frozen pipes?

[petemal]

i have a pellet stove in a colonial 2 story house half the house is on a slab the other with full basement, i have oil fired water radiant heat in all of downstairs last year i used my pellet stove all winter but was concerned on cold nights that the pipes may freeze, seems like a common problem, heard some negatives to antifreeze in line does anyone have suggestions to run the circulators has anyone used

www.bearmountaindesign.com
therm guard does it work or a waste of 70

 

[smoke show]

thermguard is highly praised around here.

well worth the money and he used to offer a discount to forum members.

Pm bridgerman and see if he'll cut you a deal https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/fort/10725/

 

[jdempsey]

I bought one myself never opened it. I had a change in my setup and did not need it. I would sell it for $55 shipped

 

[imacman]

I was one of the original forum members who bought a ThermGuard....had a pipe in the attic that could freeze. ThermGuard has solved the problem....GREAT device!

 

[mykl78]

I have plastic pipes in my custom built home (2006). They may freeze but won't burst!

 

[silverfox103]

I have plastic pipes in my custom built home (2006). They may freeze but won't burst!

I hope you are kidding, they will burst.

 

[Millsk]

Nah pex won't burst they just swell up and will need to be replaced.

I just replaced my old style thermostats with programmable units. Now during the coldest weather my furnace will cycle on twice during the night. (coldest time of the day). The furnace will run for 15 mins and then shut off just enough to get the pipes good and hot.

 

[sinnian]

Nah pex won't burst they just swell up and will need to be replaced.

I just replaced my old style thermostats with programmable units. Now during the coldest weather my furnace will cycle on twice during the night. (coldest time of the day). The furnace will run for 15 mins and then shut off just enough to get the pipes good and hot.

Doesn't that mean your boiler will still kick on all day long to maintain its temperature, just in case there is a call for heat? Or is this your source of hot water, and you need to leave it on anyway?

 

[Millsk]

It is my source of hot water. It is my source of hot water with an external heat exchanger so it will fire up to maintain the hot water tank temp. Other wise I keep the heating set point at 60. The pellet stove keeps the house at 65-70. So the furnace doesn't normally run.
To run it at night the thermostats are programedd so the set point is raised to 75 for 15 mins and then drops back down to 60.

 

[Murphy118]

I have a crawl space under half of my first floor, pipes froze two years ago because pellet stove never let first floor zone forced hot water come on. I simply rigged a timer to a relay's power input, my first floor tstat is interrupted by one set of contacts on the relay and the second floor by another set,,,,,timer is set to close for about five minutes three times per hour,thus closing both stats,,,,furnace runsand keeps pipes thawed. I only need to turn it on when temp gets below 20 or so and windy. This year I rigged up a wall switch at top of stairs to energize the whole thing,,,,,don't have to go down basement anymore......whole setup was about $35 in parts from grainger and a couple hours of time.

John