Well, now I'm back at looking at the antifreeze thingy again. My pump runs 24/7 and I do three things twice a day. I look outside towards the furnace and see if there is smoke coming from the chimney, then I go downstairs and placed my hand on the pex line and check for heat and water movement.
This is all well and good, but what if I go away and the power goes out in the house....for maybe 3 days and the temps dip down below zero. Then the OWB will not be working nor will the house furnace. I can see a really huge problems occurring. I cannot imagine what it would be like to come home to a house that has water up to the rafters in the lower level not to mention the OWB destroyed and the house furnace messed up even more.
I do understand that if the fire goes out in the box, as long as the pump is running the heat from the house gas furnace will keep the water warm and prevent freezing as long as the pump is running....but what if..the worse case scenario?
This all came up last night when I was over at a friend's shop, the guy who helped straighten out the wonderful auto damper that Shaver sent me....Wally is a pipe/steam fitter by trade and he told me about all the heating systems hes put in and that they all use antifreeze. He said, " I can't imagine you having all that money in the furnace and pex line and not have antifreeze in the system. Given how often you guys go on vacation during the winter for warmer climates. "
I have no back up in case we have a power failure, although we have discussed it before living out here where we do, but right now it's not in the budget.
So I will be sending emails out this afternoon to local sores inquiring about antifreeze. I DO appreciate everyone's responses and I understand this is my call...while I'd like to just sluff it off and wing it, if I'm wrong..it WILL be a very costly mistake..
Lugnut