Boiler anti-freeze-

jim lockard

RJ_3

Use of Boiler System Anti-freeze

Leaving unattended a home w/boiler (hot water) heat for the winter (5 mos). Heat will be left on during this time. Is the use of regular auto type anti freeze OK?

[Deleted User]

NO!

jim lockard

RJ

No do not use auto antifreeze. Boiler antifreeze is a little different. Boiler antifreeze comes 2 ways as a glycol you mix with existing boiler water or as a permix where you drain the boiler and the heating system then fill with a mixed product. Boiler antifreeze needs to be checked every year as it will tend to break down if not maintained. As boiler antifreeze breaks down it tends to eat away at your heating system chemically. You may also wish to check out Rhomar water treatment systems, they sell products to clean the boiler and heating system prior to adding antifreeze to your system. best wishes J.Lockard

james patrick

antifreeze

Is stabilized propyline glycol RV antifreeze OK?

If not, why?

[Deleted User]

There are anti-freeze products made specifically

for protecting your RV, and there are products that are more appropriate for use in a heating system.

I just purchased some RV antifreeze to protect a wildfire fighting rig that I built this last year. I chose RV antifreeze because the manufacturer of the foam proportioning unit that I chose said to. In my application and in RV equipment applications, the antifreeze will be exchanged for working fluid as soon as the danger of frost is past next spring. I do not anticipate that Record Chemical Company included any lubricants or stabilizers when they formulated their RV product precisely because it is indended to be wasted each year.

Heating system antifreeze on the other hand has to designed to have a much longer service life and it is, as a rule, exposed to much higher operating temperatures in addition to the possibility of it being exposed to freezing temperatures. Heating system antifreeze additionally should have some pump and valve lubricating properties and must not compromise thread and flange sealing products. It must also be compatible with the various metals that a heating system is made of in addtion to being low in toxicity.

Please review and consider your choices carefully.

Mark_25

The active ingredient in boiler antifreeze is common lye. check your pH every year, and add some lye if needed to keep it alkaline. That is the major reason that antifreeze goes bad in boiler systems. It goes acidic.

Tim_24

Wow

I never knew that propylene glycol was just common lye! You learn something new every day.

Mark_25

No, that's not what I said. I said the *ACTIVE* ingredient in antifreeze for boilers is LYE. Lye keeps the pH of the antifreeze up around 9-10, which prevents corrosion. If you get the engineering specs for Dupont's antifreeze, and dig around in it, it says as much. They say Sodium Hydroxide, which is LYE.