A question of Draindown and Central Heating systems.

[Billy]

Ok guys ...

So far as draindown is concerned, I'm figuring there are maybe a couple of drain cocks to empty taps and pipework, shower feed etc. for the winter.
And clearly there will be a water valve to isolate.
But so far as central heating is concerned, am I right in saying that both boiler and radiators will have additive/anti freeze of some description and thus will not need draining down?
Otherwise it would need adding again in the springtime ... and bleeding all the rads?
And especially, if it's a combi boiler with an aluminium heat exchanger, am guessing it should be sealed, am I right, or wrong pls. 

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[Sparkalicious]

So for the water system drain down, they actually pressurise the system with an air pump after disconnecting the water, then they open up each tap individually and blow any water out. They should also add antifreeze to any traps/loo to make sure that the water in there doesn't freeze. They need to keep the water in them to stop any smells getting in while you are away.

You are right, the central heating system is a closed system. It will have inhibitor and antifreeze in it so no need to drain it down. Many be worth topping it up from time to time but the site should take care of that more than likely.

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[Sparkalicious]

Oh and just a small point, don't forget to do a turn down when it's locked up for the season. Move mattresses and pillows away from walls, leave doors open and put bowls of salt or dehumidifiers dotted about to collect moisture. Just so that it will be all right as rain when you come back.

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[Zoot]

Our park recommend keeping the CH on low after general drain down. Is this necessary? What do others do?

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[DaveE]

The drain down should cover water supply and drains etc. but CH is an enclosed system and provided it has a correct amount of anti freeze in should not need to be left on.

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[Scorpio]

Our park recommend keeping the CH on low after general drain down. Is this necessary? What do others do?

Many boilers are designed to left on during the winter, best to check in the handbook.  Ours has automatic frost protection which will operate if the temperature inside the caravan goes below 5 degrees.  If yours is like this, set both boiler temperature dials to minimum (off) position.  Keeping gas and electricity on also allows the circulation pump to run briefly every 24 hours to prevent siezing up.

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[DaveE]

Scorpio makes a good point but there are some parks which turn off gas and electric across the park throughout their closed season. If supplies are disrupted like this, or for any other reason the boiler will stop working and may not restart on it’s own when supplies are restored..

I wrote the first paragraph earlier this morning ( Sat 27th November) and have since read the news about Storm Arwen last night where it is reported that over 80,000 homes in Scotland lost power. As many holiday parks are in more remote areas, either coastal or rural, I wonder how many of them also lost power with boilers hence shut down possibly for the whole winter?




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[Slattster]

We went to our van yesterday to lock it up for the winter , we was going to stay the night but the electric was off due to the storm.  Luckily we had already drained down the previous weekend. I use the floe 868 to drain down , takes 10 mins to do all from inside the van.  A lot of vans on our site have trace heating and are told to leave the boiler on frost protect but they wouldn’t have been working yesterday . Only sure way to be safe is to drain down and use antifreeze in traps & toilets.

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[DaveE]

I have Trace Heating as well but do not rely on it for when we are away from the ‘van.
To my mind it is brilliant for preventing a freeze up (especially overnight) of the water supply piping when we are staying at the ‘van, but it is not a practical way of preventing damage during our absence during the “cold” months and only a drain down does this.


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[Sparkalicious]

So I was down at our 'van over the weekend closing down.

Did the normal, vacuum pack all the soft stuff, move mattresses and cushions off of walls, keep all the cupboard doors open with a small bit of pipe lagging and a tray of cat litter in every room.

We have TVRs on every radiator in the 'van and they do have a frost setting. I've never used it but I may think twice about that now. When I arrived on the Friday night it was around 4deg outside. Darted in to turn on the boiler and get the heating going. Now whoever was there last (it could of been me  ) set all the rads to the frost setting. When the boiler fired up I ended up pottering about a bit until I remembered to adjust the rad in the bedroom. Could of been a very interesting night if I hadn't  . Well the heat was coming through the radiator in that room which means the temp must of been below 5deg to trigger the TVRs to open up.

Our place is in Cornwall and it doesn't really hit low temps often. I always make sure the water is off but I get the site to drain down at the end of the season. I may start leaving the heating on frost protection now just in case we get a cold snap when we aren't there. Just concerned about how the boiler will react. Will it start heating the water up within it constantly all winter or does it only fire up when the pump feels a pressure drop due to one of the TVRs opening up?

I must admit I would like to start doing my own drain down. I came close to it this year. Not sure I trust the site to do a proper job. I did put a dash of antifreeze in every loo and sink/shower trap but was a bit of a waste as when the site guys come down they'll flush that away when they do their drain down. Maybe next year. 

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[Slattster]

Hopefully antifreeze in traps and toilets will be part of drain down service. Once drained down you can switch the boiler off …it has antifreeze in the ch system to protect it. Have a look at the floe 868 , seems expensive but our site wanted £90 to drain down this year  , I do it myself inc. antifreeze in 15 mins . Watch the video to see how easy it is. Very easy to fit as well just using pushfit connectors.

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[Sparkalicious]

Our drain down is £65. That is just the pipes. They have a separate close down service.

I like the look of the floe 868. Do you have any images of your install? How is it fitted? I may grab that for next winter. How much did you pay for it if you don't mind me asking. I have found it for £230.

If you really think about it, I'm going to be there another 10 years plus so will pay for itself in no time really.

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[Sparkalicious]

By the way, found this video on YouTube. Presume the other chapters will be on there as well if you root around.

Looks like a real nifty bit of kit. Definitely on my "want" list

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[DaveE]

As well as being a member on here I’m a member of a group on Facebook where the Floe is discussed regularly. Whilst I don’t have it myself I can say the Floe 868 does appear to be a well thought of practical piece of kit.
The only criticism I see is that many have found that to install the pump as advised in the boiler cupboard and connect as instructed an air pipe extension(& joint) is required.
But it does appear once set up it works well.

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[Slattster]

Pic attached , all you can see is a green box screwed to the boiler cupboard wall, there is a mains plug ..which is left unplugged till needed , I unplug the boiler and plug the floe in. There is also a 10mm pipe that can’t be seen because it comes out of the bottom of the floe ,  that goes out the air hole at the bottom of boiler cupboard under the van and as close to the stop tap as possible , this is all supplied with the floe inc. a check valve to stop water running up into the floe.
If you can get under the van then it’s a doddle to fit , 4 screws to fix it to cupboard wall , cut water inlet paper as close to the stop tap as the supplied tubing will reach , then use push fits ( don’t forget inserts if it’s plastic pipe) to T off the floe tubing and run it to the floe unit and a pushfit connection there as well. I think the T might be supplied but not sure. Then follow the video.
I think I paid about £225 , it came with a 5 year warranty .

Picture is on its side, floe is below the boiler on the left hand side of the cupboard

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