Cold Nights with Hot Water Baseboard Heat

[UpStateNY]

Okay so this is you first Pellet Stove and your first very cold night. Your house also has a boiler with hot water baseboard heating system. The problem is the the hot water heating pipes run around the outside walls of the house and may freeze.

My recommendation. If you are concern their may not be enough heat from the pellet stove to keep these piples from freezing then do the following:

1. Heat your house with the boiler on very cold nights and turn the wood pellet stove off
2. If you want to keep heating your house with your pellet stove, then before bed turn your thermostat up for 10 minutes so the boiler heats those heating pipes. When you get up in the morning do it again. Check the pipes heat by hand to determine if the hot water is flowing.
   
3. If hot water is no longer flowing through the baseboard pipes, you may need bleed the air fomr the baseboard radiator pipes with a special key you can buy at Lowes or HomeDepot.

 

[Longpond paperboy]

They sell a unit that will turn on your circulator designed for that

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[Longpond paperboy]

Thermguard from bear mountain designs. It turns on your boiler for a certain amount of time every so often to keep pipes warm

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[heat seeker]

I have done your option #2, and so far haven't had any problems. I do it if the temp is going to be in the teens or lower. My house is pretty well insulated, which helps. I have three heating zones, so would have to get 3 of those units.

 

[bogieb]

Thermguard from bear mountain designs. It turns on your boiler for a certain amount of time every so often to keep pipes warm

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk

This is what I use. I have it set to go on every 6 hours for 8 minutes. Works great even with my pipes going thru an unheated garage (garage does stay 10-15* warmer than outside temps).

 

[Tiggar61]

This is what I use. I have it set to go on every 6 hours for 8 minutes. Works great even with my pipes going thru an unheated garage (garage does stay 10-15* warmer than outside temps).

I used to do the same thing ,so last year we got a new boiler and they put in antifreeze in the pipes so I wouldn't have to worry about frozen pipes any more.(They knew I burned pellets as my main heat source so they sujested installation of antifreeze.)

 

[heat seeker]

The antifreeze is definitely a good thing, but from what I've read, reduces the efficiency of the system. Please keep us up to date with your impressions, as I am considering antifreeze, too. And what about if the system water manages to back up into the feed water and the house water system?

 

[bogieb]

I got a quote for adding antifreeze to my existing system and it was over $500. I figured buying the ThermGuard and burning expensive propane (` $3/gal here) is still cheaper than that - at least for a couple of years. However, adding it with a new install wouldn't raise the cost that much (I would hope).

How often does the solution need to be changed out? Also, is there any concern of corroding pipes? Just curious.

 

[rona]

Okay so this is you first Pellet Stove and your first very cold night. Your house also has a boiler with hot water baseboard heating system. The problem is the the hot water heating pipes run around the outside walls of the house and may freeze.

My recommendation. If you are concern their may not be enough heat from the pellet stove to keep these piples from freezing then do the following:

1. Heat your house with the boiler on very cold nights and turn the wood pellet stove off
2. If you want to keep heating your house with your pellet stove, then before bed turn your thermostat up for 10 minutes so the boiler heats those heating pipes. When you get up in the morning do it again. Check the pipes heat by hand to determine if the hot water is flowing.
   
3. If hot water is no longer flowing through the baseboard pipes, you may need bleed the air fomr the baseboard radiator pipes with a special key you can buy at Lowes or HomeDepot.

Why not put antifreeze in the system? That's what we do here in Minn if there is any chance of a problem