Frozen Pipes

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Brian L

Member
Oct 15, 2013
95
North Smithfield, RI
So I work in the claims department of an insurance company and with the recent cold snap in the northeast, there has been significant volume of burst pipe claims. Looking through some of the data I'm finding a lot of claims coming from homes with pellet stoves.

I thought the same thing would happen to me at some point so I cycle my baseboard heat periodically on really cold days. Are there any protective measures anyone is using to stop frozen pipes? It would be nice to have sensors on the pipes that would trigger water to circulate when they get too cold. Not sure if anything like that exists.
 
In a hot water baseboard system, RV antifreeze can be put in the pipes. Then only antifreeze is circulated in the heating pipes.
 
Heat tracing in basement piping is effective too. Heat tracing has the ability to be set to come on a a certain ambient temperature.
 
Our kitchen sink water froze in the unheated crawlspace and did burst this year. They freeze every year even when we used to run the furnace full out.

No damage to house, no claim.
 
Been wondering the same thing. Why don't we put some sort of anti freeze in our baseboard pipes?! It's 2014 should be a preventative measure?!
 
Been wondering the same thing. Why don't we put some sort of anti freeze in our baseboard pipes?! It's 2014 should be a preventative measure?!
RV antifreeze. Read my earlier post;)
 
Household water system gave us a few issues but not until we hit the mid -30s to -40F. We ran a small electric heater in the crawl space for a few days. All good...
 
Never thought of antifreeze. Good call. How would you get the antifreeze in?
The same way they got your water in. Usually a valved inlet. Properly maintained systems usually have a way to flush and fill.
 
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I'll have to look. I know I have a fast fill valve tied into my feed line. The valves I have but I thought were for purging air. I guess that might be where to put antifreeze.
 
Normally you mix it up and pump it in - or blow the system, pump in the required amount of A/F, then use the "normal" fill to add water. Not usually set up to just pour it in.
 
So I work in the claims department of an insurance company and with the recent cold snap in the northeast, there has been significant volume of burst pipe claims.

I had several pipes freeze and burst in the cold snap. I just fixed them. Never occurred to me to file a claim.
 
Newer systems are under some preasure. Helps keep the cavitation out of the pump helping it last a lot longer.
 
Be sure to use an antifreeze approved for your boiler. The contractor that installed 2 new Buderus boilers at work used a glycol based product and it destroyed the boilers. They learned a very expensive lesson.
 
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I close the vents to the crawlspace and have insulation affixed to the stem wall, as well. My floors are insulated, too.
 
You can also Install a ThermGuard on your thermostat. I have 2 zones In my house and one on each zone. You program them for a set time to run and a set amount of time to run. Mine are set to run for 4 Min. at 4 hour intervals. Lets say the zone Is set to come on at noon time but the boiler calls for heat at 10:00 oclock The clock in the ThermGuard automatically bumps the next run time to2:00 and so on .When the temp outside goes above freezing I shut them off and revert back to a normal running system.3 years now and NO PROBLEMS (KNOCK WOOD) They are made by Bear Mountain Design. Do a search on this site and you will see them.
Jim
 
If you are going to pump antifreeze into your heating pipes you should also consider installing a back flow prevention check valve to keep the antifreeze from mixing with the domestic hot water. I need to do the same thing at my house. Too many exposed heating pipes in uninsulated crawlspaces.
 
I put antifreeze in my water it taste terrible though. j/k

We had a pipe going to our toilet freeze it was about 12 inches from the wall must have been a draft. It was a second floor pipe. We had our central heat (geothermal) on it was 70 in the house. Pipes freeze when it gets to -25F you can take steps to prevent it but its going to happen. We didnt use the toilet that day which probably was why the pipe froze a couple preventive flushes Im sure would have stopped it.
 
Put antifreeze in my system when I installed my pellet boiler in the barn and ran lines to the house. Mixed it in buckets and pumped it in one of the gate valves.
 
If you are going to pump antifreeze into your heating pipes you should also consider installing a back flow prevention check valve to keep the antifreeze from mixing with the domestic hot water. I need to do the same thing at my house. Too many exposed heating pipes in uninsulated crawlspaces.

You should have a backflow preventer anyway - it's standard plumbing code most places; I've certainly never seen a professionally installed boiler without one (I suppose I'd be limited to the Northeastern US in terms of boilers I'd be likely to see, and there's no telling what some folks will DIY.) I have seen what comes out of the heating loop (on plain-water systems) and I would not want to drink it...
 
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I have flushed mine after adding a zone and the smell was horrendous.
 
I found this on the inter webs and thought it had some interesting points on using antifreeze. I also read that getting the mix right can be tricky if you don't know how much water your system hold.

"Naturally no one wants propylene glycol antifreeze in any hydronic heating system, much less radiant floor heating systems, as they require more electricity to pump and more fuel to transfer the same amount of heat. Most important, in the long term any anti-freeze must be maintained as freeze protection will turn into a corrosive mixture with serious consequences.

If you feel compelled to "protect" your radiant floor heating system from freezing, you will want to distinguish "burst" from "flow" protection.

For instance here in Minneapolis we design and/or install many residential and commercial snow melting systems for driveways and sidewalks. These systems must work (flow) when the temperature drops below freezing i.e. when it snows. By contrast, a typical radiant floor space heating system will keep the residence at a minimum temperature usually above freezing. For this type of system I design for "burst" protection. In other words a thinner mix that may turn to slush but will not break pipe or boiler.

Naturally, all of our radiant systems use food grade propylene glycol made specifically for hydronic heating system for which it is designed. I premix the concentration and test it before I charge the system.

As for the where and how; I rarely have more than one valve to fill and one to drain unless extras are available at the radiant floor manifold. I never install city water or a BFP on any anti-freeze protected hydronic heating system, as this is to invite disaster. On smaller residential radiant floors and snow/ice melting systems I use a hand pump to fill the system. On larger snow melting systems or commercial snow melting, I often use an electric pump."
 
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Just so people know, Boiler and RV anti freeze are not the same creature. RV Anti freeze will turn very acidic as it is heated resulting in heat exchanger or pipe failure. We have some modulating gas boilers in one of our buildings at work that had RV anti freeze in it. We had a heat exchanger failure last year with one of them, the building and the boilers were new in 2008. I suppose you could use it and test the waters pH after a year or so and balance it with Sodium Hydroxide (lye). NaOH is very caustic, it would only take a few grams to bring your water back to a good range of 8-9.
 
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