how to prevent zone freeze-ups?

[Joel Craft]

ok now that I got my stove installed and it is getting cold out. I worry that since my zone is no longer calling for heat it can freeze up. is there a way I can get that zone to move the water so it will not freeze? or will I just have to turn the heat up every so often to get water movement? Jay

 

[P38X2]

Good question especially seeing you're up in AK. Try calling your boiler service peeps. I think they can put antifreeze in the loops.

 

[Joel Craft]

I have Anti-freeze in my system. I just worry that it sits there and it never calls for heat it will freeze up. It is starting to get cold up here now and did not know if there was something I can put on my boiler or zone valves to open them up so many times a day other than turning the heat up for that room? Jay

 

[mepellet]

Couple forum members use this device to cycle their boiler to prevent freezing. http://www.bearmountaindesign.com/
Good idea but it would be nice if it took an outdoor air temp reading to disable the cycling if it was above freezing. If I feel that it is needed, I manually turn my zones on for a few minutes each morning when I wake up and at night before going to bed.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

Lookie here for one way: http://www.bearmountaindesign.com/

Or you could make sure that your pipes are well insulated or aren't in an area where the temperature could get to freezing.

 

[P38X2]

What's the AF good to? 2 story house? Copper? PEX? You may not have to worry.

 

[TheMightyMoe]

I have Anti-freeze in my system. I just worry that it sits there and it never calls for heat it will freeze up. It is starting to get cold up here now and did not know if there was something I can put on my boiler or zone valves to open them up so many times a day other than turning the heat up for that room? Jay

Hey Joel,

If your system is anti-freezed correctly, I wouldn't worry much. I test mine annually. If your worried about the glycol separating from the water, you could just use programmable thermostats that come on 15 minutes a day as an easy fix.

 

[bill3rail]

I was thinking about putting a second thermostat in the basement ans set it for 40*F. If the basement gets that cold, would also need at least one zone in the basement for it to work.

Bill

 

[Millsk]

We have a modular house with one loop that is real close to the skin of the house. It was connected after the house was set and then covered over. There is insulation there but I think it's thinner than other places. Because of this I use digital thermostats and during very cold weather (10 degrees and below) I have them programed to cycle the furnace on for 10 mins every 4-6 hours. When it's that cold I turn the thermostats off.

Now in these parts this doesn't happen very often, we normally have just a week or so of these temperatures per year. But it seems to do the trick all the same.

 

[New Hampshire Jim]

Look into the Therm-Guards referenced in the above posts. I have 2 zones so i bought 2 of them.You can program them for run times and length of run. I have mine set to run every 4 hours for 5 min. each zone. the beauty part of them Is If the boiler calls for heat lets say 2 and 1/2 hours into the 4 hour time the clock will reset to 4 hours. or If it warms up outside you can just shut them off at the thermostat. I have been running them now for 3 winters and like them (Piece of Mind).
Jim

 

[petemal]

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