low water cut-off or make up feed tank ??

ScottMP

Turn off the water to his home while he's gone to Florida for the winter.

I suggested anit-freeze for the system and a low water cut-off, as he wants to turn the water off to the home.

Another company has suggested a make up water tank that would supply water to the system in the event of a leak and no water supply.

My thought was if there is a leak and no one is home who fix's the leak when the tank runs out ( how much water can it hold ? ) whats the use ? It runs out now it runs out later.

My idea would save the boiler, and the anitfreeze would save the pipes in the event of no heat or low heat.

What would you suggest ?

Scott


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tommyoil

How about this

Living in a summer resort town year 'round we have lots of summer only resident who want to keep the house warm. I thought it sounded stupid at first, and I'm really not crazy about the idea, but it works like a charm, here goes,ready? Run a dedicated water supply directly from the water meter to the boiler and isolate it from the rest of the house. You can drain the rest of the house, keep that part shut off, yet still keep water to the boiler. Load the system w/ anti freeze to the proper percentage and your off to the races. In the event of breakdown , we use a phone dialer or winter watchman as backup.. Thats the only way to pull it off safely w/o shutting down completely. We dont do it much, but we have done it. Not my idea,so please spare me the negative comments. But from what I understand, its been going on here for awhile. Fortunately, no catastrophe yet on our end but it seems to me the potential is there. Just a thought on something I've seen b4. Might be cheaper than a makeup tank. Just trying to help.

ScottMP

No Negative comments

Here Tommy,

Sounds likes a good solution. This guys basement is finished so it might not work but a Good Solution.

Thanks

Scott

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Unknown

I would sell him all you said

With the past 2 winters being colder than normal , give him it all - low water cutoff , antifreeze , and maybe an alarm tied into the phone . Is the heating system gas or oil ?

Matt Undy

Seems that the makeup tank would also need antifreze and would only delay the inevitable. Maybe a pressure switch and a warning device. If the system pressure drops below a certian pressure when cold you have a leak that needs to be repaired if you want it to continue runing.

If you do use a makeup tank it must have antifreze so it doesn't dilute the system antifreze before the system shuts down once the tank runs out.

tommyoil

Oh Well,

The finished basement should put the kabosh on that. I'd probably take the high road and just have a phone dialer AND a winter watchman installed and hope the phone works and the neighbors are within sight of the light in case the watchman trips. Seems to be the easiest unless this guy is adament about shutting down the water. I've never heard

lchmb

IMHO

I would stick with what you suggested. If the house is drained and the power fail's or the boiler spring's a leak, the lower water cutoff will save the day. I would have the auto dialer installed just in case and set it 5 degree's below normanl temp. They also have multiple number's they can call and battery back up so tell them to pick 3 and hope for the best. Antifreeze without a doubt. Good luck
p.s. wouldn't bother with the tank.