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[wood_I]

I have a woodmaster woodstove for last 8 years and wondering about filling with anti freeze this summer-in case pump goes out while away or what have you--anyways--is there any cheap places to buy anti freeze at?  MN here--thanks

[hoardac]

I have yet to find cheap anti-freeze. I used it in my floors but not in the boiler. Good luck on finding it cheap.

[farmboythegreat]

the local auto wrecker here has a big tank and ya just go pump what you want out    free   

[pointer80]

I also have a woodmaster and I actually called the company about a month ago for the same exact reason.  I wanted to know what my options were in case I had to go away for a emergency or something like that and no one to feed the stove and had to let it go out.  I cannot remember what the price was to do my 4400 woodmaster but it was CRAZY expensive. I'm talking like over a grand or close to it. 

[willieG]

anit freeze may be an option for you but think first....if you have put a tile under your pipes to keep them dry then that tile likley goes to a creek....if you use antifreeze from an automobile that will cause  eviromental damage if you were to have a leak...you could be (i say could) in a big lake of trouble.  if you msut use antifreeze i encourage you to pay the outragous price for the enviromental friendly stuff.

draining the stove would be my  opinion

[hondaracer2oo4]

I have read about people putting small electric heaters or small oil filled heaters in the firebox and closing up the doors. I have never done it but they said it works well. Whenever my boiler has gone out it never gets below 60 degrees.

[pointer80]

I was told when I called woodmaster as long as you pumps are circulating into your house and you have back up heating source then your stove should not freeze.  That is the reasoning behind the draft blower automatically shutting off when the water temp gets down to 120 degrees so it can save the heat in the fire box.  The heater in the firebox would be a good option.

[willieG]

I was told when I called woodmaster as long as you pumps are circulating into your house and you have back up heating source then your stove should not freeze.  That is the reasoning behind the draft blower automatically shutting off when the water temp gets down to 120 degrees so it can save the heat in the fire box.  The heater in the firebox would be a good option.

both these options assume your electric power does not go our....your home furnace will run to keep your home warm...this warm air blowing across your exchanger will in fact ehat the OWB water and keep it from freezing as long as your pump is circulating the water....the same goes for the heater in teh fire box...if your electric power fails while you are gone the chance for freezeup returns

[hondaracer2oo4]

If you lose power at your home while your gone your going to pretty much freeze your owb and your house up. What way would you get around that? Do you frequently lose power for extended periods?  We lose power maybe every couple months for a few hours.

[pointer80]

Yea if you loose power for a long period of time in the winter and are not home, you are what we call in northern Michigan "screwed".  I am just thank full I have a good neighbor that also has a owb and he watches mine when I am gone which is only a couple of days over xmas.

[willieG]

If you lose power at your home while your gone your going to pretty much freeze your owb and your house up. What way would you get around that? Do you frequently lose power for extended periods?  We lose power maybe every couple months for a few hours.

not often but i have been out for three days a couple of winters ago. i am lucky enough to heat my small basement with infloor radiant so i could muse my little gas generator to run the owb and keep my floor heat going..with all doors open i could keep my basement  70 and the upstairs was  60 to 65 with no furnace blower going (but i ahd to be there)

i am thinking by next winter i will have a whole house generac system (if my part time job holds up a while longer...lol)

[doo_hicky]

Has anybody looked into RV antifreeze, you know that pink stuff that you put into the RV waterlines and such?  It is glycol, that much i know.

Mike

[wood_I]

hmmmm--rv anti freeze never thought of that--I wonder if that would work??    says its good for what  -50 or something??    other wise heater sounds like a good back up plan--I do know if keep pump going wont freeze--but what is pump stops working is why asking about anti freeze--thanks for all ideas here----so anyone know about RV anti freeze option??

[LittleJohn]

Wood, I had the same concerns 3 years ago prior to firing boiler for first time; someone at the plumbing store suggested using RV antifreeze cause its super cheap (because its not formulated for hydronic heating applications and can cause untold damage or wear of system component).

Long story short;
I put in a back up gas boiler, which when controlled right (still working on it) will act as a back-up or booster to supplement OWB
Seperated hydronic heating system in house from OWB, via flat plate heat exchanger
Filled house side of system with 30%Gycol mix, in detached garage (seperate heat exchanger) went 50% Gycol - potentially adding some snowmelt to aprons and small sidewalk
...Also, I have an LP powered generator to keep the lights on

I know these options are the cheapest, but hey sure beats replacing a OWB/giant ice cube

[ITO]

 I put in antifreeze when I first installed the OWB, it doesn't transfer heat as well as water, it cost me over $1000 (Harvey Heat 100) and one of my door hoses went bad about 4 years later and I lost most of the mixture. I don't have any in the system anymore and drain my whole system every other year, my indoor propane boiler can be used to keep a little heat in the outdoor system if necessary like LittleJohn does backwards thru the flat plate, I have 2 neighbors that have OWB's and we watch out for each other if we are gone, I do have a small generator that will run my system but it's a manual setup. Once when we left for an extended time I drained the system, blew down the lines and poured in a little rv antifreeze for the lines and that worked well.