Re: What happens if it freezes?


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Posted by Mike (Montreal, Quebec) on Wednesday, November 23, 2005 at 3:21PM :

In Reply to: What happens if it freezes? posted by David Sherman on Wednesday, November 23, 2005 at 1:31PM :

David,

You've covered all the bases!

Yes, frost is something to deal with in any hydronic system. The most comon way to prevent against frost is to use a mixture of glycol and it can be done in a system like mine but then it has to be a closed-loop system.

My water heater also provide hot water for the faucets in the shop and, as hot water is taken from the heater, it gets replaced with fresh water making it a open loop system. This puts it at risk of frost in the case of equipment failure (heater, thermostat or circulating pump) or when power fails. The way I mitigate those risks is by having a low temperature sensor monitored by my alarm system. If the temperature falls below 4degC, a fault condition is reported and, given the thermal mass of the slab, this gives me plenty of time to either repair or purge the system of it's water. Once the pipes are empty, frost has no negative effect on the system. Also, as my house is heated and has hot water from oil-fired sources, I can run the whole think off of a generator in case of extended power failure.

If I wanted to get anal about it, I could rig a control circuit with selenoid valves to automatically purge the water from the system after a low temperature has been reported and not corrected.

Mike



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