Outdoor Wood Furnace Info
Outdoor Furnaces - Manufacturers WITH EPA-Certified Models => Central Boiler => Topic started by: 5050racing on September 13, 2018, 11:30:59 AM
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Never left for most of winter but retiring and going to be gone for most of winter any ideas just would like to hear ideas without giving mine to keep from having a pile of junk when I return! Thanks all
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If you drain it, it'll rust. If you fill it with antifreeze, it'll cost you a pretty penny and be maintenance intensive in the future. Will you be winterizing the house too or will that remain heated with another source?
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Heat will remain on,I was thinking of putting heat tape on the return line and leave circulator pump on,we get cold here but not to cold,like further north.have friends to look after farm so if I had to fire it up n let it go out it would take a long time to drop below.
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For my setup I have a propane furnace on my radiant floor loop that comes on if the wood boiler isn't on. This way if I leave my circulator running it heats the wood furnance. I like to do that infrequently, but it ensures my wood boiler never cools down.
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If it will be down for the whole winter then I would just drain it. If you try to rely on drawing heat from the house and circulators running, you may come back to everything destroyed if there is a power outage.
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Thanks all I will figure out what I will do,have fire star wifi so I can see water temp,I could even put a light inside or heat tape and I'm sure that it's so insulated it would be fine,don't think I wouldn't drain do to rusting up inside think that's a no no?
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I would avoid draining it. Once rust starts in there it won't stop. A big halogen lamp does a pretty good job in them, but I haven't done that for more than a few days... Kinda risky IMO, no way to regulate it. I do have a customer of mine who has a 40 gallon electric water heater in his basement with a bypass that he just opens the valves to it when he goes on vacation and flips the breaker. Pump still circulates like normal but instead of running to heat exchangers it just dumps in the cold side of the WH and heads back to the boiler out the supply port. I had originally laughed at it but he assured me it works awesome and keeps the stove about 60 degrees
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None of that does any good if the power is out too long. I would call Central Boiler and ask what they recommend.
I can't see draining the boiler one time being that big of a deal. If done often it would be a problem.
It will not be rusting when it is below freezing either so shouldn't be as bad as leaving it drained over a summer would be.
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I have whole house generator so powers on,I always heard not to drain,I will call CB ask them,I know the light or heat tape would be enough where I live it get cold but not below 32 for highs during the day for long,keep the ideas coming!
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If it gets above 32 most days then I would not worry about it so much. I was thinking -30 you don't have long till it is a solid block of ice.
If it was mine, I would drain it and fill the lines and pump with RV antifreeze.
Let us know what CB says.
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I would avoid draining it. Once rust starts in there it won't stop.
May I inquire about your experiences with this condition? You are saying rust formation continues when it is drained or refilled after a seasonal drain? Even with residual treated water rust formation will continue? Please do expand on that.
Edit (punctuation)
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No when it is left empty with nothing in it .ever see how fast your brake rotors rust up after a rain.
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I would avoid draining it. Once rust starts in there it won't stop.
May I inquire about your experiences with this condition? You are saying rust formation continues when it is drained or refilled after a seasonal drain? Even with residual treated water rust formation will continue? Please do expand on that.
Edit (punctuation)
Have you ever seen a rusty piece of metal just un-rust? Day one after draining it will start to surface rust, they all do. Refilling at a later date will introduce again more O2 to the system and further the oxidation process. Snowball that for a few years, what do we have now? Treated water or not, when that wet steel is reintroduced to new oxygen it WILL oxidize almost immediately
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I see where you are going with that, since there is no way to immediately and completely dry the water jacket. I think most mild steel begins to rust at 40% humidity give or take depending on the iron and nickel content.
Thanks for the info.
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I'm defiantly not draining it knew that from the start,but will call CB dealer I have a good one to ask what's best!
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Not sure how cold it gets where you are, but I wait til after thanksgiving to light mine. Sometimes I get low temps in high teens at night and highs around 30-35 in the day for 2 or 3 days in mid November. I would get nervous so I would turn the boiler on to check water temp and water temp read 48*. I did plug the circulator in at the end of October
My boiler is 100 feet from house and pipe is buried 2.5 feet deep
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Well 16* today I have circulater pump running and I have 62* water temp,it get a little heat from thermostat valve transfer in basement since I'm running on oil that valve gets warm and transfers a little don't think it's forcing hot water out there but if so that's ok with me,been cold here for a while and never fired up the boiler left it all nice n clean.I wrapped circulater pump n lines inside back of boiler to keep heat in stuffed chimney outlet with fiberglass insulation n sealed off top of stack.So far looks good wrapped thermostat regulated heat tape on return line in back of boiler also come on at 38* if needed.i have fire star Xp wifi to monitor temp for wherever I am if need I have buddy fire it up for me needed if we get a long cold spell.