running oil furnace & pellets

little help here,
on extreme single digit nights, does anyone keep the hot water baseboard heat wall thermostat a degree or so above the constant [or stove temp ]mode temp of the pellet stove's output in order for the furnace to kick on periodically to keep basement or crawlspace pipes from possibly freezing? not talking about shutting off the stove but working in tandem with your particular secondary heat source...tried doing it but seems like the stove or constant mode heat eventually overtakes the thermostat setting even though it's set a few degrees higher at 1st..
tried doing this before by waiting for the stove mode to more or less stay a fixed steady temp[hour or more] then setting the wall thermostat a couple degrees higher but as i said the stove eventually passes the wall temps setting and of course the furnace will not kick on......

 

I'm not surprised the temp continues to rise in stove temp mode. Have you tried this in room temp?

 

If you have an IR laser thermometer, you can get an idea what the temps of your pipes are in the crawl space/basement. For my situation, I know if the temp gets below 0 degrees, my pipes at the edges of my basement are in danger of freezing. I manually cycle each of my 3 zones on individually using the thermostat. Set it to 85 degrees, allow the boiler to cycle hot water through the entire zone. Then shut it back off and cycle the next zone. Usually only have to do this once per day unless the temp stays below zero. You can also get a switch that cycles your circulator pump on periodically to keep the pipes from freezing. Bear Mountain Design makes a product that is supposed to do this. As for your water pipes, if you are using water, it should not freeze. Some crawl spaces require that water is left on to drip overnight.

ThermGuard

 

X2 - we have one problem area where HWBB pipes will freeze during multi-day extreme cold snaps. Got a thermguard a couple seasons ago. Really works like a charm. We only turn it on during cold snaps because if you leave it on all the time it will make the furnace run unnecessarily.

 

What is a thermal guard?

 

Won't work in room temp mode. The heat from the baseboard will keep the pellet stove from firing up as the probe will sense the Heat. Basically it won't work unless you're in constant burn mode. Might as well just shut the stove off.

 

ThermGuard - Click the link at the very bottom of post from stuckinthemuck

 

ThermGuard

 

Another happy thermguard user.

 

So how many zones do you guys have and how many have the ThermGuard hooked up to them? I bought two controllers a couple years ago but haven’t installed them. I have 3 zones in the house...

 

Yup.
But for a slightly different reason.
My stove is in the basement, so I am not worried about the pipes freezing that much.
However.. because the stove is in the basement, ducted to the center of the house,
the extremities of the house get pretty chilly during real cold snaps. (like today).
I like the NG boiler to turn on occasionally, to get some heat in those cooler areas..
So I put the wall thermostat higher than what I expect the room to be,
so that it runs occasionally for a few minutes.. I'm only asking it to raise the temp ~2°,
in the room with the stove heat.

Dan

 

We have 3 zones. One for the whole first floor, one for the whole second floor except the master bedroom, and one for the master bedroom. The master bedroom is the problem area because it's over the garage and the HWBB pipes run through a section of the garage walls and ceiling where there is no heat source, so on extended frigid cold snaps, the pipes will freeze. That is the only zone we have the ThermGuard in play. It took small trial end error and some discussion with fellow forum member bogieb to get it configured for the right intervals and durations needed in our scenario. Now that it's set, it does exactly what it's supposed to do. It's one of those things that's worth every penny.

 

Sounds like your master bedroom is how my two bedrooms are set up with the pipes running thru the unheated garage. Unfortunately I only have one zone (main floor) so when I run the ThermGuard, like now, the FHW goes thru all the pipes.

Glad you got the ThermGuard set up - that will certainly save you aggravation and possible damage!

 

Before I got the ThermGuard, that is what I did. I would cycle the boiler by turning up the thermostat several degrees above room temp whil I took my shower in the morning. Then I would cycle it again for about 15 minutes when I got home from work. The ThermGaurd is so much more convenient (and makes sure I don't forget to turn the thermostat down after a cycle). Since I have the ThermGuard hanging off my thermostat in the living room, it is easy to remember to shut it off during warmer weather since it has a light that flashes occasionally.

 

What is the minimum amount of times you can have the furnace cycle on and off within a 24-hour period..

 

You set it by 15 minute intervals. so if you want it to go off 3 times a day, you tell it to run every 32 intervals. You can set the cycle time by minutes - I set mine to 8 or 10 minutes per cycle.

 

Did you put any pipe insulation on the pipes that are in the area where they can freeze up?

 

I insulated mine some. But realized that I need some waste heat from the hot water pipes and boiler to provide heat to my basement to keep the temp above freezing. I have regular water pipes as well as storage of liquids that it would beneficial to not allow to freeze. So I realized that insulating all hot water pipes in my basement could potentially be detrimental. If my basement bottoms out at 35 degrees during a cold snap, I know I’m doing okay.

 

Hello
I put in On Demand electric hot water so I do not have to watch the oil go up in price and my wallet get thin! The 3 - 40 amp breakers gives good hot water but not as strong as the oil. So I changed a lot of pipes to PEX and wrapped with 1” fiberglass pipe insulation with the built in foil sealer. This pipe insulation gives a couple more degrees at the faucet and I have no issues with freezing since the basement is all above ground and some insulation in the outside walls. This Insulation still could be better.