OWB...going on vacation What to do?

[Roscoe294]

Thanks to all that replied and to those that live in MI and offered to help. I have the option of having someone fill it but didnt want to bother them, altho they didnt complain at all last year when they did it. Most that dont have an OWB find them very interesting and who doesnt like to add wood to a fire?

My system is forced hot air and obviously the system is wired for the propane to kick on if the boiler water temp gets too low. I will prolly jus turn the aquastats down and set the house at 55* and have someone check/load it .

I also thought of bypassing the forced air (let it burn propane) and just have it run thru the sidearm of the hot water tank with the hotwater tank adjusted to the lowest setting jus in case the fire in the boiler did go out and there was a delay with my help. This I beleive would require a lot less filling.

Im not worried about burning a little propane (I guess that depends on the weather) because those pricks at the propane company started to charge me a rental fee this yr on the tank because I havent bought propane since 03'.

Still have time to think about it....thanks for the info

 

[geobckmstr]

tested my system yesterday, my house is 2500 sq.ft,ONE LEVEL,(wife has bad knees,no steps) I have heated it with 2 L.P. gas furnaces for zoning porpuses,(raised 6 kids,5 girls)coming and going. I set up my OWB with 2 thermostats at each furnace. With aquastats so my owb thermastats kick out at 100 degrees inside water temperature,(set at 71 degrees) My LP thermostats are set at 60 degrees to kick in. So there is a lag from when my OWB runs out of wood and the LP gas takes over.I do have 25 % hydro.antifreeze in my system,so when we talk heat transferr this should be in your faver with plan H2O. It was warm minn.standards 22 degrees. ran system out of wood. lag time. when LP furnaces kicked in at hse temp.60 degrees, the O.S. boiler water temp was at 99 degrees. after forty minutes I checked O.S. water temp.again and it was at 110 degrees. so conclusion is that the heat x in the plenums will keep the water from freezing and actually heat the water up. I should also note that i have two hot water heaters with sidearms at each furnace. my system is a crown royal mod.7300 about 220 gallons.

 

[Steveguy]

Your propane forced air will keep the boiler warm and if your boiler is well insulated like my central boiler, it will not take "enormous amounts" of propane to do it. Mine keeps snow on the roof even when the boiler temp is at 185. If your gas furnace thermostat is set at 60, the boiler water will be at 60 when you come back. As to worrying about power outages, pump failures, acts of god or whatever, thats up to you, but my pumps run all winter and I don't spend alot of time worrying about them. It may be a good idea to block off your draft opening so cold air isn't flowing through the firebox and cooling the water jacket from the firebox if you are going to be gone that long time.

 

[geobckmstr]

explain why you think the water temp will be at 60, the plenum is alot hotter than that and my test showed that it will heat from 99 to 110 in forty minutes and if i let it go longer i think the water would of went to higher degrees.

 

[Steveguy]

Yes you will heat it hotter while the furnace is running, but unless the furnace is burning constantly, the boiler shouldn't keep getting hotter. After an extended period of time, the boiler water temp will equalize with the air temp in the house. When the gas furnace cycles, the boiler temp will rise some, because the plenum gets hotter, then while the furnace isn't running, the plenum temp falls back to room temp and the boiler will cool down also. The main point being this, if you circulate the boiler water through the heat exchanger in the furnace, the water temp will approximate the house temp. So you won't freeze the boiler. I guess I don't want to argue whether it will track it to the degree, I don't think the OP cares whether the boiler water is at 60 or 99 degrees, just so it isn't going to freeze.

 

[chewy78]

When I go on vacation to San Diego next Tuesday for a couple of days, I will have my dad fill and check on it. He also has a hardy wood burner similar to mine but one size smaller. I might get him a big case of his favorite beer for helping me out. I plan on keeping the temp no higher than 55-60.

 

[Roscoe294]

Your propane forced air will keep the boiler warm and if your boiler is well insulated like my central boiler, it will not take "enormous amounts" of propane to do it. Mine keeps snow on the roof even when the boiler temp is at 185.

My Wood Doctor is very well insulated as well and keeps snow on it during operation. Power outages are not a problem as I have a generator handy and someone that can get it running if needed.

Im thinking I'll just turn everything way down, bypass the hot water heater and have it filled/checked every couple days.

Thanks