Using pellet stove in conjunction with oil-baseboard heat...

[PelletGirl]

Our stove has been heating the house much better than I thought it would but there are still areas that are chilly where the air doesn't reach. Also, some of our pipes for the oil-baseboard run through the indoor crawlspace and my husband is concerned that they will freeze if the hot water doesn't run through them periodically.

We have been trying different temps on the thermostat for the baseboards and it just doesn't seem to be working the way we want. We want most of the heat from the stove with the baseboards as extra, but it seems that the baseboards are on more than the stove.

Any tips on how to remedy this? Thanks!

 

[Mealie38]

Winterize the heating system,My husband put anti freeze in ours.I let him do it because he`s works on them for a living You can also install another zone with a thermostat in the colder area.

 

[TimfromMA]

You can also wrap the pipes with insulation. We keep our oil thermostats set to 50.

 

[railfanron]

You could do something like I do. I run my furnace and pellet stove in a tag team fashion. I need to burn about 300 gallons of Propane for heating a year that is why I do it this way. When the stove is set at 69 the furnace is set at 64. This goes from 4 pm till midnite. Then the stove goes to 65 and the furnace to 62. During the night the furnace may run a couple of cycles. At 10 am the furnace goes to 68 and the stove to 65. It takes two programmable thermostats to do this but it works great. Doing this last year got me through the whole year on 2 1/2 tons of pellets and. 641 gallons of Propane. That's heating the house (2250sq Ft), the workshop (1600sq Ft) part time, domestic hot water and stand by power.
Ron

 

[bdud]

A friend had something that was built into one of his heating controllers that would cycle heat to pipes as he different heat sources.
His house had poor insulation and he has had frozen pipes. Here is something I found with a quick search that does the same sort of thing..
http://www.bearmountaindesign.com

 

[moey]

Is your crawlspace rustic is it cold enough to freeze pipes? Put a refrigerator thermometer in it and see what temps it gets down to. Our crawlspace never sees below about 45F but its concrete floor walls rather spacious compared to some.

 

[xSpecBx]

I have heard people talk about the thermguard. I would take a look at that. Try doing a search here for it and im sure youll find some better information.

http://www.bearmountaindesign.com/

 

[PelletGirl]

Thank you all for the suggestions - seems we have a few options. It's funny that my husband was just telling me he wished there was something that would cycle the water through the system at regular intervals just for about five minutes at a time. Definitely going to tell him it exists.

I also suggested the thermometer in the crawl space to my husband to see if we even need to be concerned about freezing pipes. Ours is also finished - concrete floor and walls. Our oil tank is in there as well, and there is a small section (about two feet by three feet) open to our utility room which gets some heat.

Thanks again for all the help!

 

[bogieb]

That is useful info on the controller. During cold weather I try to cycle my propane FHW in the morning and when I get home from work. The water pipes for the bedrooms run thru a garage, so it makes me nervous that they could freeze (been there, done that at another house). That gadget looks like it will do the trick!

 

[Papelletman]

There is also something like this...

http://www.lowes.com/ProductDisplay...gId=10051&cmRelshp=req&rel=nofollow&cId=PDIO1

 

[PelletGirl]

Thanks again everyone for your suggestions. I just ordered the Bear Mountain Design product - looks like just what we need.

 

[sperley03]

Canadian baseboard systems continiously circulatewater throughout the system to prevent frozen pipes. When the thermostat calls for heat it opens a zone valve on the manifold and warm water from the boiler rewarms the circulating water in the circuit. I want to do this in my home but I figured it would cost me a lot to reroute the circuits.

 

[PelletGirl]

That sounds like a good idea but I agree, a lot of work. I think the item I purchased should work just fine (I hope so anyway).