Does anyone ever "exercise" their heating system?

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Mr. Kelly

Feeling the Heat
Hi All,

Does anyone on here ever run their heating system just to keep things moving, and to keep it from sitting idle? Here's my thought... We're going away for the week, and while we're gone, the heating system will be running to heat zones for portions of the house, which it hasn't done since we've installed our stove about a month ago.

I'm a little concerned that there might be issues with not having the oil-fired burner and boiler running through all the zones for that long, particularly in the cold weather months.

Anyone have problems with pipes freezing, condensation, etc., after not having run them for awhile? Is there anyone who runs their system just to keep the components active?

Any thoughts?
 
Mine runs every day so it gets lots of exercise. Some people use a device called ThermGuard www.bearmountaindesign.com to run their furnace periodically.
 
God, never. OK... very rarely. I have electric baseboards. Those things stink like hell when they haven't been used in awhile. Rather freeze to death.
 
My furnace/boiler is oil fired. If I didn't run the wood stove the house would be heated with hot water baseboard. Even if I don't run the boiler for heat, it kicks on several times a day to heat our domestic hot water.

During the winter, I turn the thermostat up and let the furnace just run for it's own good probably 3x a winter. I do on on those days that are really cold and we've been gone all day and come home to a cooler than normal house. For my system, the only thing that need the "exercise" is the circulator pump.

I even do the same once during the summer just to keep things moving.

You've only had your furnace off for a month, so I highly doubt there would be a problem.

If it were me, i'd let it run for 5-10 just to make it would kick on and then also turn off, before I walked out the door for a couple days.

If I had electric baseboards, I would never "exercise" them. Just no point to it since the only moving part would be the thermostat. Most generally, you can test the thermostat's ability to switch on and off w/out ever having power to the units. Just listen for the "click"

pen
 
Mr. Kelly said:
Hi All,

Does anyone on here ever run their heating system just to keep things moving, and to keep it from sitting idle? Here's my thought... We're going away for the week, and while we're gone, the heating system will be running to heat zones for portions of the house, which it hasn't done since we've installed our stove about a month ago.

I'm a little concerned that there might be issues with not having the oil-fired burner and boiler running through all the zones for that long, particularly in the cold weather months.

Anyone have problems with pipes freezing, condensation, etc., after not having run them for awhile? Is there anyone who runs their system just to keep the components active?

Any thoughts?

Yes! First off, since it's only been off for a month, no worries. You might want to run it for a half hour before you go just to be sure it's working.

My terrific heating/plumbing guy told me, though, that leaving the boiler completely switched off for months can cause problems. In my case, it was a couple of valves that got themselves gunked up somehow. If you leave the thing switched on but set the thermostat way low, even in summer,it comes on once or twice a day to rev itself up and then goes to sleep again for exactly that reason. I actually switched it off completely last spring because I really hate that sound (sounds like dollar bills burning to me). My guy said if I do that, I should switch it back on and bump up the thermostate to run it for a while every month to keep its various parts in good working order.

If you haven't actually switched yours off completely, it's probably been doing that itself all along.
 
Battenkiller said:
God, never. OK... very rarely. I have electric baseboards. Those things stink like hell when they haven't been used in awhile. Rather freeze to death.
IKWYM... The stench is just a bitter reminder of how expensive electric baseboard heat it. Might as well be setting greenbacks on fire.
 
gyrfalcon said:
Yes! First off, since it's only been off for a month, no worries. You might want to run it for a half hour before you go just to be sure it's working.

My terrific heating/plumbing guy told me, though, that leaving the boiler completely switched off for months can cause problems. In my case, it was a couple of valves that got themselves gunked up somehow.

My boiler (gas fired) takes 7-8 months off every year... and picks right back up in November.
 
Thermguard. The unit works great, took 10 minutes to install, cost about $75 (I think) 3 years ago. Turns on the heat for a minute every few hours (you select how many minutes and hours). I have mine set at 1 minute every 3 hrs. Original purpose is to keep pipes from freezing, but keeps the whole system from degrading due to non-use.
 
azsteven said:
gyrfalcon said:
Yes! First off, since it's only been off for a month, no worries. You might want to run it for a half hour before you go just to be sure it's working.

My terrific heating/plumbing guy told me, though, that leaving the boiler completely switched off for months can cause problems. In my case, it was a couple of valves that got themselves gunked up somehow.

My boiler (gas fired) takes 7-8 months off every year... and picks right back up in November.

So did mine before I started heating with wood, but I never turned it off at the switch. My hot water was running off the boiler then, and I assumed the occasional rumble from the boiler had to do with that. Then I switched to an electric hot water heater, and I was more than a little irritated to hear the boiler still going on occasionally, so I turned it off at the switch. THen when it got cold enough this winter that I needed the boiler to keep the house from dropping to freezing overnight when the little stove went out, it wheezed and clanked and wheezed and put up very anemic heat, and I could see the valve on the top bubbling rusty water and jumping up and down. (It's a three-yo high-efficiency boiler.)

When I lived in the burbs, I never turned the boiler off at the switch like that, but it's amazing how minor noises that are just part of the background in the burbs are loud enough to be annoying in the quiet of the countryside.
 
Anyone actually experience frozen pipes in the house, the result of not firing your heating system when using your stove???
 
Mr. Kelly said:
Anyone actually experience frozen pipes in the house, the result of not firing your heating system when using your stove???

not yet.. lol. house hasn't dropped below 63 since we switched. But if we go to the city, we are usually going to be gone all day, so I set the thermostat to hold the house at 64. That has always been my plan.
 
We usually run the furnace a couple times a week 15-30 minutes in the morning. It's an oldie and I'd like it to stay running so I try to exercise it some.
 
My smart thermostat kick the fan on for 5 minutes every hour.
Helps move the heat around & the electronic filter helps with dust,
Once a week or so, i let the stove go cold, clean it. & run the furnace for a cycle.
Wife complains it's cold though, thermostat set to 70.
LOL Blanket time. :)
 
bogydave said:
My smart thermostat kick the fan on for 5 minutes every hour.
That would be great too for the humidifier that only runs when the furnace fan does. I was contemplating rigging up some sort of timer like the Thermguard on the furnace fan just to get some humidity.

What brand and model of smart thermostat will bump the fan like that?
 
Two things to think about in terms of a oil-fired hot water system. #1 Letting the water sit for long periods of time in the system without movement causes corrison build-up in the piping, circulator pump(s) and zone valves. This is especially a problem if you have "hard" water which is not treated by a softener system. #2 Current refining methods on heating oil leave a product low in sulfur. This in turn produces a reduction in "C" tane rating of the fuel and speeds up corrosion on the storage tank interior over extended periods of time. At the very least, it is wise to ad a "Diesel Fuel Conditioner" to the heating oil in your tank. This acts as a stabilizer for the fuel and as a anti-freeze to control moisture and condensation build up in the tank.
 
rottiman said:
Two things to think about in terms of a oil-fired hot water system. #1 Letting the water sit for long periods of time in the system without movement causes corrison build-up in the piping, circulator pump(s) and zone valves. This is especially a problem if you have "hard" water which is not treated by a softener system. #2 Current refining methods on heating oil leave a product low in sulfur. This in turn produces a reduction in "C" tane rating of the fuel and speeds up corrosion on the storage tank interior over extended periods of time. At the very least, it is wise to ad a "Diesel Fuel Conditioner" to the heating oil in your tank. This acts as a stabilizer for the fuel and as a anti-freeze to control moisture and condensation build up in the tank.

Thank you! This is exactly what happened with my system. It's what my plumbing/heating guy told me, only I couldn't remember the specifics. He did put "anti-freeze" in my tank when I switched to mostly wood heat, but it didn't occur to him to warn me off switching the boiler off altogether during the summer months because it didn't occur to him I'd do such a thing. Live and learn.

Am I right that most, maybe all, boilers turn themselves on periodically (unless you switch them totally off) when they're not in regular use to prevent exactly this?
 
By the way, is that your tiny puppy in your avatar thingy?
 
Mr. Kelly said:
Anyone actually experience frozen pipes in the house, the result of not firing your heating system when using your stove???

No, thank goodness. But the basement gets down to 40-45 degrees on a cold night (11pm) when the boiler isn't running. Fortunately for my pipes (not my gas bill), the boiler kicks every morning for about 60 minutes. The thermostat on the first floor is set to 64 for the 5:30am-8:30am program, but since old cast iron radiators take a while to heat up and then hold their heat for a several of hours, the radiators raise the 1st floor temp to about 68. Then we use the stove the rest of the day/evening, which results in the low temps in the basement at night. I think that if we didn't have the boiler on each morning, we'd be awfully close to freezing temps down there.
 
Mr. Kelly said:
Hi All,

Does anyone on here ever run their heating system just to keep things moving, and to keep it from sitting idle? Here's my thought... We're going away for the week, and while we're gone, the heating system will be running to heat zones for portions of the house, which it hasn't done since we've installed our stove about a month ago.

I'm a little concerned that there might be issues with not having the oil-fired burner and boiler running through all the zones for that long, particularly in the cold weather months.

Anyone have problems with pipes freezing, condensation, etc., after not having run them for awhile? Is there anyone who runs their system just to keep the components active?

Any thoughts?

Yes, I've always done this. I'm the one that has to fix this stuff, so I like to assert it is in good working order. It also helps keep moisture from building up in the system.
 
BeGreen said:
Mr. Kelly said:
Hi All,

Does anyone on here ever run their heating system just to keep things moving, and to keep it from sitting idle? Here's my thought... We're going away for the week, and while we're gone, the heating system will be running to heat zones for portions of the house, which it hasn't done since we've installed our stove about a month ago.

I'm a little concerned that there might be issues with not having the oil-fired burner and boiler running through all the zones for that long, particularly in the cold weather months.

Anyone have problems with pipes freezing, condensation, etc., after not having run them for awhile? Is there anyone who runs their system just to keep the components active?

Any thoughts?

Yes, I've always done this. I'm the one that has to fix this stuff, so I like to assert it is in good working order. It also helps keep moisture from building up in the system.

X2, I run mine minimal once per month. In the very cold weather, I will occasionally run it to get the house up to temp, and the stove takes over.
I went to run it last year, and no go. I knew nothing about oil burners, I bought a oil burner maintenance/how to service cd online, and reviewed it.
I cleaned and reset the electrodes, changed the nozzle, and changed the cats eye. She fired right up. Saved a couple hundred bucks easily.
Nothing worse than needing heat, and your heat source not functioning. Exercise is good., and uses minimal amount of oil in my case.
 
I run my boiler everyday. I keep the thermostat at around 55-60 so that the house never drops below that. Then I use it to bring the house up to temp when I get home in the evening. Then the stove maintains the temp. It also heats our domestic hot water.
 
rottiman said:
Two things to think about in terms of a oil-fired hot water system. #1 Letting the water sit for long periods of time in the system without movement causes corrison build-up in the piping, circulator pump(s) and zone valves. This is especially a problem if you have "hard" water which is not treated by a softener system. #2 Current refining methods on heating oil leave a product low in sulfur. This in turn produces a reduction in "C" tane rating of the fuel and speeds up corrosion on the storage tank interior over extended periods of time. At the very least, it is wise to ad a "Diesel Fuel Conditioner" to the heating oil in your tank. This acts as a stabilizer for the fuel and as a anti-freeze to control moisture and condensation build up in the tank.

All good information from everyone.

Fortunately, my hot water is heated by the boiler, so the system does run regularly. However, I have 2x zones that don't get any use when the stove is cranking 24/7. I do worry about the corrosion and moisture build up, and particularly the zone valves, which may be sticky to begin with.

Any remedies anyone knows for freeing up sticky and corroded zone valves? I've replaced a head recently, but not the actual valve, if that's the part that soldered to the actual pipe. Mine might be sticky, as one zone seems to be problematic.
 
Mr. Kelly said:
rottiman said:
Two things to think about in terms of a oil-fired hot water system. #1 Letting the water sit for long periods of time in the system without movement causes corrison build-up in the piping, circulator pump(s) and zone valves. This is especially a problem if you have "hard" water which is not treated by a softener system. #2 Current refining methods on heating oil leave a product low in sulfur. This in turn produces a reduction in "C" tane rating of the fuel and speeds up corrosion on the storage tank interior over extended periods of time. At the very least, it is wise to ad a "Diesel Fuel Conditioner" to the heating oil in your tank. This acts as a stabilizer for the fuel and as a anti-freeze to control moisture and condensation build up in the tank.

All good information from everyone.

Fortunately, my hot water is heated by the boiler, so the system does run regularly. However, I have 2x zones that don't get any use when the stove is cranking 24/7. I do worry about the corrosion and moisture build up, and particularly the zone valves, which may be sticky to begin with.

Any remedies anyone knows for freeing up sticky and corroded zone valves? I've replaced a head recently, but not the actual valve, if that's the part that soldered to the actual pipe. Mine might be sticky, as one zone seems to be problematic.

Try tapping lightly on the valve body. Just don't go nuts.
 
LLigetfa said:
bogydave said:
My smart thermostat kick the fan on for 5 minutes every hour.
That would be great too for the humidifier that only runs when the furnace fan does. I was contemplating rigging up some sort of timer like the Thermguard on the furnace fan just to get some humidity.

What brand and model of smart thermostat will bump the fan like that?

Hi LLigetfa
ThermGuard works with a furnace fan as well. Just hook it to the green and red wires and you cna program it to come on for a specific number of minutes at a specified duration. For instance 5 minutes every hour or two.

Cheers,
John
 
Mr. Kelly said:
Anyone actually experience frozen pipes in the house, the result of not firing your heating system when using your stove???

Hi Mr. Kelly,

My pipes froze and burst twice in two different places. One was over an unheated garage and the other was just where the pipes came close to an outside wall. I live in Montana and it gets pretty cold up here. When I looked for a solution to the freezing pipe problem, I couldn't find one that would run autonomously....without me thinking about it. Necessity is the mother of invention! I created ThermGuard to just turn on the heating zone for a programmable amount of time and in interval I specify. It is really easy to use and will give you peace of mind about running your stove and just shutting off your thermostats.

Check out the recommendations here on Hearth.com and see the product yourself: www.bearmountaindesign.com

Cheers,
John
 
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