Non-used HEATMOR froze up?

[crowbuster]

Yes the heatmor is filled from the back, I always use an old washer hose (2 ends) If It was plumbed right should be a spigot on return side. You don't have to open the ash door which Is in the back. When you open the main door, 1st one, look down, should see a 1 inch hole in front of the fire door. Pull that flat cover off and you will see the ard rod and the flapper it controls. When you open the fire box door the rod opens the flapper and gives the fire air to lessen the chance of back draft. Also notice the door has a 2 stage latch, when you raise the handle up you can not open the door without bringing it down and around the safety catch. This is so in case of a back draft it won't blow the door into you and or burn your face off, it will catch the door. Always stand to the side with any owb while opening the door. Hope this answers some of your questions and I really hope your system is not totally trashed. They are not cheap and really are a great unit, good luck.

C.B.

 

[dan365husky]

hey one thing not to do is leave the ash clean out cover off like well i kind of did lucky it did not hurt the stove still works great got lucky and caught before it was toasted. another thing not to do is if you fill the stove at fittings at the stove do not add water to fast when the stove is warm it is hard on it if to much cold water gets in the stove and cools it to fast my dealer told me that. my fill is hooked in the basement to the return line going back to the stove and works nice to fill it when it get low after awhile of use.

 

[cleanburn]

Yes the heatmor is filled from the back, I always use an old washer hose (2 ends) If It was plumbed right should be a spigot on return side. You don't have to open the ash door which Is in the back. When you open the main door, 1st one, look down, should see a 1 inch hole in front of the fire door. Pull that flat cover off and you will see the ard rod and the flapper it controls. When you open the fire box door the rod opens the flapper and gives the fire air to lessen the chance of back draft. Also notice the door has a 2 stage latch, when you raise the handle up you can not open the door without bringing it down and around the safety catch. This is so in case of a back draft it won't blow the door into you and or burn your face off, it will catch the door. Always stand to the side with any owb while opening the door. Hope this answers some of your questions and I really hope your system is not totally trashed. They are not cheap and really are a great unit, good luck.

C.B.

I also have a Heatmor, the back of your stove would be the first place I would check for the spigot and open it up and see if any water comes out or if its froze....

I'd personally wait until spring to see what damage you have....hopefully it was drained for you that would be nice, if not ehhh good luck to ya....

 

[i'mstihlaguy]

Dan,
I know forsure that the "bladder" is empty of water.
No, I have not messed with the rubber ball, I can't reach it (guess I should invest in a ladder)

I was told that when I have a fire going that I should open the bottom door (ash door) before opening the main fire door. I do not have a 'bottom door'. My as access is not a door but has to be unscrewed, do you open that before you open the main door to feed the fire? Is there a "back draft" of sorts if you don't open something first?
Just curious so I don't get fire in the face.
I'm sure I'll figure everything out with time and usage, but I will forsure taken any info I can get before I get it going.
Also, I was told to burn GREEN wood and not seasoned or dry wood. What do you burn? And why?
My neighbor has one (not a Heatmor) and he ONLY burns green. As a matter of fact, he cuts all winter long so it is very green.
Thanks so much!

You should avoid burning green wood. You get fewer BTU's from it and more creosote.

 

[cleanburn]

Dan,
I know forsure that the "bladder" is empty of water.
No, I have not messed with the rubber ball, I can't reach it (guess I should invest in a ladder)

I was told that when I have a fire going that I should open the bottom door (ash door) before opening the main fire door. I do not have a 'bottom door'. My as access is not a door but has to be unscrewed, do you open that before you open the main door to feed the fire? Is there a "back draft" of sorts if you don't open something first?
Just curious so I don't get fire in the face.
I'm sure I'll figure everything out with time and usage, but I will forsure taken any info I can get before I get it going.
Also, I was told to burn GREEN wood and not seasoned or dry wood. What do you burn? And why?
My neighbor has one (not a Heatmor) and he ONLY burns green. As a matter of fact, he cuts all winter long so it is very green.
Thanks so much!

Who ever told you to burn green wood was an idiot :monkey:

 

[chugbug]

I don't think it would be a good idea to fire it up before you check it out more , you can do serious damage if there's not enough water in it , warp the boiler ! my furnace even has a big warning label on it . Get a dealer or plumber thats familiar with them to check it out .

 

[dan365husky]

hey now alot of the wood i burn in my is green maybe i not so smart. these stoves will burn anything you put in them to nothing but ashes. if they dont have extensions on the exhaust creosote wont mater anyway. without green wood my stove would burn out at night. and yes i have an old farm house that is over 2500 square feet plus i heat the garage it takes lots of wood. but wood is alot cheaper than propane

 

[Angel4JohnnyB]

Thanks Soooo Much!

Hey all,
Thanks sooo much for all your help and advice.
I have a Heatmor dealer coming out on Friday to check it out and fire it up if possible.
I'll have him give me the whole 'new owner, walk-through' on it. Hopefully that will do me until hubby gets home and can take over all the outdoor stuff. :hmm3grin2orange:
I'll post back and let y'all know how it worked out!
Thanks again!

 

[ericjeeper]

Please remember

To come back here and fill us in on what transpired.. Inquiring minds wish to know. Oh and if you buy those Lottery tickets I want my cut.. LOL

 

[Angel4JohnnyB]

I like this sure beats thinking about going out to feed my magic box outside temps are 0 currently with a pretty strong wind out of the west. I edited to add. it is now -1 with a -20 windchill... Brrr
titbitnipply out there

Hey, at least you're not in WA trying to wade through 1-4 feet of snow to get to that magic box of yours.
My in laws live up there and they are having one heck of a time.....they aren't used to snow much less the amount they've had dumped on them in the past few days.....
Personally I'm not looking forward to wading through ANY snow to get to my box. I'm very much hoping that loading twice a day is going to be all I have to do!

 

[dan365husky]

here in michigan it seems their is no end to the snow yesterday we got 4 more inches with wind gust up to 43 miles an hour. was fun trying to get to work this morning after getting stuck and unstuck and go like mad to get to work. drifts are now up over 4 to 6 feet. is it april yet oh not christmas yet.
:biggrinbounce2:

 

[ericjeeper]

Here in Indiana

Not any snow on the ground.. My pond was open water on saturday.. Today my daughter was walking out to look at it.. Complaining of to many oak leaves frozen in the ice.. (hard to skate on). I was feeding the stove..My 17 year old son was with me.. He made a comment "I guess the pond is froze solid enough to support Mina" I turned and looked and there were tracks across it and back..
Sheesh you would think a 16 year old would have asked old Dad if it was thick enough LOL. Nope she just scooted on across it.. The path she chose would have just gotten her wet up to her waist had she fallen through..
I built the pond with swimming and playing in in mind.. Only 5 feet deep at the very deepest point..
Since buying the dozer this year I plan on syphoning the pond out this spring and making it larger, deeper.. Seeing how the kids won't hardly swim in it cause of Snakes,, LOL
The first couple of years there was not much vegetation around it..But the past few years the grasses and weeds have gotten down closer to the waterline.. ANother issue with a walk in pond you get cat tails.. SO I am going to step the shoreline this time..Make sort of a shelf 2-3 feet deep then taper into the bottom. Oh I am off topic.. My bad.. BTW I need to feed the magic box before bed. LOL

 

[Angel4JohnnyB]

Here's the verdict!!!!

Okay all,
Heatmor dealer had someone cancel service today so he was able to fit me in now instead of waiting until Friday.

The Heatmore IS full of water........frozen water of course since our temps have been really low.
They built a small fire.....big if you ask me, heck they filled it with wood...but they said small...lol. And started the thawing process.
Water circulation pump is trashed....probably the most expensive single piece in there...that's my luck. Anyway, pump isn't spinning and is leaking out the bottom.
So he says pumps are hard to come by this time of year......grrrrr.
He said he'd do his best and be back out here tomorrow to put it on.
Pump is going to run around $315 just for the pump. Plus the installation.
He also told me that whoever did the install didn't do it 'correctly' and that the way they set up the hotwater heater is a joke. Said there is wayyyy too much heat loss from my electric water heater. Which is right next to my AC so in the summer my AC is having to pull in warm air and then cool it down making that work harder as well......grrrrrrr again.
He said at minimum I need to buy the insulated noodles and put around the pipes and at best I should just have them replaced.
At least he gave me the noodle out instead of just wanting the work to stick me with more money out of pocket. I do like those kinds of guys, seems they don't just want to take your money.

He said everything else LOOKS okay and there shouldn't be a problem after he gets the pump replaced.
Maybe I got lucky (if you can call it that) and the pump is the only thing wrong with it.

BET I DON'T LET IT FREEZE UP AGAIN!!!!!

So again, thank you all for the info and advice.
I'm reading the board as we speak to get my info for the future!

BTW.....I learned my lesson about not draining water hoses too......he needed water......now.......and my hose was froze......had to run up to neighbors and steal theirs.....at least they are smart enough to keep theirs unhooked and drained when not in use!!!!!!

 

[MNfarmer]

Do they take a special kind of pump?? Sure seems awful high for something like that! I bought a Taco a year or so ago and if I remember right was right around $100?? Somewhere close to that anyhow. Just wondering why yours would be so much higher?

 

[fletcher0780]

maybe it's a bronze pump, hardy uses them on their boilers. This is just another good reason to install the pump inside instead of on the boiler. good luck with the boiler.

 

[ericjeeper]

This is great news..

I did not fully understand all the rigmarole about the ac.. But we can cross that bridge in july. But if the boiler is frozen.. what about the loops in the ground? Are they gonna be frozen too?
If not take the 300 dollar pump and his labor bill.. and use it as Your first lesson in outdoor boiler schooling..

 

[barnyardman]

My heatmor ha a taco 0011 pump, I think pex supply is over $200

 

[jgoodhart]

I'am glad to hear the only problem with the boiler is a bad pump. It could have been much more worse and more expensive if boiler would have split open from the ice inside it. The 300$ for the pump sounds steep to me but I don't know what kind of pump you have on your boiler either. I have found that ebay is a cheap source of spare parts for my OWB you might want to check it out.

 

[STEVEGODSEYJR]

pump $300?

I think...no I know $300 is waaaaaaaayyy too much for a circulator pump. Go down to the local plumbing store and tell them you want a Grundfos brand pump(or whatever brand they may sell) that is the same size as the pump you are currently replacing. I bought my grundfos pump for a $100 even. The local man that sells the taco brand wanted $230. Hell with that crap! Look for something that is in the $100 range.

 

[ericjeeper]

The guy probably spent way more time there...

Then he is charging her for.. Buy the pump from him.. It will have a warranty.. If it quits he will come replace it..
I am betting a dollar to a doughnut he is pricing a bronze pump not a simple cast iron pump.
Go do some pricing on bronze pumps.. and then come back and tell me if 300 is real far out of line..