owb and vacation

[mjs97]

i will be leaving for vacation soon. i will be gone 5 days. i have sidearm on water heater and coil in gas furnace setup. could find somone to fill it, but would rather shut stove off and let pump circulate to keep from freezing. i seached some to see what people do in this situation but didnt find much for results. what are people finding that have tried it.

thanks,
matt

 

[bowtechmadman]

I added glycol so I could leave in the winter when I wanted and leave the wood boiler down. If your pump from boiler to home runs constant just let the pump run and turn on your back up heat (oil/nat. gas, propane) whatver it is. Water constantly circulating should keep her from freezing plus you'll be taking some heat from your home back out to the boiler.

 

[Slick]

For 5 days I wouldn't shut it off it was me, I'll pack it full, lower the house temp and let it run down low with your house backup heat kicking on after the box goes empty after a couple days...by 5 days you'll still have enough heat in the box to keep it from freezing if the pumps are running. I know my CB I can pack full...up the water temp to store more BTU's then lower down normal just before I leave and to the same with the house (get it cranking hot then lower temp as I leave) and get 3 days of normal water temps so by the 5th day shouldn't be ready to freeze...plus the pumps will be moving water..

 

[bluestem]

:agree2:

 

[ericjeeper]

Make sure you turn off the make up air..Be it forced air draft or just an electronically controlled damper.
In other words no sense in bringing cold air into a fire box with no fire in it.