use RV anti freeze in heating?

rob brown

its done a lot here at the jersey shore. we winterize close 100 homes every year, most of which have burnt air, so thats a non-issue. also a non-issue are the old hydronic systems that the dead men made sure that EVERYTHING drains back to boiler. anything else we blow out with air,then pump in a 50-50 mix of the pink stuff. it all gets purged out in the spring. rob

Unknown

use RV anti freeze in heating?

Use RV anti freeze in hot water heating system? For people to shut down heating system while they go south for the winter, pump RV anti freeze into the system?

Darrell_4

RV antifreeze does not have the inhibitors in it that Propylene Glycol formulated for heating systems does and will prove to be unstable under heat. Unstable glycol has a very low Ph and will accelerate corrosions issues and tend to burn, (caramelize), and sludge up the boiler.

Unknown

thanks for replying

I never use RV and reason for asking is I just saw the " ask this old house" segment and Richard pumping the RV antifreeze into the hydronic heating system in a home that will be shut off for the winter. Didn't say about removing it before reusing the system.

[Deleted User]

most rv, pg antifreezes, do have inhibitors in them

and they can, and are, used year round in boilers; ie, they don't require a seasonal flush

hot_rod

Use hydronic anti freeze and leave it

in the boiler. Why pay a plumber to add and remove antifreeze in a boiler?

You need to use antifreeze blended for hydronic use.

hr

[Deleted User]

blended for hydronic use

and some specifically for AL HXs

rob brown

we leave it up to the h.o.

i inform them of the hydronic antifreeze, it's cost, it's need to be monitored for chem balance, it's nasty habit of forming green crusty leaks on auto-vents and threaded connections, the added viscosity that may require a bigger pump, the diminished efficiency as a heat transfer medium. can you tell i'm not a big fan of the stuff i dont recommend running the system with rv antifreeze. all that being said, we'll do the hydronic if they want, but most just want to protect a shut down,going totally ambient system, from freeze damage. as far as paying for it, we are already there blowing out all potable lines and anti freezing all traps.can anybody tell me if there is anything wrong with this method? i'd hate to think i'm not doing the best for my customers. i mean, the stuff is made to protect PIPES? rob

[Deleted User]

anything wrong with this method?

i can't see anything, but why not simply drain/blow out the heating system and forgo the antifreeze in it? and you could just let the traps go dry. my seldom used bathtub trap does it very well