warm and the plumbing from freezing if we ever had a serious power outage and no gas for the generator.

 

[eclecticcottage]

Draining the lines without blowing them out may not really do what you're intending. The "plumber" (I use the term loosely, however he's in the phone book as one) the PO hired to winterize the Cottage prior to us buying it did this on the hot water heat lines. He even CUT one in the dining room. Despite his "winterization" when we bought the place, there were blow outs in every room, several in many of the lines. Hence, the no traditional heat source here-it all ended up at the scrap yard including the circa 1980's boiler that was supposedly new, because we didn't trust it after seeing what he'd done. There were also leaks in the water lines AND the bottom of the water meter was blown out (water was shut off at the main).

I don't like those plug in electic radiator things. I know a lot of people don't like VF. We made a choice between the two for emergency back up, and went VF-it does come on throughout the winter, especially when it's in the teens or single digits, so we know it works (as in, functions). We usually light the pilot when it's consistantly below 30 at night and shut it off when it's consistantly above 30. It'll use 100lb tank of LP a season, but it's better than not having anything, especially when you can't rely on someone (neighbor, family, friend) to tend the stove in an emergancy.

We don't really have the cash to go on vacation, and we knew we wouldn't if we bought this place. Figured it's a bit like living on vacation to be here, and we got the one story we needed. We probably could have put in some sort of traditional heat source instead of the stove, but I'm not sure where we would have put the tank or how we would have run lines or ducts. That's what's got us thinking about splits at some point.