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[kayakerski]

Hello everyone. I am out of wood and am considering shutting down my boiler. Should I be worried about my thermopex supply lines freezing? They are mostly buried 3 ft below grade. Temps are still getting down to the mid 20's at night but are above freezing during the day. Next week's weather is looking warmer here in upstate NY. I do have green wood here but am worried about burning it. I usually shut down by the end of April. Any thoughts?

Gregg

[slimjim]

Just leave your pumps running while it is below freezing and you'll be fine!

[kayakerski]

So it's safe to run the pump with my supply and return valve's in the house shut? I do have a CB thermostatic valve installed on the wood boiler side of the shut off valves on my open system. Thanks for the help!

Gregg

[slimjim]

No leave the valves open and keep the water flowing while the temps are below freezing.

[kayakerski]

Shoot, I can't do that because I need turn my indoor boiler back on to keep it warm. I suppose it would be OK to plumb in a quick bypass pipe to keep things flowing?

[Bondo]

Shoot, I can't do that because I need turn my indoor boiler back on to keep it warm. I suppose it would be OK to plumb in a quick bypass pipe to keep things flowing?

Ayuh,....   Or go ahead 'n burn yer green wood, insteada oil,....

Just how long ago was it cut down,..??  Blocked,..??
What species,..??

Are ya usin' a heat exchanger,..??
No reason ya couldn't build a by-pass 'round it,...

[slimjim]

Turn off the oil boiler circ!

[kayakerski]

Bondo, not sure on burning green wood because I have a gasifyer. Wood is oak, maple and birch that was on the stump about 5 weeks ago and cut/split almost that long.

Slim, why the exclamation point? My plan is to shut the owb supply/return valves at the indoor oil boiler. Then I'll run the indoor boiler like normal but turn the thermostat down to 50 so no reason to shut that circ off. I will burn wood inside the house to keep warm. I just keep the indoor boiler on to keep the plates warm so the old boiler doesn't start leaking.

For the bypass I was figuring I could put a T in the owb supply and another in the return (both a few feet before the ball valves at the supply and return of my indoor boiler). Then I could connect the supply and return with a ball valve in between.  This would allow me to run the owb circ while keeping the inside and outside boilers separate. Does that sound ok?

[slimjim]

Without seeing how you have it set up, I guess I don't understand why you simply don't shut off the indoor circ and leave the outdoor circ running.

[kayakerski]

I believe my indoor oil boiler would be trying to heat the owb water if I did that since I do not have a heat exchanger.  My owb is plumbed directly into my oil boiler.

[slimjim]

Ok now you are making sense, this is exactly the reason to do the job completely and the right way the first time, what would you do if your wood boiler failed while you were away in freezing  weather?

[kayakerski]

I agree.... and that's why I don't go anywhere. At some point I'll change it over. So my bypass idea is fine? Thanks again for the help.

[slimjim]

You are very welcome!

[Big Wood]

Burn the green wood don't use the oak just the maple and birch fill once it is running and coal bed and some wood burning fill it right to the top it will kilm dry the wood when it burns down 1/2 to 2/3 down fill it to the top again i have been running my 2300 for 5 weeks on fresh off the stump maple keep warm run the temp hot 190 195

[Big Wood]

Oh yeah all wood needs to be split real good no rounds