Adding glycol to your boiler.

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tikigeorge
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Post by tikigeorge » Fri. May. 11, 2018 8:52 pm

I’m going to Florida for the winter and don’t want to depend on my neighbor to run my gen set when the power goes out. I have ideas on how to add the antifreeze to the system I’m just looking for someone that has done this before.

 
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Post by hotblast1357 » Sat. May. 12, 2018 6:32 am

Who is firing the stoker back up after the outage?

Or you talking about your oil/propane boiler?

 
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Post by tikigeorge » Sat. May. 12, 2018 6:49 pm

I was looking for ideas about adding antifreeze to the boiler.

 
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Post by lzaharis » Sat. May. 12, 2018 7:24 pm

If your not going to be using oil to heat the home at minimum draining it completely would be the safest way to manage the heating loop or loops as this would prevent any freeze damage from burst pipe

You would have to drain off at least half of the water volume and add back the non toxic glycol they use in campers for winter storage by pumping back in through the drain cock at the bottom of the boiler with a 110 volt transfer pump.


 
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Post by McGiever » Sat. May. 12, 2018 9:56 pm

You have done this?

 
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Post by hotblast1357 » Sun. May. 13, 2018 7:00 am

Here are my .02...

No different than a vehicle cooling system, buy the anti-freeze of your choice, mix it to what it calls for, run it.

Edit

Here you go...

https://www.supplyhouse.com/Hercules-35260-Cryo-T ... gJZJvD_BwE

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Post by Rob R. » Sun. May. 13, 2018 7:56 am

I have only had to do this once, and it was a long time ago. We mixed the antifreeze and water in a 55 gallon drum and pumped it into the system with a small transfer pump.

 
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Post by franpipeman » Sun. May. 13, 2018 8:17 am

I have a extensive propylene glycol system It serves its purpose but
1 Its expensive,
2, Make sure your system is clean to begin with
3. Dont dare have any leaks as glycol will find leaks you didnt know you had
4. buy a refractometer , a device that light passes though a drop of your glycol to tell you the percentage /freeze point
5 Piping size and pumping gpm data is a bit greater with glycol but to it hold a bit less btu per gallon than water.
5 If your freeze point is important to be exact calculating your total volume of system is imperative other wise when you take mix water glycol out of your systems to increase your ratio, that fluid will have a lower freeze pointed and is wasted and dollars lost.

6 Yearly inspection of ph and freeze point and some renewal and treatment of mixed water i required to prevent corrosion
7. Galvanized piping and glycol are not compatible.
8 low point drains
9. if tied in to domestic water supply back flow preventer and usage of non toxic antifreeze if not using glycol
10 depending on system volume containers to drain glycol and reuse incase of leak repair required
Last edited by franpipeman on Sun. May. 13, 2018 1:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.


 
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Post by Rob R. » Sun. May. 13, 2018 8:32 am

You are not kidding about the leaks. That stuff will weep out of anything.

 
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Post by lzaharis » Sun. May. 13, 2018 11:05 am

We used an 100% automotive grade antifreeze in my fathers self service car wash floor heating system that was operated from October to May annually.

Draining all the water from the heating and potable water systems in cottages is the normal way of doing things here and in many other places with deep freeze winter conditions.

Draining all the water from both the potable and heating system piping is best and solves problems before they starts by draining all the water completely and have boiler drains with the draining caps in the side of the boiler drain valve or a standard globe valve.

They always recommend that RV antifreeze should be used to fill P traps to flush out any remaining water in the P traps to protect the P traps from breaking due to a freeze thaw cycle in temperature.


1. Shut the electricity off for the water system off at the pressure tank if one is used
a. open the all the cold water taps and let the water drain out
b. remove the drain caps in the cold water globe valves if used- if none are used use compressed air to blow the remaining water out of the cold water system taps one at a time

2. Shut the gas and shut the circuit breaker off on the hot water heater, open the water heater drain cock after you open the hot water taps.

a. use the air compressor to flush the remaining water out of the hot water lines one at a time if globe valves with drains are not used.

===========================================================================================================


If one has a boiler in basement with a floor drain and a floor drain is available AND only "100% water" is in the system great; after the pressure is released in the system all one has to do is open the loop drains at the boiler or the air bleeders in the baseboard or the radiators and the steel compression tank if used.

A boiler on the same level in the living space with one heating loop such as mine the job is a bit different.

Drain as much water out as possible with the boiler drain open and let the water drain out until you have no more water coming from the boiler drain or the heating loops.

Use an air compressor to push any remaining water out through the loops and into the loop drains(if used) or the boiler sump.

Leave the loop drains cracked open to allow any remaining water to flow out after they are flushed out.

EDIT:
The one thing I forgot to add was to leave the ball valves at a 45 degree angle to allow them the drain away properly to allow any water that is trapped behind the valve balls and prevent them from freezing and cracking.


I do not think I missed anything now, at least I hope not.

 
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Post by tikigeorge » Mon. May. 14, 2018 2:37 pm

Thanks for the support!

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