shut water main in house/ ok for boiler??

[crazy charlie]

Hey All !! We are heading south for a few weeks for vacay and I am considering shutting off the main water valve to my home while leaving the boiler ON with tstats turned down to 62 as we have done before.I recently had a washer machine hose burst,good thing I was home.Any down side to doing this??? My home heating system is an oil fired boiler/baseboard.Weil McLaine,cast iron,beckett burner.I am thinking this is ok to do but then again,I am usually wrong !! Will the boiler be fine with the water turned off??? Charlie

 

[Hoss the Hermit]

Re: shut water main in house/ ok for boiler??

One way to find out. GO FOR IT!!!!!!!

 

[crazy charlie]

Re: shut water main in house/ ok for boiler??

Thanks Hoss,but I was hoping for a bit more of a professional opinion.Appreciate the input though.

 

[External Combustion]

Re: shut water main in house/ ok for boiler??

I don't know where you are from Charlie, but if there is a chance the house will freeze, the boiler and all of the lines must be drained. That means all of the radiator lines, feed lines etc. You will have to turn off the fuel supply to the boiler before you drain it down. If it won't freeze, then just turn off the fuel supply. I assume that you have been keeping the boiler water below pH 8 and kept up on the boiler chemistry.

If you have kept the oxygen scavengers up in yur boiler you can easily walk away from it for several months.

Personally, I drain mine if I will not use them for two weeks. Boiler chemicals are cheap.

 

[crazy charlie]

Re: shut water main in house/ ok for boiler??

Thanks for the reply.My intentions are to leave the heat on as I always do but shut the water suppy off to avoid a big problem if something happens to burst.My question is will I make a problem by shutting the water supply with the boiler operating.

 

[jsfinn]

Re: shut water main in house/ ok for boiler??

This won't answer your question, but might make you feel better when you aren't home..

When we moved in to our house a couple of years ago, I was always afraid of a washing machine hose bursting. It could cause A LOT of damage particularly because our washing machine is upstairs.

Google "FloodStop". It looks like the attached picture.

It's got a water sensor that signals the valve to close when it gets wet. It runs on AC with a battery backup.

 

[crazy charlie]

Re: shut water main in house/ ok for boiler??

Pretty good idea.I bet you put stainless braided hoses on that bad boy after that.I did.

 

[tommays]

Re: shut water main in house/ ok for boiler??

The boiler does draw water in hopefully small amounts from the water main IF it has any small leak it would shut down on the low water safety


In my last house the water main came in buy the boiler and you could shut off the house and leave the boiler supplied




Tommays

 

[crazy charlie]

Re: shut water main in house/ ok for boiler??

Thats an idea T .If it is going to be a problem.I can solder a valve inline after the boiler feed.Thanks for the idea T.

 

[Caveman Charlie]

Re: shut water main in house/ ok for boiler??

The boilers we have around here do not fill themselves. Once every couple of months you check the level and add water if necessary. I would not think you should have to add water more often then that unless you have a leak somewhere. Also, all the boilers I've seen have a low water level shut off on them where they shut down if the water level gets too low.

Is there a friend or neighbor you can ask to check every day and see if the heat is still on? If they find it's not then they know they have to turn the water on for a couple of minutes until the boiler refills. There are also several types of automatic things you can buy that sense the heat in the house and if it gets low they, turn on a light, call a number, or do something else. A lot of our local "snow birds" go away all winter and use different methods to let the neighbors know if there is a problem.

 

[Mike722]

Re: shut water main in house/ ok for boiler??

Older units may not have the safey shut off. We had a rental house that would continue to heat with no water. It also did not have the automatic fill and had to be filled by a valve every 2 to 3 weeks. We had no idea where the water went.

Do you have shutoffs at the washer. We just turn it off at the washer when we leave.

 

[crazy charlie]

Re: shut water main in house/ ok for boiler??

The valves at the washer are old and need to be replaced to work right.They dont shut.I have never hed to put any water in the boiler in 18 years so I guess it is automatic if any was ever needed.If I dont get en answer,I guess I can do a trial run and shut the water tonight and see what happens by morning.No leaks that I am aware of so it sounds like it will be all right to do.

 

[FLATHEAD]

Re: shut water main in house/ ok for boiler??

I don't think shutting off the main supply should hurt, so long as you bleed all the air out of the heating system, then fill the boiler till the pressure comes up to where it should be, I would think between 5 and 8 pounds should be enough. At my old house we had an oil fired hot water boiler and this is what I did at the beginning of every season and I was fine all winter. It had a Manuel fill. Now if your circulater pump craps out while your gone you could freeze up.

Have a friend or neighbor check the place every couple days to be safe.

 

[newbie4life]

Re: shut water main in house/ ok for boiler??

The boilers we have around here do not fill themselves. Once every couple of months you check the level and add water if necessary.

Actually, a few of us have auto fill valves. I guess that's just something we Wisconsinites have over you Minnesotans.

When it gets low, it automatically fills. They're not that expensive... I think mine was around $30.

As for shutting off your water, I like the idea of sweating a valve on after the boiler. This way, it can stay full, no matter what.

In another matter, I've been doing some plumbing in a church up here, and I found some faucet and toilet (they also have them for washing machines, ice makers etc.) connectors that have an automatic shut-off when there's no back pressure on the system (i.e. - leak). Tried them out, in fact, not on purpose. I forgot they didn't allow water through, and I needed some water for drywall. I turned on the one I had installed for the toilet (wasn't connected to the toilet yet), and nothing. Couldn't for the life of me figure out what the heck was going on. Then it dawned on me.... No burst connectors.... and I even installed them. Moron.

Anywho.... they work wonders. And they were only $1.25 more than the regular stainless braided connectors. They look just like them, but work even better when they don't.

 

[Bondo]

Re: shut water main in house/ ok for boiler??

Ayuh,.....

Your boiler needs it's water pressure maintained at 12psi,....
After 18 years, I have to assume you have an Auto-fill valve....

Personally,.....
Considering that you've already dealt with the Washer's plumbing,...
It should be Safe for quite awhile to come,......
I too had 1 of those Rubber hoses burst,.... Nothing but SSteel now.....

I'd leave the water turned On,+ go have a Good Time..........

 

[crazy charlie]

Re: shut water main in house/ ok for boiler??

Thanks for the replies guys.I decided to replace the valves so I can simply turn the washer water supply off even though I changed the hoese to stainless.

 

[Lou C]

Re: shut water main in house/ ok for boiler??

That's what I was going to suggest, to have a shut off on the washer is a good idea, you could always shut off the water inlets for all the toilets to be on the safe side. We have the shut off on the washer but my wife doesn't like to shut it, so I do, and put a big sign "TURN WATER ON BEFORE RUNNING THE WASHER"