Fireplace / Stove do's and don'ts needed

[xman23]

Brothers, I've been asked to write a paper for our community of 80% part time houses. Due to Covid we have almost 200 new novice home owner. The topic is the hazards of wood fire and freezing pipe issues. So far this year 3 bad chimney fires. And the broken pipe season is here. Any help with either subject would be appreciated.

 

[PaulOinMA]

Search EPA's web site for things like the document "Best Wood-burning Practices." Should be able to find what you need already done, and you may just need to maybe cobble together something from multiple sources depending on what you want to highlight.

 

[ozarkoak]

Winter comes around I close vents to the crawlspace and block them with Styrofoam insulation that I have cut out. I make sure my well house is in good shape and use a small 400 watt heater and a thermostatically controlled plug set to turn on at 35 and off at 45. Where the pipe comes into the house I have a pressure treated lumber insulated quasi pipe chase that is connected to the house open to the crawl space for heat reasons. All of the exterior spigots are turned off and drained.

 

[xman23]

I would like to address the end of life for builders free standing fireplaces and chimneys. I've know of a lot of fire's in those 70's vintage houses. I'm I correct in thinking they were not built for huge fires? What do you look for when the fireplace / stove and chimney needs to be replaced?

 

[MoDoug]

As far as freezing pipes. Besides what ozarkoak mentioned above.

I would approach it like winterizing a travel trailer. In case it gets below freezing in the houses. Shut off the water supply outside, in the basement or where ever the shutoff is. Open all water faucets to help relieve pressure, flush toilets. Hopefully the plumbing was done where the water lines be easily drained. Using a shop vac, you can either suck the water out of traps or reverse and blow it out, or they can just use RV antifreeze to pour into the sink and shower traps, and the toilet. Drain the hot water tank.

The most important being shut off the water supply. If a pipe does freeze and thaw there won't be water flooding the house while no one is there. This happened to a part time neighbor, it took months to recover from it all.

Obviously the simpler the better, otherwise they may not do a good job at it, if at all.

 

[zrock]

For your water pipes... insulate the heck out of them tape all the seams for the pipe wrap, and even go one step farther and wrap them with tinfoil wrap... 10 years and -30 temps have not had a pipe freeze since i took off the heat tape and wrapped the heck out of our pipes..

 

[semipro]

For flood protection from broken pipes, something like the unit below may be worth the investment.
It may not save your floors but it may save you from having to gut the house. The remote monitoring and shut-off feature is appealing too. (could be fun for teenagers sneaking a long shower while you're away too )

https://www.moen.com/products/Flo_by_Moen/Flo_by_Moen_34_smart_home_water_monitoring_and_leak_detection_system/900-001