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Dave Dennison · 01-25-2011, 02:39 AM

I worked 20 years in the heating trade and installed everything from viesmann boilers to Buderus and weil Mclain. I laid over 100,000 feet or more of radiant tubing. Believe me when I tell you I have been there and done it. Even been down to Springfield, Missouri to Watts Radiant for schools and seminars.
Joe the plumber talks about Tekmar and outdoor reset and they do save money and are awesome for people who know how to use them..
The main problem with these controls is most techs do not know how to install them correctly, and forget it when your oil burner guy trys to work on it or troubleshoot it. I know as I spent many years following guys around who did not have a clue and all it took was a simple seminar to learn about them. Usually when installed the outside sensors are put on the wrong side of the house 1/2 the time or they do not program them correctly. My main reason for saying this is that it usually cost the home owner in the end. So I will say that if you do have one of these systems you should learn about it.

It is True that in Germany they actually have efficency police that will shut your system off if it is not up to spec.

In all my years of no heat calls and frozen pipes and this is an understatement when I say in the winter 80-90 hours a week of it, the biggest problem I saw over the years in temps like this was people turning the T-stat back way to far which resulted in frozen pipes.
It is very true that when you turn your T-stat back to far it does make the system work longer to get it back up to temp. And yes it has to heat everything back up again, floors, furniture and everything else in your house..
When you have forced hot water systems and it is this cold you should never turn your t-stat back. Because once you do it stops circulating the water in the system for a longer period of time.
Still water and a cold draft means frozen pipes. You have to remember most forced hot water baseboard is mounted on outside walls.
I leave my T-stat on 68 all winter and never turn it down. I only heat with oil. I have a forced hot air system in this home. I filled my tank back in August and checked yesterday and its between 1/4 and 1/2 so I do not use much oil at all.

To the guy who had a tech tell him his pipes were frozen and they were not and it was a simple check valve, Thats just crazy, Checking for frozen pipes is as easy as closing the purge valve on the zone and opening up the valve to see if water comes out.. If he did not do this than its cut and dry dont pay the bill..
The problem in cold weather like this is that the techs run from house to house for no heat calls and if they have 3 frozen zones in a row than when they get to yours they assume it must be frozen before even checking or troubleshooting it. They fall into zombie mode so to speak.
Boy am I glad I did my time so I can sit in my lazy boy and be warm rather than in a 0 degree crawl space thawing pipes because the homeowner turned down the heat 10 degrees before they went to bed in weather like this.
Nope don't miss it at all....

01-25-2011, 02:39 AM	#25
Dave Dennison Registered User Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 37	Set Backs I worked 20 years in the heating trade and installed everything from viesmann boilers to Buderus and weil Mclain. I laid over 100,000 feet or more of radiant tubing. Believe me when I tell you I have been there and done it. Even been down to Springfield, Missouri to Watts Radiant for schools and seminars. Joe the plumber talks about Tekmar and outdoor reset and they do save money and are awesome for people who know how to use them.. The main problem with these controls is most techs do not know how to install them correctly, and forget it when your oil burner guy trys to work on it or troubleshoot it. I know as I spent many years following guys around who did not have a clue and all it took was a simple seminar to learn about them. Usually when installed the outside sensors are put on the wrong side of the house 1/2 the time or they do not program them correctly. My main reason for saying this is that it usually cost the home owner in the end. So I will say that if you do have one of these systems you should learn about it. It is True that in Germany they actually have efficency police that will shut your system off if it is not up to spec. In all my years of no heat calls and frozen pipes and this is an understatement when I say in the winter 80-90 hours a week of it, the biggest problem I saw over the years in temps like this was people turning the T-stat back way to far which resulted in frozen pipes. It is very true that when you turn your T-stat back to far it does make the system work longer to get it back up to temp. And yes it has to heat everything back up again, floors, furniture and everything else in your house.. When you have forced hot water systems and it is this cold you should never turn your t-stat back. Because once you do it stops circulating the water in the system for a longer period of time. Still water and a cold draft means frozen pipes. You have to remember most forced hot water baseboard is mounted on outside walls. I leave my T-stat on 68 all winter and never turn it down. I only heat with oil. I have a forced hot air system in this home. I filled my tank back in August and checked yesterday and its between 1/4 and 1/2 so I do not use much oil at all. To the guy who had a tech tell him his pipes were frozen and they were not and it was a simple check valve, Thats just crazy, Checking for frozen pipes is as easy as closing the purge valve on the zone and opening up the valve to see if water comes out.. If he did not do this than its cut and dry dont pay the bill.. The problem in cold weather like this is that the techs run from house to house for no heat calls and if they have 3 frozen zones in a row than when they get to yours they assume it must be frozen before even checking or troubleshooting it. They fall into zombie mode so to speak. Boy am I glad I did my time so I can sit in my lazy boy and be warm rather than in a 0 degree crawl space thawing pipes because the homeowner turned down the heat 10 degrees before they went to bed in weather like this. Nope don't miss it at all....