Oh crap. Wood burning appliance on oil burner chimney?

[Poindexter]

My oil burning boiler went down overnight. The furnace guy from my church is already on a call, is coming here next.

The lower level of my house is down to +48dF already, I have something like 6-10 hours to be making BTUs downstairs, or face a massive frozen pipe repair when my baseboard heat pipes freeze up.

The good news is I just got oil delivered Thursday, most likely I have an air bubble or some sediment in the feed line.

The bad news is the what if side.

If my guy can't get me running in the next 8 hours or so, what are my options?

I have massive quantities of seasoned cord wood. Can I snatch an Englander NC-30 from Lowes-Depot and run it temporarily on the furnace stack? I think my guy can rig something up to the circulating pump so I can keep the water in the baseboard pipes moving. We wouldn't have domestic hot water until the furnace repair is finished, but the house will be warm top to bottom and it should save me a freezeup.

FWIW the furnace has a 6" outlet that is adapted up to the existing 8" stack. I could plug and play an NC 30 or similar 4' away from all combustibles pretty easy, it would sitting out in the middle of the garage on a concrete floor, and have pretty good resale value.

Alternatively I could grab a pellet stove and maybe exhaust it through the existing hole in the wall for the furnace air intake.

I could install a pellet burner in one of the downstairs bedrooms. It would be a massive project under the time constraint, but we have been talking about it as an option for years. It would cost us a bedroom if we ever choose to sell, it would take the house from a 5-2 to a 4-2 with office, or a troublesome hole to fix in an exterior wall to get back up to five bedrooms.

The garage floor is on grade. Existing stack is inside the insulation envelope on an exterior wall, punches through the roof above the second floor, total run is 18-22ish feet straight vertical starting about 6 feet above the garage floor.

Thanks in advance.

 

[moresnow]

Why not grab a few electric ceramic heaters and just plug them in and hit the on button? Far less effort!

 

[Poindexter]

I thought about electrics, it is an option but I would need a lot of them.

The furnace guy is here and has already called it no fuel to burner. He is working backwards from the burner towards the fuel line, he is guessing the boiler was running when the fuel delivery was made.

No visible markings on the 8" oil burning chimney.

 

[brenndatomu]

Yeah I'd have a switch installed to be able to just force the circ pump to run to prevent freeze up...as far as heat...sounds like the NC30 option would be my go to...but I bet he will have you back burning oil soon...filter change or something...

No visible markings on the 8" oil burning chimney

?

 

[Highbeam]

Big 240 volt electric heater or even a propane torpedo. Think temporary heat. Down here all the rental places have portable heaters. Aka construction heaters.

 

[Poindexter]

I was looking for markings on the existing chimney to see what it is rated for. Id rather have an approved home owner's claim for frozen pipes than a rejected claim for a total fire loss.

System is back up an running, all my loops are pumping, thermometers headed in the correct direction. The furnace guy replaced my fuel pump with one he had in his truck and went home with a shopping bag of frozen brisket to accompany his check.

Still open to suggestions for "next time".

I like the construction heater idea, though many of the ones I have seen up here are labeled "not for indoor use." I'll look again today, headed to Lowes-Depot here directly.

I will look at rewiring the circulating pump in a way that doesn't blow up the micro-processor on the system. I get that the total system is "pretty simple" but it is one of those times for me a man has to know his limitations and get the checkbook out.

 

[moresnow]

a man has to know his limitations and get the checkbook out

A sign of intelligence Good to hear your up and running. Maybe a wall mounted/vented LP heater? Seems to work in my buddies cabin.

 

[dh1989]

I have a multi-fuel Reddy Heater that I run on a line voltage thermostat to heat my garage when I'm working out there. It runs off pump diesel, although I may be trying #2 heating oil soon as we are supposed to be going to ultra low sulfur like the pump diesel. It has a slight odor when it first ignites and is loud, but 55,000 BTUs on demand warms things fast.

I wouldn't run it unattended (it has an open flame), but one of those or a propane heater would be my go to in a situation like yours. Much simpler than tinkering with another stove, and you can find them on craigslist around $100 used. As usual with any fuel burning appliance make sure your CO detectors are working.

 

[kennyp2339]

To those that are reading this with oil fired burners, when getting a oil delivery always turn your oil burner off and wait a minimum of 4hrs after the delivery before turning the system back on. Sediments need time to settle at the bottom of the tank. It is also always a good idea to have an extra oil filter on standby, an extra nozzle if your handy enough.
Truth be told, its a very easy fix to replace the oil filter and re-prime / bleed the oil system on the burner side.

 

[Wilbursan]

I don't know anything about oil burners but I thought that heating systems that circulate water always used an anti-freeze solution in the water. Is that not correct? I'd think that would be pretty much mandatory. It doesn't matter what your backup plan is if you aren't home when it happens.

 

[simple.serf]

I don't know anything about oil burners but I thought that heating systems that circulate water always used an anti-freeze solution in the water. Is that not correct? I'd think that would be pretty much mandatory. It doesn't matter what your backup plan is if you aren't home when it happens.

They don't. If you are away from home when it happens, also plan on bursting the other water pipes in the house, too.

I used to shut the burner off for awhile, but no dhw can be an issue with others in the house. A new tank and higher capacity filter helped as well.

 

[Poindexter]

Yup, glycol anti freeze in the lines. You can pull a sample and test it in the same thingamabob like you would use to check the radiator fluid in your car. The trouble is spiking the whole house is significantly more than ten bucks.

EDIT to add no glycol in the potable water lines.

The near term plan includes re-working that corner of the garage to put the laundry machines inside the warmest part of the envelope instead of out in the garage, so there is going to be some hard line moving and it made sense at the time to wait and kick up the glycol level after the hard pipes got moved...even with infinity money (not) keeping up with a house while living in it ends up being a juggling act.

I'll ask my BK dealer tomorrow if there is any chance the stack on my oil furnace is Class A, My local Home Depot had six Englander NC-30s in stock when I was over there today. Getting a pellet burner into the lower level is looking smarter and smarter.

 

[jwfirebird]

the pellets need power, 30s do not. also need to buy and carry all those pellets.my uncle had one for occasional use went through about 2 pallets a year. he just ended up getting a non vented gas insert. I think his will run no power but better with the fan, so if you are looking for a backup, fans dont draw that much, in a basement upword convection is possible

if you test it like your car should be same in whole house, if its good to -30 say, whole house is.