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marley · Oct 9, 2006, 08:02 AM

We have a boiler. When we are not home we would like to shut off the water in the house. We have had conflicting opinions about the boiler. We were told that if we shut off water to the boiler and there are any pin hole leaks in the system, eventually the boiler could "dry fire" and have extensive damage. Another opinion said that we could just shut off the valve by the boiler and the water would remain closed in the boiler system. I was wonder if there is another way to handle this issue. Is there a way that we can have a shut off that shuts off water to the entire house, but leaves the water accessible to the boiler, or would doing that cause too much pressure ? I know in doing that if the boiler failed and boiler pipes froze, we would have yet another mess. Your opinions would be greatly appreciated.

Regards,
Marley

dmatos · Oct 10, 2006, 03:45 PM

If you want to re-plumb your house, then there is no issue with having separate shut-offs for your boiler and the rest of your house. The water supply at the boiler will be the same pressure regardless of how much of the rest of the house you turn off - that of the municipal water supply.

As for turning off water to the boiler as well - how long are you planning on being away? Have you noticed any leaks from your heating system pipes? I'd say probably not, as they're usually indicative of a major problem, and something that should be fixed. Leaks in your regular water supply should not matter, as you are required to have a back-flow prevention valve on the supply line to a boiler. Water in the heating system is no longer considered potable, and there has to be a device to keep it from flowing back into the rest of the system. Of course, it would be safer to turn off the valve to the boiler supply as well, just not strictly necessary.

marley · Oct 11, 2006, 06:51 AM

Thank you for your response. We have not seen any leaks in the boiler pipes. In the winter, we want to be able to shut off the house, but leave the boiler on. We have become a bit concerned since several years ago when we watched our neighbor's house. Although going there several times a day to feed cats, an air chamber broke and flooded their rec room in less than 3 hours. We just want to avoid any problems of pipes breaking in our house, since we have had frozen pipes several times. So, there is a way that we could have a plumber put in a pipe for the boiler only and allow us to shut the water off the rest of the house ?

dmatos · Oct 12, 2006, 04:18 PM

So, there is a way that we could have a plumber put in a pipe for the boiler only and allow us to shut the water off the the rest of the house ?

Quite probably, if you're not comfortable doing the work yourself. All you need to do is make sure the boiler is the first thing to branch off the supply line after it comes into your house. Put a ball-valve on the other branch, and then you can shut off the rest of the house, but still have your boiler supplied with water.

I still don't think it's really necessary, as there's a whole lot of water in the pipes of a hot water heating system, and you have to lose a significant amount before the system will no longer work. You have to almost completely drain the system before dry-firing the boiler. You should be safe Just turning off the supply to the entire house.