Hello All,
First, the background: The only gas “appliance” in my small ranch house is the hot water baseboard heating system which has some sort of anti-freeze added to it.
Question 1: Is the anti-freeze necessary? I live in New Jersey.
Question 2: Does anyone know of any good books that tell you what and how to perform maintenance on these systems?
I’m quite handy and I hate to call a “professional” in to do something that I can do myself.
Thanks
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Replies
The anti-freeze is your choice. I do not know enough about your system to advise you.
Are you trained in servicing gas equipment? If not hire a pro. This is NOT an area to try to DIY. DIYers have absolutely no business messing with gas equipment unless they know what they are doing. If you have to ask, leave it alone. I cannot stress this enough.
Also the anti-freze needs to have the PH tested on a yearly basis. Probably will need some chemicals.
Is it car antifreeze? If so get it out of there now. Dispose safely and properly.
"Dispose safely and properly." caught my eye.
One of our local junkyards gives "clean used" antifreeze from old or wrecked cars away so others can "dispose" of it properly thru leaky radiators. Goes with the dumpster diving thread????
Edit PS: I've a circulating wood fireplace system in my own house, use straight water, no antifreeze; flush drain yearly. Am in Seattle area though, NJ may be a little tougher if you leave town for a month at a time in the winter as we've done occasionally.
Edited 5/15/2003 1:12:03 AM ET by JUNKHOUND
There are lots of books and websites that talk about hot water heating systems.
Since you don't know a lot about it. Doing some research will turn up tons of info, though I don't know any book titles. I'd start by hiring a pro to come & inspect the system, someone who installs lots of hot water heating systems.
Schedule them to come when you can be home. Have him inspect it, but also have him walk you through all the system components. See if he recommends you keep the anti-freeze. Make sure he tests the anti-freeze. Ask him if he recommends any changes to the system. There are many systems out there that weren't installed properly. Good to get a pro to confirm that your system is OK.
Take notes and learn what you can so if you later have a problem you'll have a good idea what's wrong.
You might go to http://www.heatinghelp.com I'm sure they could recommend some specific web-sites and book titles if you wish to learn more. Still a good idea to have a pro inspect things.
Billy
Went on vacation....
I have no background in this but my thought is that at least in an automobile system the antifreeze/water mix provides better heat transfer as well as corrosion resistance. The other is raising the boiling point which probably would not be a factor. A side benefit would be that if the system was down while vacant ot extended power outage freezing possibility would be minimized.