I recently moved into a house with a 10 year old jotul gas stove as the primary source of heat. I am going to be replacing the gas stove with a Castine and was considering installing another propane heater for back-up heat, to prevent the pipes from freezing when we go out of town. However, both the stove and heater would be on the first floor of the house and the pipes are in the crawl space. So, neither heating source will protect the pipes all that well. If I need to install heat tape in the crawl space anyway, could I just install electric baseboards only in the rooms with plumbing (laundry room, kitchen, bathroom)? Alternatively, could I get away with just heat tape and no back-up heat? I live in Maine. The house is about 1100 square feet and decently weatherized.
back-up heat
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If pipes are in the crawl space I'd say you need to wrap them with heat tape. It would still be a good idea to have a backup heat source to keep the rest of the house above freezing so you don't have to worry about pipes inside the house or the toilet freezing. They can be "winterized" as well when you leave but it's a hassle, BTDT. Electric baseboard is very cheap to buy and won't cost much to run if you only use it when you leave for an extended time and keep the temp set low. Doesn't take much energy to keep the house around 40 or so.
Alan
Alan
The Castine will not be able to use the propane venting and may need a larger hearth area. Would it be possible to keep the gas Jotul and add the Castine on a dedicated flue? If not, baseboards would work. In addition, insulate the crawl space as well as possible. And use heat tape on the pipes when away.
Hanko
Minister of Fire
If you end up going with electric baseboard heat, check out the high eff units that are filled with oil. Check with your local electrical supply co, and they should be able to give you some info on them. They wok very well
Hanko
Minister of Fire
One other thing, when you leave your home unoccupied especially in the winter, shut the circuit breaker off to the well
Ashful
Minister of Fire
Is this a home built on a foundation with less than a full basement, or some sort of trailer / mobile home with a ventillated crawl space? If the former, I do not understand the recommendations for heating pipes in the crawl space. Find a way to ensure the space above remains heated, and the ground below is nomally 50*F. Without significant cold air intrusion, your crawl space will not freeze.
Thanks for the advice. I didnt see all these replies right away. It is a really old house built on posts, with the newer parts built on a foundation. Currently, the wood that sheaths the spaces between the posts is rotting and air gets in above ground. We are working on fixing that and adding rigid foam insulation. There are windows in the crawl space that we are covering also. Once the crawlspace is airtight and insulated, we won't need to worry about the pipes freezing underground?
If we go away for 3-4 days, should we shut off the circuit breaker to the well? The pipe that goes to the well seems to be wrapped in really old ungrounded heat tape. I was wondering if I need to try to replace that or just not plug it in.
The gas stove is vented to the chimney and there isn't another spot that makes sense for a wood stove or a gas stove.
Ashful
Minister of Fire
Before trusting any advice I or others could give you here, it might be better to get a local pro's eyes on those pipes. Normally, with a concrete foundation wall and no outside air intrusion, there is no concern with basement or crawl space pipes freezing, but it sounds like your setup is different.
eclecticcottage
Minister of Fire
Not so with pillars/piers.
We pretty much have the same set up in our Old House, except we use two gas stoves (two story). We've never used heat tape. Leave the furthest hot water tap running at a reasonable drip. We've been there done that for 15 years. Whether or not it's warm in the house, when it's about 25 or so or below, we leave the faucet in the tub dripping. The ONLY time we didn't need to do this (we've had pipes freeze) is when we had an in floor gravity heater that also provided ambient heat to the crawl space. We're about 3' off the ground with rigid pink board insulation around the exterior between the piers.
Seasoned Oak
Minister of Fire
TO my knowledge there is no such thing as a high efficiency electric resistance heater,you already get 100% of the heat generated into the living space.Oil filled has nothing to do with it. Only way to get more heat from electricity is with some kind of electric heat pump.
Ashful
Minister of Fire
Ditto. All oil does is reduce the radiant heating factor, and "take the edge off" the searing nature of a standard electric baseboard. Then again, most here being woodstove fans, prefer the searing radiant heat.
My last house had electric baseboards in the second and third floors with a separate wall thermostat for each room, and it was a great solution for us, because we only heated the room we were in, when we were in it. The forced air oil furnace ducted solely to the first floor provided enough rising heat to the second and third to keep them moderately warm, so the electric baseboards were only taking up the last 10*F. I highly recommend this solution, or a similar solution using mini-split systems, for anyone trying to heat an old house without ductwork to the second and/or third floors.
Seasoned Oak
Minister of Fire
I like electric baseboard for backup heat as well. Im installing some in an apt right now. Of course nothing beats a wood stove of you lose power.
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