Antifreeze

Greg Maxwell

I work for a wholesaler in Maine, and I looked at a job yesterday where the homeowner wants to winterize their heating system so they can shut it down and go to Florida. I am looking for a chart that shows water volume of different size column & tube type rads. Does anyone out there have such an animal?

DanHolohan

This is from

B&G's Air Control For Hydronic Systems. They base the volume in the system components on the MBH of the system. Hope it helps. 

jumper

shut off heat in Maine ?

Better to not let most buildings freeze. Why not set thermostat way down ?

icesailor

Freeze Protection:

That may work for some. I don't trust it for myself.



I drain the whole heat system by blowing and draining it with compressed air. I measure what comes out by draining into 5 gallon buckets and keep track of how many gallons of water come out of it. I've never been comfortable with estimating how many gallons of water were in the system.

kcopp

I have never ....

been a fan of antifreeze. In the case you are talking about I have had good success w/ blowing out every nook and cranny w/ compressed air... and opening up all the drains. So far no problems..... What type of system is this? At the cost of fuel I can understand the reason to not leave the heat on...

j a_2

just thinking

By opening the system to atmosphere, every year, are you not introducing the potential for corrosion within the system...Why not invest in a refractometer and fill it to the proper freeze protection level with propylene glycol designed for your system..Read the manual on both boiler and glycol  and take it from there...It really is a very simple process..I am sure you know, but NEVER use automotive anti freeze..