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Author:
davewhirlwind (MA)
Have a 25 year FHW oil fired boiler cranking along. We are planning on going south for 5- 6 months during the winter. Don't want to close the house completely, but do wnat to leave the thermostat set to 50 deg and turn of the fresh water supply to the whole house.
That means the FHW will not have any pressure to refill the boiler loop. I have heard this could cause problems.
My main objective is to be sure if something goes wrong I don't have 2-3 day of street level water pressure flooding the whole house.
Ideas I am thinking of.
1) Putting a 20 gallon well pressure tank between the fresh water feed and the pressure reducer into the boiler. When the street water is on the tank will store 20 gallon at 60 PSI. Then when I shut down the house close the inlet to the tank and the 20 gal should be enought to keep the bolier happy for the winter.
2) Put a electronic switch between the fresh water supply and the boiler. put it on a timer for 5 min once a week. Turn of the rest of the fresh water to the house after the take off for the boiler.
3) Pay someone to stop by once a month and turn the house pressure on for 5 minutes then turn it off.
Anyone have any other ideas??
Also any guesses and to how much make up water a typically FHW system needs per month.
Thanks in advance
Dave
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Author:
packy (MA)
if there are no leaks in the heating system, the boiler requires no make up water.
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Author:
hj (AZ)
Adding fresh water to a hot water heating system is "destructive" and should not occur on a consistent basis. A 20 gallon tank will NOT give you 20 gallons of reserve water. A low water cut off switch will prevent the system from "dry firing" if something weird happens.
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Author:
Paul48 (CT)
hj is right on the money. Low water cut-offs are code in a lot of places now. Most have a set of dry alarm contacts that could be hooked to a home alarm and then someone could be notified there was a problem with the boiler. Now is the time to find and fix any leaks. Turn off the water supply to the boiler, and see if it holds pressure.
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Author:
davewhirlwind (MA)
Thanks to all,
Interesting ideas. So I don't think my system has any leaks. So What I should do is install a low water alarm ASAP.
Then turn of the feed supply for a couple of month and I will know.
When I go away I will connect the low water alarm to my remote alarm system to get notified, Great Ideas.
Dave
Edited 1 times.
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