Heading to Florida looking for advice

[petefrom bearswamp]

Linda and I  are heading out right after the super bowl to visit her sister and husband.
Am looking for suggestions as to how to handle the classic while we are gone.
So far the options I have come up with are:
1  to have a neighbor tend the beast
2 to feed back thru the unit from my oil boiler
3 drain the system.
I haven't changed the water in 1 1/2 years.
I tried anti freeze a few years ago and my classic dealer sold me alcohol based stuff which promptly evaporated.
I was a little PO ed and didn't pay him for it.
Any advice will be appreciated.
Pete

[thecfarm]

I had one of my friends tend my OWB. We was only gone a week. I had him over and showed him a few things. Main thing was about the opening of the door when it had just stopped cycling and on my,turn on the light to shut the blowers off.

[gspren]

  How long will you be gone and how good of a neighbor do you have? If you turn the house temp down it won't need quite as much wood although this winter has been brutal in the North East.

[doctorb]

If you've got a good neighbor, who understands a bit about the stove and is willing, let him feed it.  If not, I'd shut her down at least one day before you depart to make sure the oil furnace is working well, and I'd leave the pumps on with the fans shut off.  You will burn some oil this way.  I went away for 6 days during the first January freeze, and my OWB was at 150 degrees when I got back.  That's too high and I put too much oil into keeping it that way, but nothing was frozen. 

Another variation on that theme is to shut down the stove, leaving the pumps off.  You neighbor could check the water temp daily and then turn the pumps on when it reached.....say 75 degrees.  The danger here would be that the pipes exiting your stove could freeze before the water temp inside your OWB gets close to 32 degrees.  But, if your neighbor understood things, it might save you some oil.

I ran a little experiment on this a year or so ago and posted it here.  I'll try and find that thread for you.  Unfortunately, the outside temps were not even close to what we're (and everybody else) is putting up with now.  You'll be amazed at how well these stoves hold their ester temp when the circulating pumps are off.  They lose much more heat circulating the water.

[petefrom bearswamp]

Thanks guys.
My wife has reminded me that the cat needs to be attended to so the neighbor will be here daily anyway.
Also they have a classic so are completely familiar with the operation.
I think I'll lower the temp both in the water jacket on the boiler and the house thermostat while we are away and disconnect the indirect h2o heater.
Can't fathom burning oil at current prices and don't know if i can drain the lines to the house completely.

[Raider Bill]

What part of Florida?

[doctorb]

One thing. I installed for my system was the ability to send the OWB hot water directly back to the OWB through a connecting loop, bypassing it from running through the heat exchanger.  This keeps the energy from your oil burner from being transferred back into the OWB water all the time you are away.  It was so cold when I left in early January, that I did not trust the lines not to freeze, and left my OWB circulating through the heat exchanger.  I wish I had instructed a neighbor to read the temp readouts daily, and given him instructions on how to close that bypass loop and reopen the loop to the heat exchanger if the water temps decreased toward freezing.  I do think, as this thread below states, that if you run your pumps your lines won't freeze.  But I'd like backup while I am away to assure that doesn't happen.  Here's the thread.....

https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php/topic,55740.40.html

[petefrom bearswamp]

Raider Bill, we are going to be in Summerfield.
Have BIL and SIL there and several friends and my brother in the area.
I haven't been to FL in 10 years.
BIL was living in Boca Raton and I hated it there, they moved to Summerfield last summer.
Doctor b, sounds like a good solution but I am reluctant to re plumb my system now as i am old and getting more feeble every day.

[upsnake]

I went away for the weekend and just loaded it up, and set it to loop back to the boiler with out going to the water to air heat exchanger. The water temp was 150 when I got back and the wood burner was out of wood.
It seems like the wood in there could buy you a few days, then a day or so for the water temp to drop.

But then it seems like as long as the water was movie it would be fine.

But yes having somebody come check it would be better.

[r.man]

I don't know what everyone else does but I have a friend who lives nearby and we feed each others stoves in times of need. Sickness or going away for a few days is not a big problem. We know each others units and we each try to make it easy for the other. Always do the regular stuff just before we leave, ashes out, water level ok and wood easily accessible. Another reason an OWB is superior to an inside unit.

[Local4Fitter]

I just got back from a 4 day trip to Vegas. Had my brother who lives here in town tend mine. He told me it was actually enjoyable  ??? but then again he didn't have to cut, split, and stack the wood that is a few steps away from the boiler.