going on vacation

[LTREES]

You run to a heat plate? Then you circulate from the plate to the boiler? Turn the circulator between the plate and the boiler off. Turn the thermostat to 50-55 deg. in the house. KEEP the OWB circulator going, should not freeze if still moving. No need to heat the OWB with the house unit. Some one told me you could shut the unit down and cut the water off above the circulator on the OWB, turn off the return (s), then drain the water from the lines so the water would be at least under ground. That would depend on what kind of piping you used and depth (frost line in your area). It depends on how cold it is up there. I think I could do either way now. Never had to shut it down yet so just food for thought.

LT...

 

[Cirrus Aviator]

Vacation Trip Fix

We went to Florida for 9 days the first week in February 4 day Disney Cruise and then Walt Disney World. This is what I do and it only goes through 30 to 40 gallons of propane.

My pump on my OWB runs 24/7 so the water is always circulating. I have my blower wired to a N/O thermo that closes when the water temp is above 130, and the aqua-stat itself that I set at 170.

I also have a mercury thermostat that controls when my propane boiler fires.

As folks have mentioned heat the house a couple extra degrees before you go to give you extra cushion. Load the wood boiler to beat the band with as much wood as you can cram. I set my thermostats in the house to 60 degrees, you could go lower if you want.

Once we leave it goes like this.....the wood boiler fires and heats the house until the fuel runs out and the water temp gets below 130. Then the blower shuts off and prevents sub zero air from from fanning an empty burn chamber. Then the house and the outdoor wood boiler is heated from the plate exchanger in the house. The propane boiler keeps the house at 60 and the water temp of the out door wood boiler at about 80.

My OWB is 170 gallons and the pipes are buried 5 to 6 feet. I did not have any issues at all while we were gone, and as said we maybe went through 40 gallons tops.

Good Luck

 

[trialanderror]

just dump the water dude...is it really worth the gamble? water is free.....i wouldn't 2nd thought to dump the system while your gone......what are you going to burn in propane? like $400, doubtful ? maybe $50? is your $8000 system worth it?

 

[trialanderror]

OK.....Here is what we need to do. Somebody needs to invent some kind of a commercially available log substitute....something like the sawdust and wax logs that you buy for your fireplace that can be used in the OWB while you are away. The logs could be very slow burning and made to keep the OWB and pipes from freezing - but not necessarily burn hot or fast enough to heat your buildings. It would give great peace of mind to those worrying about their OWB freezing while they are away if they had a load of wood that would burn slowly and keep things from freezing for a week!

cow patties.....they smolder for hours and hours on a fire.....load your boiler up with dried up cow sh!t.....it's just condensed grass and weeds....

 

[oneoldbanjo]

I really don't think that draining water out of the boiler is recommended by any manufacturer. The thing that keeps the metal from rusting is that the treated water is low on oxygen content and the metal will not rust because it does not have oxygen available. When you drain the system the damp metal has access to air/oxygen and will rust and shorten the life of the OWB.

 

[trialanderror]

I really don't think that draining water out of the boiler is recommended by any manufacturer. The thing that keeps the metal from rusting is that the treated water is low on oxygen content and the metal will not rust because it does not have oxygen available. When you drain the system the damp metal has access to air/oxygen and will rust and shorten the life of the OWB.

if it's a non pressurized system it's already exposed to air/oxygen.... not to mention it'll still rust water on it or not...

 

[November Wolf]

It is not a good idea to drain your system. That is the worst thing you can do to your boiler. You will be inviting corrosion to your expensive OWB.

 

[LTREES]

+1 I agree to keep the water in it with the additives, and just keep it moving.

 

[sorethumbs]

A friend of mine who took a Vegas Vacation says all he did was flip the breakers on his hot water tank and it kept his 5036 from freezing no problem. He said the side arm exchanger worked both ways and he didn't give it a second thought. Just kept his pump on and let the hot water tank go to work on his owb........sounds good but I'd definetly try it first..keep us posted on your test please, someday I'd like to go. Even if I don't it would be nice to know I at least could if a wanted to. LOL

I'd like to know more about this. It seems to me that this would not work. Electric HW heaters have a built in t-stat with safety features built-in. If the water inside the tank gets too hot, like it would using an OWB side-arm say 180*F, then the HW t-stat will trip, requiring a manual overirde. As soon as your buddy flipped the breakers to turn-on his HW heater it should have tripped-out. How did he overcome this situation?

Also, a side arm would need to thrmosyphon to get heat-exchange. I'm not sure that would happen.

 

[oneoldbanjo]

I'd like to know more about this. It seems to me that this would not work. Electric HW heaters have a built in t-stat with safety features built-in. If the water inside the tank gets too hot, like it would using an OWB side-arm say 180*F, then the HW t-stat will trip, requiring a manual overirde. As soon as your buddy flipped the breakers to turn-on his HW heater it should have tripped-out. How did he overcome this situation?

Also, a side arm would need to thrmosyphon to get heat-exchange. I'm not sure that would happen.

My electic water heater will remain functioning with my sidearm in operation and will not trip anything. My OWB shuts off the blower at 170 and the temperature in the water heater never gets over about 165 or so - it is very hot but not so hot as to shut anything off or open the T&P valve.

I also believe that the sidearm will work in reverse - although maybe not so efficiently - it can still exchange heat. As hot water from the water heater enters the top of the sidearm it will give off some heat to the water pumping from the OWB, and then the cooler water will sink and continue to give off heat as long as it remains in the sidearm - and it will then return to the bottom of the water heater where it will be reheated and rise to the top of the water heater.

I don't allow my water heater to heat the OWB through the sidearm as I also have an electric heat pump - and it can keep the OWB from freezing more efficiently than the electric elements in my water heater. I also don't want the water heater heating up the water from the OWB - which will then flow into the heat exchanger in the furnace and the blower will take some of the heat away if the furnace blower is on. Instead I shut off the water heater and sidearm - and allow the heat exchanger in my furnace to give heat to the OWB water and keep it from freezing.