What to do when on vacation?

[vigilante08]

I am in my first heating season with an outdoor boiler (portage and main BL 3444) I am currently heating 2 buildings. In the house I put a water to air heat exchanger in the existing fuel oil forced air furnace and my shop has a down draft water to air heat exchanger hanging from the ceiling. I also plan on adding heat to a 3rd building which would be a heated slab. I plan on leaving for thanksgiving and Christmas. It is of if my shop freezes while I am gone. The house can be heated with the fuel oil furnace and the builing with th e slab heat will get somesor of electric heat as a backup. What is the best option for keeping my system from freezing while I am gone. These are the three option I have come up with

1 Getting a friend to come and stoke the boiler. The problem for me is most of my friends leave for the holidays as well. Also then I have to pay them and that over the years will probably cost more than an electric solution.

2 Putting some sort of electric boiler or hot water heater somewhere in the system. Again i would just be trying to keep the system from freezing not heating any buildings. If i go this route what type of unit should i get and what is the best way to size it for my needs.

3 Adding glycol to the system. I have heard that the efficiency of the boiler is not as good with glycol in the system and for that reason to not use it. It is also very expensive 750 dollars for a 55 gallon drum at Menards I would need 3 to fill the system. I am sure over the years that I will have to top off the system costing more money.

I think I like the electric option the best at this point because it should be trustworthy and easy to use and install.

Please let me know your opinions or alternative ideas.

 

[Pat32rf]

Around here a few people get their glycol from auto recyclers. I'm told that the conditions in the boiler are not as severe as in an auto engine as far as dissimilar metals, heat spikes etc. It is very poisonous in event of a leak...If you buy from Menards, is theirs premixed or straight glycol?

 

[Pat32rf]

Around here a few people get their glycol from auto recyclers. I'm told that the conditions in the boiler are not as severe as in an auto engine as far as dissimilar metals, heat spikes etc. It is very poisonous in event of a leak...If you buy from Menards, is theirs premixed or straight glycol?

 

[vigilante08]

That price was for premixed. There was no saving buying it unmixed. I belie that the glycol in your car is a different product it helps to cool your engine. I believe when you use that type you loose some efficiency of your boiler. .

 

[jebatty]

Auto antifreeze has ethylene glycol, very poisonous. It also is sweet tasting, something like candy, and animals and children are attracted to it. Evil result. If you use antifreeze, you should use propylene glycol which is non-toxic. It also is quite expensive. Practical for system without large storage, but probably prohibitively expensive for large storage systems. Loss of efficiency in heat transfer is likely to occur with any solution that has water additives.

 

[hondaracer2oo4]

Two options I have heard of. One is to put a small electric heater in the firebox of the owb. That should keep te temp high enough not to freeze anything. Another option is the water to air hx will backfeed some heat back to the boiler. Both should keep the owb from freezing up unless the temps are sub zero.

 

[vigilante08]

Two options I have heard of. One is to put a small electric heater in the firebox of the owb. That should keep te temp high enough not to freeze anything. Another option is the water to air hx will backfeed some heat back to the boiler. Both should keep the owb from freezing up unless the temps are sub zero.

Those are both good Ideas and will play with them. I do live in northern MN and temps can get down to -40F. My shop will not be heated while I am gone and one consern is that i could loose a lot of heat from that exposed heat excanger when the temps are really low. I think i want something a little more guaranteed. But do like the cost of this approach.

 

[vigilante08]

Another idea i came up with using something like a 50 gallon hot water tank with the thermostat all the way down. This would also give me a little water storage that could be an added benefit.

 

[Highbeam]

An automatic backup boiler is the answer. Electric boilers are very cheap and low maintenance but you need to have lots of power available. A low efficiency oil or gas boiler is another option. You want dependable, simple, and cheap with less concern about cost per btu since this is only a backup solution.

For vacations, injury, sickness, and wood boiler break down, you want to have the backup boiler. Is it possible to add an electric heating element to your wood boiler?

 

[mike van]

Vacations are highly overrated - High prices, stuck in traffic, jerked around at the airport to name a few things - Better to just stay home and tend the fire. Run that by the wife -

 

[Ashful]

We just switch back to oil. We may heat mostly with wood, but the oil-fired boiler is still kept in service.

We usually pay someone to stay at the house while we're gone, taking care of the dogs and bringing in the mail. They're also here to notify me if something thing goes awry with the boiler, etc.