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February 2, 2009
Frozen Heating Pipes
Q: Ed, we just had a disaster at our home! We have a three-zone forced hot water heating system, and one of the heating zones froze up and split. We do not want to go through that again, and the plumber told us that he can add special nontoxic antifreeze to the heating system to prevent this from happening again. I'm new to the area and I have never heard of this, can this be done?
Bill, Vermont
A: Bill, first check with your building inspector to see what nontoxic antifreeze products are allowed to be used in your heating system as per local codes. You also (per code) may need to have the proper backflow controls installed at the boiler before anything can be added to your heating system water. Plus, permits may be required, so do your homework before you have any work done in your home.
I need to stress that antifreeze used in residential or commercial forced hot water heating systems needs to be approved for safe use in those systems, and it is a special nontoxic mix that is installed by a licensed heating professional only. Do not use any other type of antifreeze or try to do this job yourself.
The good news is that when properly pumped into and mixed into a forced hot water heating system, it does help protect heating lines from freezing and is commonly used in very cold climates. So, if your building or plumbing inspector gives you the "green light" to have this job done, this can be your "red light" to future heating line freeze ups!
Ed Del Grande, the author of Ed Del Grande's House Call, was born and raised in a family-owned plumbing business. With more than 25 years of experience in every aspect of construction, he holds current Master licenses in pipefitting, fire protection and plumbing. If you have a question for Ed, send him an e-mail at eddelgrande@hgtvpro.com.Posted by Ed Del Grande at February 2, 2009 5:46 PM
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Comments
Ed:
While your response to Bill from Vermont about adding antifreeze to a forced hot water heating system may be helpful in many parts of the country, much of it isn't applicable here, in Vermont. For the most part, there are NO building codes and NO municipal building inspectors. It's still the old, wild west here as far as these are concerned. The only places with building codes or inspectors are the few big cities, like Burlington, for instance. I know, that seems pretty unbelievable in this day and age. I lived in New York and Connecticut before I moved here and was horified when I discovered this. Up until a few years back, if you had more than 10 acres, there wasn't even any oversight of septic systems. I counsel clients buying an older home here to have the system pumped, at their expense, as part of their prepurchase "engineer's" or building inspection -- to find out the size of the tank, material it's made of (concrete or steel) and to look for any evidence it's ever overflowed (scum line). I've had clients discover htat there is NO leach field (only a "holding tank"), that there's nothing there for a septic system other than a dry well, and many other horror stories. Unfortunately, most of the clients I deal with are "out-of-staters" buing vacation homes and the majority are from areas with municipal water and sewer and have no exposure to or clue about wells and septic systems. I'm still waiting for one of them to find a septic system consisting of only a Volkswagon mini bus buried in the back yard into which all the wastewater from the house is directed. As recently as 10 years ago, you could have done that and called it a septic system in most small towns here and no one would have known or cared.
Posted by: Suzanne at February 11, 2009 9:29 AM
Last year when I was out of town around Xmas, my neighbor came into my large mobile home and flushed the toilets and ran the water in the sinks and lavatories, so I thought all was well as they ran just fine.when I got home. However, when I went to do my wash, the water backed up in the drain pipe and flooded the laundry room and out on to the carpet in hall. I got it all cleaned up, but couldn't get the pipe to drain until a guy told me to pour de-icer down the pipe. This worked like a charm and the pipe opened up in minutes. Do you recommend this for frozen pipes?
Posted by: j a sieve at February 11, 2009 10:10 AM
how do i sound proof the bathroom and bedroom wall.
Posted by: kenney at February 11, 2009 10:10 AM
