Boiler for Seasonal Home

bud_h

I am looking at boiler options for a seasonal residence. I am in the midst of a remodel and am installing one zone of cast iron baseboard, one zone of fin tube and a 40 gallon boilermate indirect.

The house is primarily a summer residence and it gets winterized with no heat in the winter. The system will have glycol, so I am not worried about that, but if I wanted to go with a high efficiency boiler (have a lochinvar Knight at home and love it), what would the winterization of the boiler look like ? Just a matter of emptying the condensate trap and maybe sucking it dry with a shop vac ?

Would a Knight not like being turned on in the middle of the winter to heat the home for a few days then turned back off ?

STEVEusaPA

If it’s winterized why a boiler at all? Why not a mini split?

HVACNUT

Of your happy with the Lochinvar then go with it if the contractor is knowledgable with the brand. Make sure a heat loss calculation is done.
You can blow out the trap or pour a little propylene glycol in, as well as all the traps.

bud_h

Steve- you’re not the first one to suggest the mini split, but I like baseboard and I have natural gas, and I would like the indirect water heater. The cottage is relatively small and cut up, so mini split isn’t really ideal.

On the the lochinvar, the one I have at home is the water tube version. If I went with the fire tube version for the seasonal use, would that have any impact on the ability to winterize it ?

Draining the condensate trap is easy enough.

Jamie Hall

I'd winterize the system -- get the glycol concentration correct for the lowest temperature you're ever likely to see. The reason I prefer this approach is that then if you want to use the place and it's cold out, you can fire up the system and warm yourself up. If it's drained, don't even think about it -- when you try to refill to start if up, something is going to freeze and that can ruin your whole day.

bud_h

Definitely planning on glycol. Just worried about getting all the condensate out of the fire tube heat exchanger. Is it correct to assume that if I address whatever water is in the trap that there isn’t anywhere else condensate is going to collect in the boiler ?

rick in Alaska

That is correct. On the Lochinvar fire tube, the condensate goes directly down and into the trap. Drain the trap, and you are good to go.
Rick

Solid_Fuel_Man

I'd seriously consider a Rinnai wall furnace over a boiler in a seasonal camp. Small, quiet, and zero issues.

It takes a lot for me to say that, because I'm a wet head through and through. But I hate glycol.

EvenCmft

The knight is a nice boiler. The knight has the ability to start a pump at an adjustable temperature. The knight will also fire at a lower adjustable temperature if the temperature continues to fall once the pump has turned on.