Water lines freezing when heating with wood in a mobile home?

[Motodeficient]

We just bought a 2004 double wide this spring. We live in Maine and I like wood heat, so we had a woodstove professionally installed. My plan is to heat exclusively with heat, with a furnace obviously as a backup in case we are not home to keep the fire stoked. I have been reading that the water lines follow the furnace heating ducts to keep from freezing. How much of a problem am I going to have with this? The double wide has a pretty open floor plan but the woodstove is at one end of the house in large dining room/kitchen area. It does have a blower and blows heat down towards the other end of the house. Would I be ok just kicking the furnace on for a cycle or two on very cold nights?

I have crawled all under the house making sure there are no holes in the underbelly anywhere.

 

[HD-tech-NH]

heat tape?

 

[sawkiller]

Simply turn on the furnace blower and this will not only help with the freezing but also help move the heat to other parts of the home. If your unit has a digital control with a circulate feature that is even better because you can leave the heat preset at 65 or wherever you prefer and the blower will automaticaly circulate ever so often.

 

[Motodeficient]

I think that would be pretty difficult and dangerous to do, none of the water lines are accessible, they are all enclosed in insulation under the floor of the house.

 

[Motodeficient]

Simply turn on the furnace blower and this will not only help with the freezing but also help move the heat to other parts of the home. If your unit has a digital control with a circulate feature that is even better because you can leave the heat preset at 65 or wherever you prefer and the blower will automaticaly circulate ever so often.

It does have a digital control but I don't believe it has a circulate feature? That would be a great idea if it does though. The furnace is located just off the living room which is a room that should get pretty warm with the wood heat. If it does have a circulate feature it would be just taking in the hot air from that room and circulating it through the heat vents to other rooms, correct? I will have to check that out.

 

[Steve K]

My mobile home has a block foundation on the outside edge, with steel jack stands on the inside. Must be 2' of clearance from the ground. The block foundation has vents in it which I keep closed with styrofoam inserts. The only place I use heat tape is on the water connection coming out of the ground up to the mobile homes connection. The rest of the piping is covered in insulation under the floor. I heat with wood all winter with temperature below 0 -f night after night. Been in this high desert for 12 winters and not one time did I freeze up. I rarely use the mobile homes furnace and don't keep any fans running.

Last winter's record breaker.

 

[BPS. LLC]

My plan is to heat exclusively with heat

...I couldn't resist.

 

[alderman]

If it were me, I'd run the furnace on those real cold nights just to be on the safe side. Heck of a lot cheaper than dealing with frozen water lines.

 

[sawkiller]

Even if you don't have the circulate feature you can still turn just the blower on on your furnace with almost all thermostats they usually have Heat, Cool, Fan and Off selections. Simply select fan

 

[Motodeficient]

Great, thanks guys.

Does anyone have any first hand experience with my situation in a cold climate?

 

[CWME]

Great, thanks guys.

Does anyone have any first hand experience with my situation in a cold climate?

Yes

On the -20 nights we turned off the pellet stove and ran the furnace. Our Trailer was a 1985 ENERGY PIT though!

With the newer trailers(like my Dads 1994) you will be fine with running the furnace blower on the cold nights.

 

[o8f150]

Simply turn on the furnace blower and this will not only help with the freezing but also help move the heat to other parts of the home. If your unit has a digital control with a circulate feature that is even better because you can leave the heat preset at 65 or wherever you prefer and the blower will automaticaly circulate ever so often.

:agree2::agree2: what we do is turn the main off to the ac unit so it doesn't come on and then turn the thermastat to the ac side,,,and set the temp,,it will cycle the blower on and off like it is summer,,,,,,,your duct work has slits cut in them to allow warm air to get into the insolation underneath to keep the pipes warm in the winter,,, this is the way we have done it for a few years and it works perfect

 

[Motodeficient]

Yes I was playing with the digital thermostat last night, there is no circulate or blower feature. But it does have the AC feature, but since we don't have central air so I don't think the AC feature will actually do anything will it? The furnace wouldn't react at all to an AC setting I wouldn't think?

 

[timberwolf]

One thing maybe to think of is that most stoves draw air from inside the house and it is pumped up the stack. This creates a negetive pressure in the house and will draw in cold air where ever it can, This can create cold drafts including in concealed areas like pipe chases. Solution is to provide a cold air intake that brings air from outside directy to the stove or at least as near to it as possible.

 

[Motodeficient]

There is an outside air kit installed, which is mandatory because its a manufactured home. So that aspect is all set.

 

[timberwolf]

Good stuff, they make a huge difference.

Seen stoves spit smoke out the front when the cloths drier runs or anything disrupts the pressure in the house. Not efficient and potentially not safe either.

 

[savageactor7]

Hi Motodeficient, had a friend in the exact situation as you. After a freeze...

..he used those 36" foam insulator wraps on his pipe, esp careful with any elbows. Then aggressively lock down any air leaks getting in under his double wide.

Something about moving air that will make it real easy to freeze pipes.

At first he used some hay bales to stop the air then used those blue 3" hard styro-foam panels to button up the bottom.

If your under the double wide and can see light coming in around the skirting then air can also penetrate to freeze pipes.

 

[Motodeficient]

Hi Motodeficient, had a friend in the exact situation as you. After a freeze...

..he used those 36" foam insulator wraps on his pipe, esp careful with any elbows. Then aggressively lock down any air leaks getting in under his double wide.

Something about moving air that will make it real easy to freeze pipes.

At first he used some hay bales to stop the air then used those blue 3" hard styro-foam panels to button up the bottom.

If your under the double wide and can see light coming in around the skirting then air can also penetrate to freeze pipes.

Thanks for your post, it is very helpful. With regards to the 36" foam insulator wraps, you are not talking about the pipes that are up against the floor in the insulation are you? This would mean cutting the entire underbelly "skin" on the bottom all up to access all of those pipes. Also, are the blue 3" styro-foam panels a permanent fixture? Any idea how expensive they are? How are they held in place? Has he had any more freeze-up problems since those steps were taken?Thanks again.